UC-NRLF 
 
 175 
 
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 I 
 

PROPHETIC STUDIES ; 
 
 OB, 
 
 LECTURES 
 
 THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 THE EEV. JOHIST CTBQOTTG, D.D., 
 
 MINISTER OF THE NATIONAL SCOTTISH CHUBCH, CBOWN COUBT, 
 COVENT GABDEN, LONDON. 
 
 " "We have also a more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto 
 ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in 
 a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in 
 your hearts." 2 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 SIXTH THOUSAND. 
 
 LONDON: 
 VIRTUE, HALL, A1STD VIRTUE, 
 
 25, PATERNOSTER ROW, 
 AND 26, JOHN STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
C8 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN these Lectures on Daniel the prophet, there 
 will be found scarcely a single discovery or appli- 
 cation of prophetic symbol which is not already 
 familiar to all students of prophecy. They were 
 not prepared for the learned : they are addressed 
 to the multitude. I have paid some attention 
 to the critical investigation of this ancient and 
 instructive prophecy ; I have studied more or less 
 closely the varied and interesting exegeses of 
 many learned and laborious critics, and from these 
 I have derived much information; but in these 
 pages I do not attempt to present an analysis 
 of such labours, or to enunciate the component 
 elements of the conclusions I have formed, and 
 herein expressed. I find it takes all my strength, 
 as well as all I have learned and read, to enable 
 me to make my meaning plain. I am satisfied in 
 these Studies to appeal to, and interest and instruct 
 the masses. One may appreciate the honour of 
 speaking to scholars, but feel still more the duty 
 of addressing mankind. I rejoice at witnessing 
 the loftiest forms so splendidly occupied as they 
 now are. I pray they may be covered with yet 
 greater and mote illusij^oi^s scholarship. I am 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 content to stand below, and learning daily, as I 
 do from the master spirits above me, to spread far 
 and wide what I have gathered, in the most intel- 
 ligible and acceptable words, among the "thousands 
 of Israel."*" I have invariably tried to bring out, 
 not only the doctrinal, but the practical and com- 
 forting truths which are more or less latent in the 
 sublime and mysterious predictions and symbols 
 of the future. I have not, I trust, forgotten 
 individual responsibility and requirement in my 
 endeavours to trace out the course of the Church, 
 the fall of dynasties, and the revolutions of em- 
 pires, as they are delineated on the prophetic 
 chart, and by no means obscurely predicted by 
 the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 In this, as in every portion of the word of God, 
 there are proclaimed grand saving truths. Amid 
 the foliage of prophecy amid the flowers of 
 poetry in the details of biography, and in the 
 long annals of national or universal history, truths 
 profitable or refreshing or sanctifying to the soul 
 flash forth continually. God in Providence never 
 omits to feed the minutest insect in his provision 
 for the greatest and the most important of created 
 intelligences. In his Word there is living bread 
 for the soul of the humblest, as well as warning 
 and instruction and reproof for kings and nations. 
 In the pages of the Prophets, as truly, if not as 
 fully as in the pages of the Evangelists, such truths 
 
 * The critical disquisitions of Hengstenberg, the eloquent and 
 philosophical investigations of Birks not to speak of Mede, 
 VVintle, and the two Nevvtons are truly valuable. Stuart, as 
 usual on prophetic subjects, is not to be trusted. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 as the following are written : "Sin has entered, 
 and death by sin." The world was not made as 
 we find it ; it has undergone some dread and ter- 
 rible disaster. Ask the philosopher to explain 
 this, and he is dumb ! Ask nature herself, through 
 any of her oracles, and she, too, is dumb ! Her 
 groans, that have not ceased since the creation, 
 are the only replies to your question. But, con- 
 sult the Scriptures, inquire at them, What is at 
 fault ? Their reply is, Sin has entered, and death 
 by sin? The earth was created holy and beau- 
 tiful. God pronounced it good. Man's sin has 
 unhinged it. Every flower was once fragrance; 
 every sound was once harmony ; every sight was 
 beauty; but sin has fallen upon the earth, like 
 a drop of ink on the sensitive blotting-paper, 
 encircling with its poisonous influence the widest 
 sphere, until the whole earth is tainted stricken, 
 as it were, with paralysis, groaning, in travail, 
 waiting for redemption. The intellect is darkened 
 by the exhalations arising from the swamps of sin. 
 The truth is not seen in its beauty ; not because 
 it is dimly enunciated, but because the eye of him 
 who looks upon it has become dim. The con- 
 science also has become depraved, diseased, pol- 
 luted. What a change has passed upon that 
 faculty which was once the echo of the voice of 
 God the bright daguerreotype reflection of his 
 own holy image ! It too labours, as if anxious to 
 be emancipated to regain its lost sovereignty, 
 and govern once more the heart and the affections 
 of the soul. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 Not only is the conscience and heart of man 
 diseased, but out of that heart in which God once 
 dwelt, once the holy chancel, as it were, of 
 created being, proceed adultery, murders, thefts, 
 and all uncleanness. The gold has become dim, 
 the fine gold has changed, man is altogether 
 degenerate ; and this change, this dread affliction, 
 is not individual, peculiar, limited, but universal; 
 there is no spot upon the earth it has not reached 
 no climate where it is not felt. It has entered 
 the hut of the Indian, the cave of the Greenlander, 
 the cabin of the semi- savage Irishman, the cottage 
 of the peasant, and the palace of the king; its 
 voice mingles with the debates of parliament, 
 congress, and divan. It colours all circumstances ; 
 it is seen in the flames of hamlets, and heard in 
 the roar of revolution ; it rides on the storm. 
 1848 was an incidental testimony of what sin is; 
 all history shows it has made Golgotha and Acel- 
 dama but too plainly the types of earth and 
 humanity. 
 
 Man has sinned, and therefore he suffers. The 
 Bible also testifies of the curse brought upon us 
 in consequence of sin. The instant man sinned, 
 Jesus stood between the living and the dead 
 modified and stayed the full rush of the terrible 
 curse which sin had brought on; but the time 
 does come, and the place will be, when that curse 
 created by sin shall descend in all its pressure 
 on some, and wither down to the very roots all 
 happiness and peace, close every spring of joy, 
 and open up at every point of the circumference 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 of their existence, streams of misery immense, 
 ceaseless. 
 
 We have not only sinned and suffered, but we 
 cannot help ourselves out of it. We are not only 
 without holiness, but without strength; no man 
 can recover himself. All the popes, bishops, pre- 
 lates, or councils in Christendom, can no more 
 change the heart of man, than they can create a 
 fixed star, or soar to the sun. I will believe they 
 can do it, when they will stand upon the grave of 
 another Lazarus, and say, Come forth ; and when 
 Lazarus, the dead, in obedience to such command, 
 shall come forth, and take his place among the 
 living. What is the history of the world without 
 God but a history of successive efforts and suc- 
 cessive failures to regenerate itself? What is 
 Pantheism, but man's vain effort to regenerate 
 man? What are Popery, and Puseyism, but 
 priestly and abortive efforts to regenerate man? 
 What is Christianity, but God's historical and 
 never-failing success in the regeneration of man ? 
 
 It is wrong for infidels to quote Aristides, 
 Socrates, Plato, Alfred, and subsequent names, 
 and say these are types of humanity; they are 
 not so. They are the exceptions to the general 
 condition of man ; they are as tall trees seen from 
 the distance, which appear a beautiful forest in 
 the horizon ; but when we approach nearer, we 
 find, here and there, beneath and around them, 
 the pestilential swamp, the deadly Upas-tree, all 
 manner of vile and worthless things. This is one 
 of those sights in which " distance " may be said 
 
Fill PREFACE. 
 
 to " lend enchantment to the view/' covering, 
 with an apparently beautiful exterior, as seen 
 from afar, the terrible corruption which lies and 
 festers below. 
 
 If we desire to see what man is, let us shut our 
 ears to the harp of the poet, and visit the Mahom- 
 medan wife, the Indian maid, the Hindoo widow ; 
 let us leave the romantic picture of mankind, and 
 explore the lanes and alleys of London; let us 
 inspect our prisons and penal settlements, Bride- 
 well and Botany Bay. After we have gone the 
 round of these places, let us go home and read the 
 first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and 
 see if there is one exaggerating touch ! That 
 chapter is a terrible but true picture of the lower 
 strata of humanity. What were the deities in 
 heathen times? Jupiter was a monster, Mercury 
 a thief, Mars a sort of cannibal, who drank the 
 blood of his victims. Such were the gods of the 
 heathen; and, like gods like people. But of 
 man's corruption we have awful instances in 
 modern times. Men, baptised in the name of 
 Christ, professing his religion, and under his pre- 
 tended sanction, have set up Inquisitions for the 
 murder of saints, for the plunder of widows, and 
 then they have built cathedrals with the produce. 
 This Gospel, itself pure, precious, and indicative 
 of its Divine origin, has been perverted and made 
 the patrons of the buildings, under whose splendid 
 towers are dungeons deep and dismal. So intense 
 is man's depravity, that not only will he worship 
 Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars, but he will take the 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 very stones God has selected and shaped for a 
 temple to himself, and with these construct a temple 
 vocal with men's praise, and in which wickedness 
 shall be consecrated. 
 
 The Gospel tells us that Jesus who knew no sin, 
 was made sin for us : in these words is the very 
 substance of our sermons; without these they 
 would be but as sounding brass, and tinkling 
 cymbals. " God so loved the world, that he gave 
 his only begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth 
 on him might not perish, but have everlasting 
 life." He gave, not permitted) and the great 
 Redeemer left the admiration of angels for the 
 execration of the mob : he exchanged a diadem of 
 glory for a wreath of thorns ; he left the robes of 
 majesty and beauty for that vile rag that Pilate 
 cast upon his shoulders. Why ? It was for us ! 
 that souls ruined by the curse might be redeemed 
 by his blood, and restored to that great home he is 
 gone to prepare for us. 
 
 The Bible is not a mere directory, nor the 
 pulpit a mere teacher's desk. Christianity is not 
 a rule, but a prescription ; not merely a direc- 
 tion to the living and healthy, but a cure for the 
 diseased, life for the dead : and Calvary is not a 
 composite of Sinai, but that spot on which God in 
 human nature died ; looking to whom, and lean- 
 ing upon whom, I am the possessor of justifying 
 righteousness. He who knew no sin, was made 
 sin for me, that I might be made the righteous- 
 ness of God in him. 
 
 On him were laid the iniquities of us all ; we 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 bear his righteousness, and therefore by him alone 
 do we recover every lost blessing. He did nothing 
 worthy of death, although he died ; and we shall 
 have done nothing worthy of life when we hear 
 the glad words, " Well done, good and faithful ser- 
 vant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." When 
 Jesus died, he had done nothing to deserve it ; 
 when we are admitted to glory, it will be wholly 
 without merit on our part. He was the spotless 
 lamb we are the poor stray sheep, clothed in his 
 spotless righteousness. 
 
 There is another great truth to which the Bible 
 bears testimony the regeneration of the heart by 
 the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is no more by 
 baptism than justification is by works : justifica- 
 tion is our title, sanctification is bur qualification ; 
 justification is our franchise, sanctification is our 
 fitness. This justification .is by Christ's work 
 alone. This regeneration is the Holy Spirit's work 
 alone. The precious Catechism of that Church to 
 which I belong, and in which I have been schooled 
 from my infancy, says justification is an act of 
 God's grace, and sanctification is a work of God's 
 Spirit; one is an act done once for all, com- 
 pletely, perfectly, and for ever the other a work 
 begun, carried on, until at length we are made fit 
 for heaven, and are removed to glory. 
 
 The Bible insists on all who have themselves 
 felt the truth, not ministers alone, but all who 
 have received the Gospel, doing their utmost to 
 make it known to those who yet remain in 
 ignorance. Psalm Ixvii. : " God be merciful unto 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 us, and bless us." Why ? ' ' That thy way may be 
 known upon earth, and thy saving health among 
 all nations." A man who can pray thus, and then 
 pass the plate at a missionary collection, contented, 
 it may be, with giving nothing, or, what is worse, 
 a trifle, does not know what the Gospel is, or 
 what Christianity really means. True, God can 
 promote the Gospel without our instrumentality; 
 but it concerns us to ascertain not what God can 
 do, but what he does God's omnipotence is not 
 our rule of faith. We know of, and he tells us 
 of no other means. The sunbeams do not write 
 salvation on the sky; angel voices do not chant 
 it; the temple of nature tells us there is a God, 
 but it tells not our relation to him. " How shall 
 they believe if they have not heard, and how shall 
 they hear without a preacher? " Take the micro- 
 scopic view of the City Missionary, and inspect 
 the lanes and alleys of wretchedness, sin, and 
 demoralisation at home ; and then with the tele- 
 scope sweep the broad horizon of the world from 
 mountain top to mountain top. Behold so many 
 of the people of Europe lying in darkness ; look 
 on Asia, once the cradle of Christianity, now the 
 battle-field of the Moslem and the Jew; see 
 Africa steeped in barbarism, bleeding, mangled, 
 and imploring your interposition. And when you 
 have gazed on these heart-rending spectacles 
 spectacles that look to us so shadowy because our 
 inner vision is so dark hear the Son of God : first 
 from the cross, and next from the throne, saying, 
 " Go teach all nations." 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 When the Gospel has been preached as a wit- 
 ness to all, then shall Messiah come in the clouds 
 of heaven with power and great glory, and the 
 end shall come the end of our disputes, quar- 
 rels, pride, sectarianism, selfishness, vain-glory; 
 the end of despotism on the part of the rulers, 
 and of insubordination in the subjects; the end 
 of the toils of slavery, and the sufferings of mar- 
 tyrdom ; the end of Popery, Puseyism, Paganism, 
 and Mahommedanism, the Missal, the Breviary, 
 the Shaster, and the Koran. That great rainbow 
 of the covenant, that starts from the cross, vaults 
 into the sky, and sweeps over the throne, shall 
 complete its orbit, and rest again upon the ground, 
 and Christ and Christianity shall be all and in all. 
 Then shall the desert rejoice and blossom as the 
 rose. Then the tree of life shall be where the 
 cypress is. Then shall nations sing God's praise, 
 and Sion recount God's marvels. Then shall his- 
 tory retrace with new joy God's footprints. Then 
 shall the glory of Jesus sparkle in the dewdrop, 
 and in the boundless sea ; in the minutest atom, 
 and in the greatest star ; and this earth, restrung, 
 retuned, shall be one grand JEolian harp, swept 
 by the breath of the Holy Spirit, pouring forth 
 those melodies which began on Calvary, and shall 
 sound through all generations. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 DANIEL THE PROPHET Dan. i 1 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 CHRISTIAN STEADFASTNESS Dan. i. 8, 9 . . . 12 
 
 LECTURE II 
 
 LIVING TO GOD IN LITTLE THINGS . . Dan.\.\ 13 . . 21 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 TRUE PRINCIPLE is TRUE EXPEDIENCY . Dan. i. 17 21 . . 33 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD .... Dan. ii. 37, 38 . . 41 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 THE MEDO-PERSIAN AND GR^CO- 
 
 MACEDONIAN EMPIRES 
 
 GR.ECO- ) -r, .. nn 
 
 > Dan. 11. 39 ... 60 
 
X1Y CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 PACK 
 
 THE MYSTIC STONE SMITING THE IMAGE D( ' ": 34 ' 35 ' 75 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 THE KINGDOM OF GOD ...... Dan. ii. 3144 . 91 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 EARLY MARTYRS ........ Dan. iii. 16. . . 110 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 PRIDE ABASED ..... .... Dan. iv. 37. . . 128 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 THE SCEPTRE OF GOD ...... Dan. iv, 26. . . 147 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 BELSIIAZZAR'S FEAST ...... Dan. v. . . . . 163 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING . . Dan. v. 24, 25 . 177 
 
 LECTURE XIV. 
 THE PRIME MINISTER ...... Dan. vi. 1 10 . 192 
 
 LECTURE XV. 
 DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. . Dan. vi. 16 . . . 207 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE PAPACY ......... Dan. vii. 16 28 223 
 
 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 THE COMING KINGDOM .... j ' 243 
 
 LECTURE XVIII. 
 THE MOSLEM ......... Dan. viii. . . 259 
 
 LECTURE XIX. 
 FASTING ........... Dan.ix. 3 . . 278 
 
 LECTURE XX. 
 VBAYER ........... Dcwi.ix.3 . . 294 
 
 LECTURE XXI. 
 SIN, CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION . . Daw.ix.4 . . 310 
 
 LECTURE XXII. 
 
 DANIEL'S LITANY ........ Dan.ix. 19 . . 326 
 
 LECTURE XXIII. 
 MESSIAH'S DEATH ....... Dan. ix. 26 . . 342 
 
 LECTURE XXIV. 
 
 THE GREAT SACRIFICE . , Dan. ix.26 . . 366 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE XXV. 
 
 FAOX 
 
 THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH . . . Dan. ix.24 . . 38J 
 
 LECTURE XXVI. 
 SACRED ARITHMETIC Dan. ix.24 . . 396 
 
 LECTURE XXVII. 
 THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE .... Dan. ix. 25 . . 417 
 
 LECTURE XXVIII. 
 JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS .... Dan. ix. 26, 27. 431 
 
 
 APPENDIX , . 449 
 
 INDEX - 483 
 
PROPHETIC STUDIES; 
 
 OR, 
 
 LECTURES ON DANIEL THE PROPHET, 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 DAXIEL THE PEOFHET. 
 
 I BEAD the first chapter of Daniel in the course of our 
 morning reading of the Scripture this day, and I then 
 stated that I would turn your attention in the evening 
 to some of those studies in this interesting and instruc- 
 tive book, which it is impossible to set forth in the course 
 of a few cursory remarks upon the lessons which we 
 usually read. 
 
 I may premise that Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, 
 the Duke of Manchester, Faber, Birks, and others men 
 of distinguished erudition and thorough piety have de- 
 voted some of the best of their time to the elucidation of 
 this book, and all without exception have testified to its 
 excellence, its instructiveness, its value as a, clue to the 
 knowledge of the things that are passing in the history 
 of this dispensation, and of the principles on which God 
 governs the world. Sir Isaac Newton, who explored 
 the firmament with unwearied wing, and made an apo- 
 calypse of the stars, felt that he was sounding a greater 
 depth, and rising to a loftier height, when he sat down 
 a patient student of this book to ascertain the mind, and 
 make plain to less gifted souls the meaning of the Spirit 
 of God. Bishop Newton, a divine of consummate piety, 
 
2 PEOPHET1C STUDIES. 
 
 laborious research, ana great talent, makes the following 
 remark on this book : " What an amazing prophecy is 
 that of Daniel ! comprehending so many events, and ex- 
 tending through so many successive ages, from the esta- 
 blishment of the Persian empire, upwards of 500 years 
 before Christ, to the second, gen era! resurrection at the 
 last day. "What a proof of Divine Providence and of 
 Divine Revelation ! for who could thus declare the 
 things that shall be, with their times and their seasons, 
 but He only who hath them in his power whose domi- 
 nion is an everlasting dominion, and whose kingdom 
 endureth from generation to generation?" It is a re- 
 markable feature in the prophecies of Daniel, that they 
 deal much with figures. There is in them, if I may use 
 the expression, less of poetiy, more of chronology. There 
 is no prophecy so definite ; no prophecy that so much 
 lays itself open to disproof, if it be false, or to proof if it 
 be, as we believe it to be, true. There is no prophecy 
 which the Jew has felt greater difficulty in dealing with. 
 For the modern Jew sees so plainly, that if Daniel be 
 inspired, and his chronology be of God, the Messiah 
 must have come, and that it is in vain to look for an- 
 other, that the more earnest Jew meets the difficulty 
 boldly by denying that the book is divine altogether, 
 on grounds and upon premises on which he may deny 
 that there is any divinity in the Old Testament at all, 
 from the Book of Genesis to the last verse of the Prophet 
 Malachi. 
 
 There is scarcely a doubt that Daniel is the author of 
 the book. It does not begin with an express assertion of 
 the fact, but throughout the work the most casual reader 
 can hardly fail to perceive many marks by which it is 
 plain that Daniel himself was the writer. For instance, 
 in chap. vii. 28, he says, "I, Daniel ;" viii. 2, "A vision 
 appeared to me, Daniel." All which, and I might quote 
 other similar expressions, clearly piove that Daniel is 
 the writer of the book. 
 
 But the next question that arises is this : Is there 
 evidence that Daniel not only existed, but was the sin- 
 gularly favoured, excellent, and beautiful character that 
 
DANIEL THE PEOPHET. 3 
 
 he is here represented not proclaimed to be, by words, 
 but shown to be by implication ? We think there is : 
 for instance, in Ezek. xiv. 14, " Though these three 
 men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should 
 deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith 
 the Lord God." We have another allusion, almost the 
 same, contained in Ezek. xxviii. 3 : " Thou art wiser 
 than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from 
 thec." And I may state that Ezekiel was cotemporary 
 with Daniel. Ezekiel was the old and experienced 
 saint, when Daniel was the young and growing, but 
 highly-favoured Christian; and the beautiful allusion 
 made by the elder to the wisdom and the excellence of 
 the younger, were it not inspired, would lead us at least 
 to say, How free from envy and jealousy was the aged 
 Ezekiel as he waned from the stage, in reference to 
 Daniel, who was about to fill his place, and was throw- 
 ing him into the shade by nis greater lustre and glory ! 
 
 This book was received as authentic by the Jews prior 
 to the time of our Saviour, and was never disputed by 
 them. It is plain evidence that it existed in the Hebrew 
 Bible that it was translated by the Alexandrian Jews, ) 
 three hundred years before the birth of Christ, into 
 Greek, and accordingly it exists in the Septuagint 
 translation at this day. 
 
 I may also observe that the Book of Daniel, as also 
 the Book of Ezra, is written partly in the Chaldee, a 
 language differing from the Hebrew in its form and 
 structure, but not much more than Italian or Spanish 
 differs from Latin. Any one who understands Latin 
 may easily master either of the two former languages ; 
 and any one who understands Hebrew has the key that 
 unlocks all the cognate Oriental languages. This language 
 begins at chap. ii. 4, where the Chaldeans, who spoke 
 Arameian, or Chaldee, say to the king in " Syriac," 
 which is the same dialect, and which was spoken by our 
 Lord and by the Jews of his day, " king, live for 
 ever!" Josephus, the distinguished Jewish historian, 
 bears testimony to the authenticity of this book in the 
 following terms : " All these things did this man leave 
 
 B 2 
 
4 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 behind him, writing as God had showed them to him ; 
 so that those who read his prophecies, and see how they 
 have been fulfilled, must be astonished at the honour 
 conferred by God on Daniel." Antiq. x. 11. This is the 
 testimony of a Jew who was bitterly hostile to Chris- 
 tianity ; and Josephus, in his Antiquities, shows how 
 each prediction of Daniel had been fulfilled with refer- 
 ence to all the four great monarchies except the last, 
 which was existing in his own time. But why this ex- 
 ception ? Because Josephus was a servant of the Roman 
 emperor, and he had not the courage to proclaim that 
 Daniel's prophecies regarding Eome had been as truly 
 fulfilled as his prophecies relating to Babylon, or to the 
 Persian or Median empire. 
 
 In the next place, our Lord* and his Apostles expressly 
 refer to Daniel. You are all acquainted with one allu- 
 sion to him in Matt. xxiv. 15 : " When ye shall see the 
 abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the pro- 
 phet, stand in the holy place (Avhoso readeth let him 
 understand)." But it is perhaps no less interesting to 
 observe the allusions scattered through the New Testa- 
 ment, which clearly point to expressions and prophecies 
 contained in Daniel, though the prophet himself is not 
 expressly named. Thus, for instance, in 1 Pet. i. 10, we 
 read, " Of which salvation the prophets have inquired 
 and searched diligently, who prophesied of the gracef 
 that should come unto you." ]N T ow, on looking to Dan. 
 ix. 3, and xii. 8, we find the passages to which St. Peter 
 refers, in the former of which we read, " And I prayed 
 unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and 
 said, Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the 
 covenant and mercy to them that love him," &c. ; and 
 in the latter we read, "I heard, but I understood not ; 
 then said I, my Lord, what shall be the end of these 
 things r" &c. Recollect these passages; and while you 
 recollect them, let the light struck from the language of 
 Peter fall upon them, " Of which salvation the prophets 
 have inquired and searched diligently, what, or Avlmt 
 manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them 
 did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of 
 
DANIEL THE PROPHET. 5 
 
 Christ and the glory that should follow." Another very 
 plain allusion to Daniel is contained in 2 Thcss. ii. 3, 
 where we have the delineation of the features of the 
 man of sin, which may well be compared with what 
 Daniel tells us of the "little horn" that was to arise 
 "doing great things;" and you will see that Paul in 
 this is but the echo of Daniel ; that Paul in short fills 
 up the outline which Danit^l had previously sketched. 
 Another passage to which I may refer, is 1 Cor. vi. 2, 
 where the Apostle Paul says, "Know ye not that the 
 saints shall judge the world?" "Why did the Apostle 
 thus appeal to them ? because the Prophet Daniel ex- 
 pressly declares that they will do so, when he tells us in 
 chsp. vii. 22, " Until the Ancient of Days came, and 
 judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." 
 What a wonderful harmony is there running through 
 the whole word of God ! You cannot touch, as it were, 
 a note in Daniel, but all the Apostles of the New Testa- 
 ment respond to it. You may have noticed sometimes 
 in a building, in a church, or a hall, that if a certain 
 note or tone be given by the speaker, the whole building 
 will instantly vibrate in harmony or in unison. In the 
 same way, you cannot touch a truth in Daniel, but tones 
 of harmony will burst from the lips of Paul and from the 
 writings of Peter ; the whole Bible, in grand harmony, 
 revealing the mind, the will, and the glory of God. 
 
 "We find another allusion the last I shall here refer 
 
 to in Heb. xi. 33 : "By faith they stopped the 
 
 mouths of lions." This evidently refers to the won- 
 derful deliverance of Daniel, recorded in this book, when 
 cast into the den of lions by order of King Daiius ; upon 
 which we shall comment on a future Sabbath evening. 
 "Quenched the violence of fire." To what can this 
 relate but to the escape of the three youths, Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into the 
 fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, and had not even their 
 garments singed by the flame r 
 
 These allusions, scattered through the whole New 
 Testament, show us that our Lord himself, Peter, Paul, 
 and, I might say, oil the Apostles, assumed the Book of 
 
6 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Daniel to be an inspired revelation of the mind and will 
 of the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 I have thus, then, I think, shown you enough from 
 the remainder of the Bible to prove that this book is 
 of the Bible. Some Christians amongst you, who long 
 perhaps for better things, and sweeter things, and higher 
 things, will be ready to say, " Why prove to us this of 
 which we are already convinced?" So you are; but 
 there are many young men in every congregation who 
 are placed among nests of infidels, and who will be 
 taunted, and jeered, and scoffed at, for assuming or 
 asserting the truth, that the visions and the predictions 
 of Daniel are inspired : I ask, then, Is it not useful, 
 is it not demanded by the exigencies of the age, is it 
 not Scriptural, to endeavour to enable every man to give 
 a reason for the faith that is in him ? I know you may 
 be convinced in your hearts, and nothing is so con- 
 vincing that the Bible is true as the constant waiting 
 upon a minister who makes known the precious Gospel : 
 but you need, not only what will convince your own 
 hearts that the Bible is from God, but you need that 
 which will enable you to convince others also. It is 
 most important to have money in your bank ; but you 
 will lose many an advantage by the want of a little 
 change in your pocket. It is most important to have 
 deep convictions in your soul ; but it is not less valuable, 
 in this strange world, and amid its strange mixture of 
 society, to have a little ready argument which you can 
 employ, and therewith answer a fool according to his 
 folly. 
 
 Let me notice also another line of thought, which 
 tends to convince us that Daniel wrote at the time that 
 is here assumed, and was a living participator in the 
 events which he records. For instance, it is stated in 
 this very chapter, that the youths were fed from the 
 royal table. This is received by the ordinary reader as 
 a naked fact, but it is singularly corroborative of what 
 we have been saying; for it was a custom peculiar to 
 the Chaldeans and the Persians, and common to no people 
 besides ; and the quiet way in which it is here alluded 
 
DANIEL THE PROPHET. 7 
 
 to as a common and a well-known fact, is presumptive 
 evidence that the record was made by an individual who 
 himself lived at the period and among the nation with 
 whom such a custom prevailed. 
 
 The change of the names of his companions from 
 Hebrew into Chaldee, is not merely a fact that acci- 
 dentally occurred in this particular case, but was in 
 accordance with a custom universally prevalent among 
 the Chaldees. We have an allusion to something of the 
 same kind in 2 Kings xxiv. 17, where it is said that 
 the King of Babylon changed the name of Eliakim into 
 Jehoiakim. This, again, shows that what is recorded in 
 this book is in harmony with the age and the country 
 in which it purports to have been penned. 
 
 The method of reckoning years is evidently Baby- 
 lonish. Thus, in chap. ii. he says, "In the second year 
 of King Nebuchadnezzar;" whence it is plain that the 
 writer of it wrote then, and in that kingdom. You will 
 find at once, from the way in which any person writes 
 or speaks of longitude, in what country he has lived ; 
 because each country reckons longitude from its own 
 meridian. Our meridian is a line supposed to pass 
 through Greenwich, and therefore an English writer 
 would reckon longitude from this point ; while a French- 
 man would speak of longitude as calculated from the 
 meridian of Paris ; and a foreigner of some other country 
 would reckon it from another and a different first meri- 
 dian. Thus, as the mode of reckoning longitude would 
 show the countiy to which the writer belonged, so the 
 allusion here contained to the mode of reckoning time, 
 shows that the narrative comes from the pen of one who 
 was well acquainted with the habits and customs of the 
 people concerning whom he wrote. 
 
 Another proof of this fact may be found in chap. ii. 5, 
 where the king commands the houses of the wise men to 
 be " made a dunghill." It would be difficult to under- 
 stand this of houses built of stone or of our brick ; but 
 we must remember that the houses of the Chaldeans 
 were made of bricks of clay hardened in the sun, which 
 might easily be dissolved by violent rains, and which 
 
8 PBOPITETIC STUDIES. 
 
 would speedily, by the continued action of the rain and 
 moisture, be reduced to a pulp, or soft mass. 
 
 We have further evidence of Daniel's veracity and 
 authenticity, in the modes in which capital punishment 
 is recorded to have been inflicted. Casting into a heated 
 furnace was a cruelty practised only by the Chaldeans ; 
 while casting into a den of wild beasts was a punishment 
 peculiar to the Medes and Persians. You will therefore 
 observe, that when Daniel is speaking of the infliction of 
 capital punishment under the Chaldean dynasty, he 
 mentions the former method, namely, casting into a fur- 
 nace ; and when speaking of its infliction under the 
 Medo-Persian dynasty, he, without saying a word about 
 the change, relates that it was to have been performed 
 after their national manner, by casting into a den of 
 lions : thus showing how perfectly he was acquainted 
 with the manners and the customs of the age. 
 
 Again, we read, that at the great festival of Bel- 
 shazzar, females were present at the feast. We have the 
 authority of Xenophon, the historian of Cyrus, for saying 
 that it was a custom peculiar to Babylon, and unknown 
 among any subsequent nations : here also we see how 
 accurately and minutely all the prophet states accords 
 with the actual peculiarities of the age and country in 
 which he professes to write. 
 
 The historian Xenophon, to whom I have already 
 referred, further corroborates the prophet in his state- 
 ment concerning Belshazzar, for he tells us that "the 
 last king of Babylon was cruel, cowardly, and volup- 
 tuous, who despised the Deity, and spent his time in riot 
 and debauchery; " which is precisely the character given 
 by Daniel to Belshazzar. 
 
 It is Xenophon' s description of Cyaxares, who may 
 plainly be proved to have been the same with Darius, 
 that he was weak, cruel, and pliable, yet furious in his 
 anger and tyrannical in his exercise of power. Compare 
 with this the character of Darius as delineated by the 
 author of this book a king who allowed his nobles to 
 make laws for him which were unalterable, and after- 
 wards repented and endeavoured to retract them j who 
 
DANIEL THE PROPHET. U 
 
 casts Daniel into the den of lions for non-compliance 
 with his orders, and then spends the whole night in 
 lamentation and remorse at the consequences of his cruel 
 severity, and you have here another sketch from the 
 very same original. It is thus that you catch, sounding 
 along the lapse of centuries, echoes of the grand original. 
 It is thus that the more you become acquainted with all 
 that man's learning can teach us, the more you will be 
 convinced that what Prophets and Apostles wrote they 
 wrote truly, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 I have thus alluded to these little points, but points 
 not insignificant, especially in these days when men arc 
 so anxious to hnd matter of reproach and accusation 
 against the Word of God. But, in speaking to a Chris- 
 tian audience of the presumptive evidence that Daniel 
 wrote this book, let me beg you to notice some of its 
 grand distinctive features. Throughout the whole of 
 this book the great object of it seems to be to depress all 
 that is human, to let loose and unfold the glory of all 
 that is divine. I always regard it as the evidence of a 
 good sermon, that it tends to place the creature in the 
 dust, and to exalt God upon his throne ; and I lay it 
 down as evidence that a book is in keeping with the 
 grand and pervading tone of the whole Gospel, that it 
 humbles man, and exalts the Creator and the Redeemer 
 of man. Head the whole of Daniel with this idea before 
 you, and you will see at once that it represents king- 
 doms, and their monarchs, their statesmen, their coun- 
 cils, their armies, their great men, their magnificence 
 and their glory, as the dust only in the balance; it re- 
 presents God as alone great as casting down one and 
 setting up another as the Monarch of an everlasting 
 kingdom as " the Ancient of Days" as "the Living 
 God" the Giver of wisdom the Iluler of the present, 
 the Hevealer of the future. Throughout the book you 
 have these two grand ideas developed : man, how poor ! 
 how frail ! how short-lived ! how guilty ! God, how 
 wise ! how omnipotent ! how sovereign ! how good ! 
 how glorious ! 
 
 s\ 
 
10 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Again, not the least triumphant evidence of the in- 
 spiration of the Book of Daniel, is its plain and obvious 
 fulfilment. Part of it is fulfilled prophecy ; part of it, by 
 its own statements, and from its own internal allusions, 
 is plainly unfulfilled prophecy. The portion of it which 
 Daniel stated would be fulfilled within a given period, 
 has been completely fulfilled, to the very letter; and 
 that which remains to be fulfilled, we have the clearest 
 evidence from the past and the present, will be fulfilled 
 with equal certainty, and equal precision. This vision 
 which Daniel saw by the banks of the Ulai and the Hid- 
 dekel, the two great rivers of the land of Shinar, has 
 been partly fulfilled, partly enlarged in the Apocalypse, 
 is now in course of fulfilment, and by-and-bye will be 
 completely and perfectly accomplished. 
 
 Porphyry, the earliest and highly celebrated sceptic, 
 from whom and Julian the succession of sceptics traces 
 itself, saw so plainly the fulfilment of part of the pro- 
 phecies of Daniel, that he declared the book to have been 
 composed by one who lived in the days of Antiochus 
 Epiphanes. He saw so plainly that what Daniel pre- 
 dicted had been fulfilled to the very letter, that he denied 
 it was written nearly 600 years before Christ, and main- 
 tained that it was written within 200 years of that event. 
 But the answer to this is to be found in the fact, that 
 the Greek translation from the Hebrew, called the Sep- 
 tuagint, was made and scattered throughout the world 
 100 years before Antiochus Epiphanes was born, and 
 therefore, that the objection of Porphyry is alike unten- 
 able, unhistorical, and absurd. 
 
 It has also been objected to this book, that there are in 
 it so many miracles and special manifestations of God 
 that they seem unnecessary, and, as it were, supereroga- 
 tory, and that it is not consistent with what we other- 
 wise know of God, that He should thus so frequently 
 and upon so many occasions miraculously manifest him- 
 self. But we must consider that at this period the Jews 
 were in captivity their temple w r as destroyed their 
 sacred rites, their sacrifices, and their ceremonies had 
 ceased their priests and their Levites were gone. Now, 
 
DANIEL THE PROPHET. 11 
 
 would it not seem perfectly natural, when all the out- 
 ward signs of their religion were thus removed, that 
 God should manifest more of himself to them, in order 
 to keep up the light of religion in the absence of its out- 
 ward and visible ordinances ? Does it not seem but 
 natural that when the outer glory was shaded, the inner 
 glory should be made to shine the more brilliantly ? 
 Does it not seem but reasonable that when, in the land of 
 their captivity, they lacked those sacred symbols by 
 which they were wont to approach God, He who is not 
 confined to temples made with hands should visit them 
 in the time of their distress, and cheer them by special 
 and glorious manifestations of himself ? This has been 
 the way of God in every age, and therefore the absence, 
 not the presence, of such divine manifestations, would be 
 a presumption against the claims of this book. There is 
 no doubt of its inspiration. Let us therefore study it, 
 and in these studies we shall gather, not only glimpses 
 of the blessed future, but directions for our guidance 
 along the troubled present. 
 
LECTUEE II. 
 
 CHRISTIAN STEADFASTNESS. 
 
 " But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile 
 himself ivitli the portion of the king ' s meat, nor ivith 
 the wine -which he drank : therefore he requested of the 
 prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 
 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love 
 with the prince of the eunuchs." DAN. i. 8, 9. 
 
 HAVING said so much, by way of preface to my expo- 
 sition of this Book, let me endeavour briefly to look at 
 the particular verse I have selected for remark, which is 
 really a very important one. " Then Daniel purposed 
 in his heart that he would not defile himself \vith the 
 portion of the king's meat." Daniel, as far as we can 
 gather, was very young when he was carried away a 
 captive into Babylon. He is called "a child," and we 
 speak of the three children ; but, as I told you on a 
 former occasion, the word rendered " child," means " a 
 stripling," "a young man;" the presumption therefore 
 is that Daniel at this time was about fifteen or sixteen 
 years of age ; and at the end of three years, when after 
 living on pulse and water he appeared much fairer and 
 fatter in flesh than those of his countrymen who con- 
 sented to become partakers of the royal bounty, he was 
 probably about twenty years of age. But it may be asked, 
 what was it that made Daniel so firmly refuse to cat of 
 the king's meat or drink of the king's wine, when there 
 was so great a temptation to do so? It could not be 
 that he thought it sinful to drink wine, or improper to 
 dine with the king of the country. I have no doubt he 
 knew just as well as others that wine was more agreeable 
 to his taste than water, and that to dine at the royal 
 
CHRISTIAN STEADFASTNESS. 13 
 
 table would be a great honour ; but the reason of his 
 refusal was evidently this the king of Jj-abjion, like all 
 heathens, was in the habit of what we would call "asking 
 a blessing " before his meals, or, as it is more popularly 
 termed, " saying grace ;" in doing which he took a por- 
 tion of his food and dedicated it to the god whom he 
 worshipped, and also a portion of the wine he was about 
 to drink, and poured out a libation to his idol before 
 tasting it himself; and thus, as it were, consecrated, 
 according to his idea, the whole to the heathen god. 
 Daniel now felt that he could not conscientiously partake 
 of it, because it would have been, as I shall hereafter 
 show, implicating himself with heathenism, and acting 
 unfaithfully to his country, his religion, and his God ; 
 and he was prepared to run all hazards rather than 
 even appear to do so. What was it, then, that made 
 Daniel thus resolute and firm ? It was this : Daniel 
 had received an early religious education ; he was not 
 brought up at a school where he learned the world and 
 nothing more, or mere secular education to the exclusion 
 of religion, just as if that were possible. He was not 
 educated at a school where he was taught what the 
 French schoolmasters are now teaching pantheism and 
 socialism ; but he was brought up at the home of his 
 father, where he acquired the knowledge of the God of 
 Abraham, and that savingly and with profit. Early 
 education was to Daniel, under God, the means of his 
 preservation. The deep engraving of truth upon the 
 heart of the young is never altogether effaced. Those 
 impressions of divine truth that are made on our hearts 
 in youth often emerge in after years with all the fresh- 
 ness and the beauty of yesterday. Silenced they may 
 be ; extinguished they rarely are : overshadowed they 
 may be ; but obliterated they cannot be. I know, when 
 I learned that Scriptural but extremely abstruse work 
 perhaps more so than need be " The Shorter Cate- 
 chism," I did not understand it ; in those days education, 
 was not so well comprehended, and it was not thought so 
 necessary to explain to the understanding what was to be 
 stored in the memory, as it is now ; but my memory was 
 
14 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 stored with the truths of that precious document; and 
 when I grew up I found those truths which had been 
 laid aside in its cells as propositions which I could neither 
 understand nor make use of, become illuminated by the 
 sunshine of after years, and, like some hidden and mys- 
 terious writing, reveal in all their beauty and their ful- 
 ness those precious truths which I had neither seen nor 
 comprehended before, and which have been so long and 
 are now preached in the church of my fathers, and no 
 less so, I trust, in every section of the evangelical church 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. The words spoken by parents 
 to their children in the privacy of home, or by teachers 
 to their pupils in the more busy scene of the schoolroom, 
 are like words spoken in a whispering-gallery, and will 
 be clearly heard at the distance of years, and along the 
 corridors of ages that are yet to come. Teach your 
 children early truths, even if they cannot comprehend 
 them, and those truths, impressed upon their minds 
 when young, will prove like the lode-star to the mariner 
 upon a dark and stormy sea, associated with a mother's 
 love, with a father's example, with the roof- tree beneath 
 which they lived and loved, and will prove mighty in 
 after-life to mould the man and enable him to adorn and 
 improve the age in which he is placed. The heart of a 
 child is ductile ; it is a soft soil, into which we may cast 
 seed which shall either produce poisonous weeds, or 
 spring up and expand into fruit-bearing trees. Reverence 
 the child that little white pinafore in the infant-school 
 ought to be looked upon at least as reverently as the 
 black apron of the most learned bishop or archbishop 
 that ever lived. It has an importance that you cannot 
 over-estimate ; that child may play a part that shall be 
 terrible as that of a Napoleon the scourge of nations; or 
 beautiful as that of Daniel the faithful amid the faith- 
 less many. " Train up a child in the way he should go," 
 mark the words, not u in the way he would go," that 
 is the French system of education ; but " in the way 
 he should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
 from it." 
 
 Let me notice another feature in the Prophet. Daniel 
 
CHRISTIAN STEADFASTNESS. 15 
 
 was of noble if not of royal birth. He was of the royal 
 tribe of Judah ; and this shows us that whilst " not 
 many mighty, not many noble are called," there are some 
 even of the highest rank who have adorned by their 
 practice the faith which they professed. Isaiah and 
 Daniel were of the royal tribe ; David was a shepherd- 
 boy; Amos was a herdsman; Zechariah, a captive from 
 Babylon ; Elisha, a ploughman ; so that we have among 
 the Old Testament prophets, the prince and the peasant, 
 the noble and the commoner, all equally inspired by the 
 Spirit of God, and proclaiming with equal distinctness 
 the truths of the everlasting Gospel. I know that the 
 minister of the Gospel should look upon the conversion 
 of a single soul as transcending and eclipsing everything ; 
 but under the present constitution of society whether 
 that constitution be good or bad, it is not for me here to 
 discuss rank and wealth and power have a mighty in- 
 fluence, and we ought specially to thank God when 
 families occupying the highest place in the land are 
 found, as they are found, more and more every day, 
 allying themselves to that which gives splendour to the 
 most ancient coronet, and grandeur to the mightiest and 
 most illustrious crown. Daniel then was of the royal 
 tribe, and probably of the royal family, a man of rank 
 and dignity, and he enlisted all his power and all his 
 influence in the service of his country, his religion, and 
 his God. 
 
 In the third place, Daniel and his three friends were 
 evidently scholars ; they were men of learning and talent. 
 Daniel was skilled in all the secular as well as the reli- 
 gious knowledge of his country ; and when we contend 
 for sacred education, you must not suppose that we mean 
 to imply that secular and scientific knowledge is useless 
 to you, or in any way to disparage the pursuit of it. 
 Only read the subsequent part of this chapter, and you 
 will find that Daniel was skilled in all the learning of 
 the times, and it proved of eminent advantage to him and 
 his countrymen. For aught we know, those Babylonians, 
 gazing upon the starry firmament in that splendid 
 atmosphere, and in that glorious climate upon the plains 
 
16 PKOFKETIC STUDIES. 
 
 of Shinar, may have had a knowledge of astronomy 
 which might make even Newton look less if we only 
 knew all that the Chaldeans knew. Daniel, however, 
 was a Hebrew, and was taught in a Hebrew school 
 science associated with religion. And such knowledge 
 proved of use to him, for it was a great means of his 
 exaltation to power. At the present day the possession 
 of sound secular knowledge, in India, for instance, is of 
 very great importance. I need not tell you that among 
 the Hindoos in India we have 100,000,000 of fellow- 
 subjects ; with them science is always most intimately 
 connected with religion, so much so that it is one of the 
 principles of their creed that all knowledge is equally 
 inspired. They believe their chemistry, their astronomy, 
 their geology, to be as much inspired as any principle in 
 their religion. If, then, you can prove to a Hindoo that 
 any part of his science is wrong, you have not only made 
 him a better philosopher, but you have taken out a stone 
 from the very arch of which his whole system of belief 
 is composed. When the Church of Scotland sent out her 
 missionaries, she made the experiment ; but when they 
 tried to teach the Hindoos science as well as religion, 
 some people said, "What, are missionaries going out 
 from a Christian church to teach astronomy?" and cer- 
 tainly the objection seemed plausible enough : but the 
 result has proved how complete was the popular misap- 
 prehension. To give an instance of the advantages 
 arising from the course we adopted, I may state, that the 
 Hindoos believe that the earth is not a round globe, but 
 an extended plain ; and that when an eclipse takes place, 
 it is some great animal whose shadow produces this effect 
 upon the moon, and that it betokens some disaster : but 
 when one of our missionaries proved to a Brahmin what 
 is the true figure of our globe, and demonstrated to him 
 that an eclipse would take place on a certain day, and at 
 a certain hour, and would be visible at a certain place, 
 he had proved to the Brahmin that what he believed to 
 be an inspired dogma was a gross scientific blunder ; and 
 by so doing he not only made the Brahmin a better phi- 
 losopher, which was not worth doing, but he succeeded 
 
CHBISTIAN STEADFASTNESS. 17 
 
 in shaking his faith in his whole system of religious 
 belief, and thus led him to infer that if one article in his 
 creed were false, might not all its articles be false 
 together ? This shows us the great importance of teach- 
 ing scientific knowledge. Now, Daniel was acquainted 
 with all branches of knowledge, and it was of great use 
 to him, as it ever will be in the hand and under the con- 
 trol of religion. So connected it becomes a Levite in 
 the temple of God, a handmaid of the bride. It acts as 
 a pioneer of the Gospel till the spoils that are taken from 
 Egypt shall beautify the temple of Salem, and all nature 
 bring its trophies to adorn the Redeemer's triumph. 
 
 It is evident, in the next place, that though the King 
 of Babylon liked Daniel the scholar, he did not much 
 like Daniel the Christian. He wished Daniel and his 
 friends to be taught all the learning and the tongue of 
 the Chaldeans ; and he wished him at the same time to 
 be taught to serve the gods and sympathise with the re- 
 ligion of the Chaldeans. The king liked Daniel's scho- 
 larship, but not his religion. He would gladly avail 
 himself of Daniel's science ; but he would have liked it 
 separate and distinct from Daniel's religion. So it is 
 with the world still ; men admire an eloquent sermon, if 
 there be not much Gospel in it they are pleased with an 
 argumentative discourse, if it does not touch some tender 
 part of their consciences. There are many who would 
 be delighted Avith Christianity if they could only get rid 
 of that continual appeal to their conscience which runs 
 through the Bible. They have the greatest respect for the 
 decencies of Christianity, and would even tolerate real 
 Christianity, provided it does not become too earnest too 
 urgent for supremacy and mastery in the human heart. 
 
 But the King of Babylon not only wished to unteach 
 Daniel his Christianity; but, in order to detach him still 
 more completely from his Hebrew associations, he changed 
 his name. He had the more reason for doing so in this 
 case, because the names of each of the three children had 
 " God" in it, and thus served to remind them of the re- 
 ligion they professed. But every name which the 
 Chaldee monarch gave them was either merely civil and 
 
 c 
 
18 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 social, or contained an allusion actually idolatrous. 
 "Daniel," for instance, signifies "God my Judge," 
 "Hananiah,"(the original of the Latin " John, 7 means 
 "Grace of Jehovah;" " Mishael," "Asked of God;" 
 "Azariah," " The Lord is my Keeper." These names 
 were to the exiled youths, witnesses for God, and 
 mementos of the faith of their fathers. The king of 
 Babylon, therefore, called Daniel " Belteshazzar," which 
 means, "The treasurer of the god Bel;" Hananiah he 
 called " Shadrach," " The messenger of the King ;" and 
 Mishael he called "Meshach," a name denoting, "The 
 devotee of the goddess Shesach;" and Azariah had his 
 name changed into " Abed-nego," which signifies "The 
 servant of Nego," one of the gods of Babylon. Thus 
 Nebuchadnezzar heathenised their names, in hopes that 
 he might thereby be the better able to heatheriise their 
 hearts. ^There is much in a name. A great poet has 
 said 
 
 " What's in a name 1 that which we call a rose 
 By any other name would smell as sweet " 
 
 Abstractedly and logically, he is correct ; but practically 
 we find that there is a great deal in a name. So thought 
 the King of Babylon ; and when he changed the names 
 of the young Hebrew captives, he imagined that he had 
 made a grand step towards changing their creed and their 
 character. But in this he was mistaken : the alteration 
 of names did not alter the conduct of those that bore 
 them. The Hebrew youths made no resistance, but 
 quietly took the names assigned them, just as Christians 
 have ever taken patiently the reproaches of the world, 
 and borne them joyfully; but, even in this new nomen- 
 clature, they heard the undertone or echo of those dear 
 and holy names which their fathers had given them ; ; nd 
 they felt that though a tyrant might change their names, 
 no tyrant can change a Christian's conviction or a Chris- 
 tian's heart, Neither the sheepskins nor the goatskins of 
 the martyrs made them less lovely before God ; the 
 beauty of the king's daughter is not a beauty that man 
 can make or mar ; her beauty is within, it is a moral a 
 hidden, and so a lasting beauty. 
 
CHEISTIAN" STEADFASTNESS. 19 
 
 The King of Babylon, we read, yet further to identify 
 these four Hebrew youths with himself and his religion, 
 sent them food from the royal table. We know that 
 this was a mark of great generosity. It was, as it were, 
 saying to these Hebrew youths, If you will become 
 priests of our temple, we will give you an endowment 
 from the state. I do not say here whether endowment 
 is right or wrong. Truth can do without it, and may law- 
 fully take it; but truth is not to be promoted by the sword, 
 neither is error to be maintained by the treasury. This 
 sending them meat from the royal table was a mark of 
 esteem a degree of preferment ; and as such it should 
 be received with gratitude ; but it was refused in this 
 case because it involved the sacrifice of principle. Every 
 Jew was forbidden by the law to eat any but animals of 
 certain classes which were called clean. Herein lay 
 one objection to the Hebrew youths accepting the prof- 
 ferred honour of eating from the royal table. But whether 
 our meat be from the table of the monarch or elsewhere, 
 it must not lead us to abandon one jot of what we believe 
 to be true, or to adopt the least item of what we believe 
 to be unscriptural and untrue. The object of the king, 
 as I have explained to you, was partly to engage their 
 sympathies with heathenism, and partly to identify 
 them more with the idol gods whom he worshipped. But 
 another objection on the part of Daniel and his friends 
 arose from the fact, to which I have before alluded, that 
 it was customary with the Chaldeans, as with other hea- 
 then nations, always to commence their meals by the 
 dedication of their food t j the idols whom they adored. 
 Speaking of this subject, the Apostle tells us, 1 Cor. x. 
 27, 28, "If any of them that believe not bid you to a 
 feast, and ye be disposed to go ; whatsoever is set before 
 you, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake : but if 
 any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto 
 idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for con- 
 science' sake." This was just the case of the Hebrew 
 youths ; and in settling this question they argued thus : 
 " Shall I," said Daniel, " ask my conscience, or shall I 
 ask my appetite ? shall I cease to live as an Israelite, or 
 
 c 2 
 
20 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 shall I cease to live as the protege of my royal master ? 
 shall I give up the dignity reflected from the throne, or 
 shall I give up the honour that cometh from God only ?" 
 Had Daniel been one of those modem easy, accom- 
 modating Christians, who when they go to Home say, 
 " We must do as Rome does," and when they go to Con- 
 stantinople, "We must do as Constantinople docs," he 
 would have acted very differently. But he felt that 
 truth has no latitude ; the living religion of the living 
 God knows no longitude. It is to be the same in Lon- 
 don as in Paris ; it is to have supremacy in all countries 
 and in all climes ; whether in Constantinople, or in 
 Home, or in England, we must be the worshippers of 
 the living God, by Christ the living way, and through 
 the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter of all that 
 believe. My dear friends, make the world bow to your 
 religion ; never let your religion bow to the world. Let 
 the world fail, and let give way who will, the earnest 
 Christian and the honest man never will give way. Do 
 not try to be rude ; that is not necessary. Do not offen- 
 sively obtrude what you believe upon others ; but when 
 it is demanded when you are called upon to sacrifice 
 your principles and to deny your Lord, remember that 
 there can be little hesitation when the question is whether 
 you are to obey God, or to obey man. Daniel so acted, 
 and Daniel was blessed in doing so. 
 
 Be ye followers of Daniel, and of all "those who 
 through faith and patience inherited the promises." 
 Study Daniel, and copy him, as far as he copied Christ. 
 We admire this star, because it shines in the light of 
 Christ the original. 
 
 " Faithful found 
 
 Among the faithless ; faithful only he, 
 Among innumerable false ; unmoved, 
 Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, 
 His loyalty he kept, his love and zeal. 
 Nor number nor example with him wrought 
 To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind, 
 Though single." 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 LIVING TO GOD IN LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 " In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of 
 Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto 
 Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave 
 Jehoialdm king of Judah into his hand, with part of 
 the vessels of the house of God : wjiich he carried into 
 the land of Shinar to tlie house of his god; and he 
 brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god. 
 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his 
 eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of 
 Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes ; 
 children in whom ivas no blemish, but well favoured, and 
 skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and 
 understanding science, and such as had ability in them 
 to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach 
 the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And 
 the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's 
 meat, and of the wine which he drank : so nourishing 
 them three years, that at the end thereof they might 
 stand before the king. Now among these were of the 
 children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and 
 Azariah : unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave 
 names : for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar: 
 and to Hananiah, of Shadrach ; and to Mishael, of 
 Meshach ; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego. But Daniel 
 purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself 
 with the portion of the king's meat, nor icith the wine 
 which he drank : therefore he requested of the prince of 
 the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. JSToiv God 
 had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the 
 prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs 
 
22 PHOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath 
 appointed your meat and your drink : for why should he 
 see your faces worse liking than the children which are of 
 your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the 
 king. Then said Daniel to Mehar, whom the prince of 
 of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, 
 and A.zariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten 
 days ; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to 
 drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon be- 
 fore thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of 
 the portion of the king's meat : and as thou seest, deal 
 with thy servants" DANIEL i. 1 13. 
 
 Ix my introductory discourse upon this truly inter- 
 esting book, I have endeavoured first of all to show you 
 that the assumption that the book was written at the 
 epoch at which it is said to have been witten, viz. about 
 600 years before the birth of Christ, can be proved to be 
 fact by internal as well as collateral evidence. I quoted 
 various passages from the book itself in proof of this 
 fact, for most of which I am indebted to Hengstenberg, 
 the celebrated German vindicator of the Book of Daniel 
 and of the Pentateuch ; and I showed from several cir- 
 cumstances that the book must have been penned at the 
 time, in the country, and under the circumstances in 
 which it professes to have been written. 
 
 I then referred to the circumstances in which the four 
 captive Hebrew youths were placed.^/ They had been 
 brought up in the knowledge of the true God, and in the 
 enjoyment of all the religious privileges of Jerusalem ; 
 and now, in the land of their captivity, and among their 
 heathen conquerors, the principles they had imbibed in 
 their youth were put to the severest test. 
 
 I endeavoured from these facts to draw the inference, 
 that a Christian education is one of the greatest blessings 
 you can bestow on those that are around you. The 
 infant generation of to-day are the adult generation of 
 to-morrow ; and very much what we now make them, 
 that they will be. As Christian men we must feel it 
 hard and painful to see the child the all but child 
 
LIVING TO GOD IN LITTLE THINGS. 23 
 
 i 'i * t t. 
 
 broight up at the police court, and sent to (the treadmill, 
 or banished to Botany Bay J when we recollect that it is 
 those who read the intelligence who are to be blamed 
 for leaving that child without the means of Christian 
 and Scriptural instruction ; and it may be that much of 
 the blood of those that thus perish in their sins may lie 
 at our door. At all events, no Christian congregation 
 is warranted in being without a Christian school ; and 
 the larger and the more influential the congregation, the 
 larger and the better supported ought the school to be. 
 Depend upon it, that the first lesson a son receives from 
 a mother is the last lesson that a son recollects upon 
 earth ; and though the earliest truths that we are taught 
 at school may be silenced for a season, or overborne by 
 the din and the roar of the wheels and the machinery 
 of Mammon, yet the hour will come when that early 
 lesson, as if touched by some living influence, will in- 
 stantly revive in all its beauty and its freshness ; and, 
 as in the case of John Newton, when tossed upon the 
 tempestuous deep, conscience will reason of righteous- 
 ness, temperance, and judgment to come. So it was 
 in the case ef Daniel ; the lessons he had learned in his 
 childhood were the lessons that guided him, comforted 
 him, strengthened him, when a captive in the midst of 
 Babylon. 
 
 " I noticed another feature; namely, that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar the king, seeing these youths well instructed, 
 evidently well educated, and one of them, there is reason 
 to believe, of royal lineage, was anxious to make them 
 adopt his religion. (He did not try on this occasion the 
 great blunder that is sometimes perpetrated, of driving 
 them into his religion, or persecuting and punishing 
 them as if the punishment of the body could, in any 
 case, promote the conviction of the soul. He tried a far 
 more artful plan^,/ First of all, he changed their names; 
 for he knew that so long as they were called by their 
 Hebrew names, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 
 so long there would be in their names mementos of early 
 lessons and early associations. He therefore determined 
 upon the expedient, and it was a most clever thought 
 
24 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 in this case, by the grace of God, an unsuccessful one, 
 of changing the names of the Hebrew youths ; hoping 
 that, as they forgot their names, they would forget the 
 creed with which they were associated. ( As I told you, 
 every one of these three names denotes something in 
 connexion with God, and thereby served to remind them 
 
 * of the religion of their fathers. He, therefore, called 
 Daniel, Belteshazzar ; Hananiah, Shadrach ; Mishael, 
 
 k \ Meshach ; and Azariah, Abcd-nego ; which were all 
 names containing some allusion to hiis heathen idols., \IL 
 Christian name is a very beautiful thing ; and we should 
 always prefer to give our children names that in them- 
 selves are eloquent with whatever things are pure, and 
 beautiful, and just, or which are by their associations 
 connected with the good and great who have preceded us 
 to glory. And we cannot but sometimes lament, when 
 we are called upon to baptise a child by some name that 
 reminds us of the Gods of Greece or Kome, or the idols 
 of the heathen, and not of those sainted names that have 
 passed before us into immortality. ./ 
 
 7^ After this plan had been adopted by Nebuchadnezzar 
 he followed it up by another. He thought that these 
 Hebrew youths, having had their names thus changed, 
 might, by Chaldean food, be made much more easily the 
 subjects of Chaldean instruction. He, therefore, did not 
 allow them to be fed on the ordinary food of captives, 
 but he ordered that they should receive their meat from 
 the king's table. Daniel immediately refused it, some 
 would say v on very paltry grounds. Those very liberal 
 Christiansj^but whom I venture to call very latitudinarian 
 Christians; for it is very possible to be liberal and yet 
 not to be latitudinarian ; liberal all Christianity bids us 
 be latitudinarian not one verse of it authorises us to be; 
 we cannot be too liberal in conceding to a brother the 
 largest husk of prejudice ; we cannot be too strict in re- 
 fusing to compromise the least living seed of vital and 
 essential truth ; now, some of these " liberal," or rather, 
 as I said, latitudinarian Christians, )would have said that 
 when Daniel refused the king's meat, and preferred 
 pulse and water, he was a very scrupulous Jew ; others 
 
LIVING TO GOD IN LITTLE THINGS. .25 
 
 would have said, perhaps he thought that drinking wine 
 was in itself sinful, and that water alone was lawful ; 
 others would say, he need not have been so very strict 
 in Babylon as he was in Jerusalem ; that in Rome men 
 should do as Eome does ; in Constantinople men should 
 do as Constantinople does ; and in London men should 
 do as London does. How can any one seriously say so ? 
 Is duty a thing of latitude and longitude ? Does that 
 which is duty here become the reverse there ? If I read 
 my Bible right if I interpret the first lessons of con- 
 science right, duty is like its God, the same everywhere ; 
 and what is duty, and loyalty, and allegiance, to Him, 
 is the same whether amid polar snows or in the torrid 
 zone ; in Rome, where the superstitious hierarch reigns; 
 or in Constantinople, where the fallen star and the 
 crescent are. Daniel felt it so, and he therefore refused 
 the royal bounty. But you ask, was there 8 valid ground 
 for refusing it ? I answer there was ; and I thus explain 
 the reason of it. Among the heathens, before commenc- 
 ing a meal, the meat was first offered or dedicated to the 
 /' Lares or)household gods, and a portion of the wine was 
 x poured out as a libation to the idols whom they adored. 
 What we call "saying grace," or, to use a much more 
 Christian phrase, " asking a blessing," was among them 
 performed by offering a portion of the meat and a portion 
 of the wine to the presiding divinities of their houses. 
 The Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 reasons thus upon the subject ; " It is nothing to you, 
 of course, that he has done so ; but if he means to 
 entrap you into an expression of sympathy with his 
 idolatry, by eating of his food thus dedicated to an idol, 
 then you must abstain from it." Daniel acted on this 
 principle; and he preferred the pulse and water, the 
 least nutritious of the elements of nature, to the daintier 
 cheer of the royal table ; because he would rather have 
 had, what I trust you would rather have, the smiles of 
 your God from heaven, than the patronage of the migh- 
 tiest king that ever swayed a sceptre upon the earth. 
 f Time would not permit me, in my last lecture, to 
 draw all the practical lessons from this fact which I had 
 
26 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 intended to do. I will, therefore, turn your attention 
 to them now.^ Daniel's refusal seemed, at first sight, 
 somewhat uncalled for. Refusing the meat from the 
 royal table, and the wine from the royal cellar, seemed, 
 I say, frivolous to the worldling, hut it involved a great 
 principle. His refusal seemed small to the eye, but it 
 was the turning point of his Christianity. To have acted 
 otherwise would have been no concession of a prejudice, 
 it would have been no mere giving way in matters of 
 detail ; it would have been surrender of principle, 
 compromise of truth, apostasy from his religion ; and 
 Daniel felt that it was a light thing to be judged of 
 man, for He that judged him was God. And have not 
 we something to learn from Daniel's conduct? He 
 was placed under a darker dispensation, when the be- 
 lief of Christ spoke good things, but spoke them faintly; 
 while we are placed in a brighter dispensation, where, 
 (as I showed you in a morning discourses the belief of 
 Christ speaks better things, and speaks them eloquently 
 and distinctly. /'"Are there not some among us, against 
 whom these Hebrew captives will rise up in judgment 
 in this matter ? Are there any here who would sacrifice 
 their conscience with its awful requirements, to their 
 temporary and worldly convenience ? who would stifle 
 the convictions that are deepest, in order to gain some 
 temporary and evanescent advantage, who would give 
 up an article in their creed rather than miss a good 
 place, or lose a valuable living ? Are there any here 
 who would risk the condemnation of their God rather 
 than incur the sneer of man, or lose the king's meat 
 when that meat is the most rich, or the king's wine 
 when it is red in the cup ? If such there be, Daniel 
 even now rises from his grave, and will rise at the 
 resurrection morn and bear witness against them, for 
 seeking their temporal advantage, though in so doing 
 I shall show that they have missed it, and forgetting 
 and neglecting their eternal and inexhaustible obli- 
 gations to God. If this be so, listen to this the first great 
 lesson that I draw from the passage before us. The 
 Lord said, " He that is faithful in a little, is faithful also 
 
LIVING TO GOD IN LITTLE THINGS. 27 
 
 in much ; and he that is unjust in a little is unjust also 
 in much." if There is more force, more point, more appli- 
 cation, to ourselves in this sentence than we are some- 
 times disposed to admit. Many Christians are like Naa- 
 man, the Syrian, ever trying to do some great thing, 
 and thinking that if a great crisis were to come they 
 would have their nerves prepared to meet it, and in 
 God's strength they would be able to triumph. Many 
 Christians tell us, that they cannot find a place large 
 enough for the discharge of their duties ; to them religion 
 becomes a sort of romance ; and instead of quietly laying 
 one brick upon the earth, they are constantly building a 
 thousand castles in the air instead of discharging the 
 plain every-day duty, and showing their faithfulness and 
 love in it, they pass life in looking for some grand occa- 
 sion for the display of their Christian virtues, thinking 
 that though they cannot live as Christians should live, 
 if the crisis were to come they would die as martyrs have 
 died. You are mistaken.j If you cannot be faithful in 
 the least, you cannot be faithful in much. I believe it 
 to be a very important thought, that there are no little 
 things in morals, though there may be little things in 
 matter. Have not you yourselves found that many a great 
 crisis which has absorbed your whole soul for years has 
 left yet upon it no deep impression that survives at the 
 present moment ? And I appeal to some other man's ex- 
 perience ; has not sometimes a random conversation in 
 a railway carriage, an accidental interview with a 
 friend in the place of business, the turning of your foot 
 into a place of worship that was near, because it rained, 
 instead of going to your usual place of worship at a greater 
 distance have not little things such as these, and such 
 as we call so, become the turning-points in your cha- 
 racter; so that, humanly speaking, if some such ap- 
 parently small event had not taken place, the whole after 
 conduct of your life would have been changed ? Thus, 
 we learn, that events which seem to us frivolous and un- 
 important, may become ''.the Thermopylae of a Christian's 
 conflict, the Marathon of a nation's being ;/' the turning- 
 point of everlasting life, or everlasting death. 
 
28 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Let me notice in the next place, in order to vindicate 
 and enforce faithfulness in what are called little things 
 for it was Daniel's faithfulness in things such as these 
 which gave tone and complexion to his whole after life 
 that in the providence and the creation of God, you 
 will find that God as Creator, or God as Provider, ex- 
 pends as much care, wisdom, time, if I may use the 
 expression, certainly attention, on the very least things 
 as he does on the very greatest. If you examine the 
 petal of a rose you will find it as exquisitely and as 
 delicately tinted and touched hy the pencil of God as the 
 largest star that shines and stands like a sentinel before 
 the throne of God. If you take the mightiest orb that 
 the telescope brings within your horizon, you will find 
 that it is not finished with greater care than the smallest 
 molecule of matter that the microscope reveals to your 
 view. In all God's works, you will' see infinite detail, 
 exquisite elaboration of the minutest and the most 
 microscopic things, patient labour, process, attention; 
 and if we would be like God, let us take care to be faith- 
 ful in the very least duty as well as in the largest sacri- 
 fice that he requires of us. & $ 
 
 In the next place, if you will notice that sublime life 
 which is sublimer than providence, more stupendous 
 than creation the life of the Son of God upon earth, 
 you will notice what has often been overlooked, that, 
 according to the same great analogy, Jesus paid attention 
 to little things in his life, as great, as marked, as striking, 
 as to the greatest acts that he did. And I have felt it in 
 my own mind, as well as noticed it in others, that when 
 we quote the character of Jesus, and are trying to show 
 how grand it was, we point to him stretching out his 
 hand, laying it upon the crested waves of the unruly 
 ocean, and making it lie down and be still ; we quote 
 him turning water into wine, opening the closed eye, and 
 unstopping the deaf ear. And we say how great was 
 He ! J3ut I doubt whether these are the highest proofs 
 of the greatness of the Son of God. You find, at all 
 events, that while he could thus display his mighty 
 power in these great things, he yet descended to what 
 
LIVING TO GOD I LITTLE THINGS. 29 
 
 you would call very minute things. I watch him, and I 
 find him one moment speaking in beautiful but truth- 
 breathing tones to Martha, exhorting her not to be over 
 anxious about the affairs of her household. I find him 
 again sitting down weary and wayworn at the well of 
 Samaria, and expending upon one poor woman more of 
 eloquent, and earnest, and impressive reasoning than he 
 ever expended upon kings, and counsellors, and high- 
 priests. 
 
 And just after he had wrought the great miracle 
 of turning the few loaves and fishes into food for five 
 thousand, you find him closing that stupendous evidence 
 of stupendous power, by bidding his disciples gather up 
 the crumbs that remained in order that nothing might be 
 lost. Or, to notice a yet more striking instance, when 
 he hung upon the cross in that dire and bitter agony 
 which is so graphically recorded by the Evangelists, and 
 which Christians, Sabbath after Sabbath, commemorate, 
 with the whole burden of a world's transgressions rest- 
 ing upon him, do you recollect that touching and affect- 
 ing fact, that while one moment he could cry, in anguish 
 which no. language can depict, "Eli, Eli, lama sabach- 
 thanir" "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 me?" the next moment he descends to say to John, 
 "Behold thy mother !" committing, even in this hour of 
 overwhelming sorrow, a weeping mother to the care of a 
 faithful friend. And when, having completed the stu- 
 pendous work in which he was engaged, he rose triumph- 
 ant from the grave when the great stone was rolled 
 away at his bidding, and all the obstructions of the 
 tomb were rent asunder at his word, do you remember, 
 what we might consider a very petty and trivial inci- 
 dent, but really not so, that we are told by the Evange- 
 list that the napkin that had been wrapped around the 
 Saviour's head was found, not Jeft behind in a state of 
 confusion, but rolled up and laid aside by itself? and how 
 he said to the women whose affection led them first to 
 the sepulchre, "Go and tell my disciples and Peter?" 
 "What attention to little things ! What care over minute 
 things! What faithfulness in that which is least, as 
 
30 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 well as in that which is great! a precedent and an 
 example that we should follow in his steps. 
 
 There is often as much real religion to he shown in 
 little things as in great things. You have in Daniel all 
 the feeling and the religious principle that a martyr 
 would require for a martyr's triumphs, but it is exhibited 
 in a circumstance the most minute and apparently unim- 
 portant. As great love may.be displayed to our relatives 
 in attention to little things, as in great and laborious 
 sacrifices. Peter could unsheath his sword, and cut off 
 the ear of Malchus to defend his Master ; but Peter could 
 not help denying his Lord when accused by the servants 
 of being a friend of Jesus. We have learned little 
 Christianity if we have not learned this, that it needs as 
 much grace to live divinely, as it does to die divinely. It 
 is possible to give our bodies to be burned, and to distri- 
 bute all our goods to feed the poor, and yet not to have 
 that love which endureth all things, beareth all things, 
 hopeth all things, and is the highest evidence of our 
 connexion with, and our belonging to God. Then, my 
 dear friends, feeling this, seeing that there is weight in 
 what I have now said, because there is truth in it, let us 
 seek to be thus faithful in that which is least. Let us 
 ever remember that to be singular for the mere sake of 
 singularity is absurd ; but to be singular when the call 
 of duty and faithfulness to God demands it, is the 
 evidence of a true Christian. Let us purpose, like 
 Daniel, not to defile ourselves with any meat, even 
 though it be the king's. It may be unfashionable, but 
 it is Christian. It may look occasionally singular, but it 
 is the singularity of principle, not the singularity of 
 caprice. It may cost us much self-denial, but it is a 
 part of our warfare. It may be construed as scrupulosity 
 or fastidiousness, but it is really an clement of Christian 
 character. And if we desire to be steadfast and to con- 
 quer in the minute as well as in the mighty, in the least 
 as well as in the greatest, let us recollect that we have 
 the same source of strength and of victory that Daniel 
 had, " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, 
 saith the Lord of hosts;" only we must not, as some 
 
LIVING TO GOD IX LITTLE THINGS. 31 
 
 persons do, confound two things that differ completely. 
 They think they cannot be faithful without being very 
 rude ; they fancy they cannot be true to God without 
 being very discourteous, and perhaps very vulgar in their 
 expressions towards man. Now, whether vulgarity and 
 rudeness be sins or virtues, it is needless to discuss ; at 
 all events they are not certainly evidence that there is 
 faithfulness along with them. Kotice Daniel's example. 
 He combines all the courtesy : of the most finished cour- 
 tier, with all the steadfastness of the most devoted Chris- 
 tian. When he was told that his name should be changed 
 he bore it with all meekness ; the ancient followers of 
 the cross were clothed with sheepskins and goatskins ; 
 they wandered in deserts and caves of the earth, being 
 destitute, afflicted, tormented ; they were branded with 
 every ignominy, and regarded by all men as the very off- 
 scouring of the earth. Yet they took it all patiently, 
 so did Daniel bear his cross ; but when it came to a point 
 of principle, when he was ordered to eat the king's meat, 
 and thereby deny his religion, we do not find him fiy 
 into a furious state of excitement, or use the language of 
 bravado; there was no outbreak of temper, no boasting, 
 no insolence or defiance. He did not say, " Tell the king 
 I will not do so." That would have been violence, 
 rudeness, insolence the least effective, and the least 
 expedient. He had confidence in his religious principles ; 
 he trusted in the goodness of his cause ; he relied upon 
 the God whom he served ; and the reply which he made 
 to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over 
 him and his fellows, was this, " Prove thy servants, I 
 beseech thee," the language of perfect respect, " ten 
 days ; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to 
 drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before 
 thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of 
 the portion of the king's meat : and as thou seest, deal 
 with thy servants." AVhat gentleness and courtesy ! as 
 well as what a sanctified heart ! the highest Christianity 
 is always associated with the highest, courtesy. My con- 
 viction is that none but a finished Christian can be a 
 finished gentleman ; for if there be genuine Christianity 
 
82 PEOrHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 in the heart the manners will be but the outward 
 evidences of the inward feelings of the heart gentle, 
 beautiful, courteous, bearing all things, hoping all 
 things, enduring all things. AVe find that Melzar was 
 so charmed and delighted to see so much self-denial 
 united to so great courtesy and gentleness that he im- 
 mediately permitted the experiment to be made, and the 
 result is stated in verse 15, that at the end of ten days 
 their countenances were found fairer and fatter in flesh 
 than those of the children that did eat of the king's meat. 
 
LECTURE IY. 
 
 TRUE PRINCIPLE IS TRUE EXPEDIENCY. 
 
 " As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and 
 skill in all learning and wisdom : and Daniel had tinder- 
 standing in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of 
 the days that the king had said he should bring them in, 
 then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before 
 Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; 
 and among them all teas found none like Daniel, Hana- 
 niah, Mishael, and Azariah : therefore stood they before 
 the king. And in all matters of wisdom and under- 
 standing that the king inquired of them, he found them ten 
 times better than all the magicians and astrologers that 
 were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto 
 the first year of king Cyrus." DANIEL, i. 17 21. 
 
 THE next lesson that we have to draw from the closing 
 verses of the chapter is a very important one it is the 
 result of Daniel's experiment. - Was Daniel a loser by 
 his firm adherence to principle ? Not at all, it was all 
 the very reverse. We find that Daniel's faithfulness to 
 conscience, his allegiance to his God, his courteous but 
 firm refusal to do that which was sinful, was even in this 
 world blessed to him, and even in temporal affairs turned 
 to his advantage. Now I wish young men especially to 
 look at this ; because the lesson that I am drawing from 
 it is a much needed one. The four children were found 
 at the end of ten days to have been so blessed of God, that 
 not only were they, as we have seen, fairer and fatter in 
 flesh than any of the children i.e. the children of Israel 
 ' who gave up their consciences and ate of the king's 
 meat ; but the result was, in the end, that in all matters 
 
 D 
 
34 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 of knowledge and skill, they were many times wiser than 
 all the magicians and astrologers that were in all the 
 realm. God honoured his servants. The result of this 
 faithfulness to God was promotion in the palace and the 
 favour of the king. 
 
 The lesson, therefore, that I draw from the whole 
 subject is in these words, " Seek ye first the kingdom of 
 God and his righteousness, and all other things will be 
 added unto you." In other words, make religion the 
 great thing, and all the rest that you want will fall into 
 its place. You have heard of, and many of you liave 
 probably read, Josephus, the Jewijsh historian. He was 
 the servant of the Roman emperors, Titus and Yespasian, 
 and of course he was anxious, as you might expect in a 
 man not troubled with very much conscience or very 
 much religion, to please and propitiate his masters as 
 much as possible. He thus comments upon the conduct 
 of Daniel and his fellows in preferring pulse and water 
 to wine and meat from the royal table. Of course, he 
 could not say that it was Daniel's refusal to patronise or 
 to connive at the idolatry of the heathen that made him 
 so accepted and beloved, for this would have been to offend 
 his Roman masters, who were worshippers of similar 
 idols; but he gives this explanation: "By the diet 
 they took they had their minds in some measure more 
 pure and less burdened, and so fit for learning, and had 
 their bodies in better condition for hard labour ; for they 
 neither had the former oppressed with variety of meats, 
 nor the latter effeminate on the same account ; so they 
 readily amassed all the learning of the Hebrews and the 
 Chaldeans." Such is the account of the matter given 
 by this Jewish historian. Josephus was very much like 
 some of our modern philosophers, who are always glad 
 when they can explain a phenomenon without God. If 
 you ask them anything about the firmanent above or the 
 earth below ; if you ask them for a solution of the 
 plague, the pestilence, or the recent epidemic; if you 
 ask them for an explanation of any one fact or pheno- 
 menon in science, in history, in creation, in Providence ; 
 they have some hundreds of what they call laws, and 
 
TRUE PRINCIPLE IS TEUE EXPEDIENCY 35 
 
 they say, " Such is the law of nature :" and no doubt 
 there ore laws ; and as long as the word is used to denote 
 harmony and consistency of movement, regularity and 
 order, so long it is good ; but the moment you are satis- 
 fied with a reference to the law as an explanation of the 
 phenomenon, that moment you are working with Josephus 
 and with the heathen, and attributing to lords many and 
 gods many that which is the clear evidence of the pre- 
 sence of the living and the true God. The reason why 
 Daniel prospered upon pulse and water, is not that a 
 vegetarian diet, as some say, is the most wholesome, or 
 that water is far more conducive to health than wine 
 though I believe that the less wine you drink the better, 
 if you have no physical need for it ; and I am sure that 
 in perfect health there is very little need for it. But this 
 was not the reason why Daniel prospered upon pulse and 
 water. It was the blessing of the Lord added to the 
 pulse and water, which made them far more nutritive 
 than the king's meat and the king's wine, with that 
 blessing withdrawn from them. In other words, he 
 sought first God's kingdom and God's righteousness, and 
 all other things were added to him. He found this to 
 be true, " Godliness hath promise of the life that now is, 
 as well as of that which is to come." 
 
 And now I say again to you, my dear friends, as the 
 inference from all this, " Seek first to do God's will, and 
 all other things shall be added unto you." Do not take 
 anxious thought about to-morrow, but take prayerful 
 thought about to-day. Depend upon it that the vigorous 
 discharge of to-day's duties will be the best preparation 
 for to-morrow's trials. Let alone to-morrow's cares till 
 the sun of to-morrow looks upon them and awakens 
 them. " Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." And 
 I know nothing more absurd in itself, and yet nothing 
 more common, than for men to scrape all to-morrow's 
 trials, that may be or that may not be, and add them to 
 the duties and the trials of to-day, forgetting that God 
 gives us strength 'for each day, and not strength for that 
 day and the next likewise ; that God gives us bread for 
 to-day, and yet not bread for to-day and to-morrow. 
 
 D 2 
 
'66 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 You do God's will and stand by your post, and discharge 
 your duties this day, and to-morrow will take care of 
 itself. " Seek first God's glory and God's will, and all 
 other things will be added unto you." 
 
 And therefore I would say, enlarging and expanding 
 this sentiment, seek first to know God before other things. 
 By all means study science ; but not science, not philo- 
 sophy, not literature, not music, not painting first, but 
 study Christianity first. Take the knowledge of God 
 into the school, into the university, into the encyclopedia, 
 as first and last. Hear, indeed, the wisdom of Solomon, 
 but hear first the wisdom of one greater than Solomon. 
 Do not go through Solomon to Christ, but go through 
 Christ to Solomon. Seek first to know Him whom to 
 know is eternal life ; then study science, and literature, 
 and painting, and music, and all that this world's learn- 
 ing can teach. We do not want to discourage secular 
 knowledge, but to plant in its bosom that which will 
 adorn, exalt, and sanctify both the study and the student, 
 and make the one an ornament and the other an heir of 
 the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 In the next place let me say^study first of all the 
 safety of the soul. The first thought you have to think 
 of, the first duty you have to discharge, is the duty that 
 you owe to the soul. "Who can calculate this problem, 
 " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul?" Our first effort should be to 
 obtain an answer to this question, What shall I do to be 
 saved ? My dear friends, no man ever yet set out to gain 
 the world by the sacrifice of his soul, and succeeded in 
 his object. The words are, " / you gain the world ; " it 
 does not imply, that if you set out to gain the world at 
 such a cost you are sure eventually to gain it. Twenty 
 men set out, all determined to be rich, and nineteen are 
 strewed like wrecks on the highway. And have you not 
 found, on the other hand, that the man who set out 
 determined to provide for the safety of his soul in the 
 first instance has had other things added to him unex- 
 pectedly, and in far greater abundance than he could 
 have anticipated ? * 
 
TRUE PRINCIPLE IS TRUE EXPEDIENCY. 37 
 
 And if this be true, carry out the same principle in 
 your families. I speak to fathers and mothers ; seek 
 first to make your children Christians, next, and only 
 next, to be gentlemen. Send your children rather, I 
 beseech you, to a school where they will be taught to 
 pray fervently, than to a school where they will be 
 taught to dance after the most approved mode and ac- 
 cording to the most elegant movements. Be anxious 
 rather to make your children Christians than to make 
 them Churchmen, or Dissenters, or Episcopalians, or 
 Presbyterians. Depend upon it that the old Adam will 
 learn soon enough to fight about free church and inde- 
 pendency, and episcopacy, and presbytery, and about all 
 the "isms" to be found in the catalogue of man; but 
 the last thing and the most difficult thing that they will 
 learn is to care about their souls, or to think about God. 
 Teach your children that pulse and plain water, with the 
 blessing of God, is sweeter and better and more nutritive 
 than the king's meat and the king's wine without it. 
 
 In the next place I would say, in fixing to attend on a 
 ministry, carry out the same principle ; seek first the 
 kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other 
 things will be added unto you. Do not attach the great- 
 est importance to the section of the Church; but you 
 who are an Independent, prefer Christian and Scriptural 
 doctrine with episcopacj T , rather than unscriptural doc- 
 trine with independency; and you who are an Episco- 
 palian, prefer to hear the Gospel from the minister of an 
 Independent denomination, rather than to hear Puseyism 
 and Popery from a bishop of your own church. And so 
 with respect to the Scotch Church I prefer it, and think 
 it the best in existence ; and why should I not ? I was 
 baptised in it, I have studied it, I know it, I love it ; 
 but if there were deadly error preached in the parish 
 church I was bom by, and if the Gospel was preached 
 by a poor Metho;list local preacher, in a neighbouring 
 barn, I would go and hear the poor Methodist preacher, 
 and leave the parish minister with empty pews. When 
 the question is, shall it be bread or poison ? by all means 
 give me good bread in a silver basket ; but rather give 
 
38 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 me good bread on a wooden trencher than poison in a 
 golden basket. Take other things in their place, other 
 things think about, other things prefer, but this you 
 must have; and common sense, which is nearest to the 
 highest Christianity, will insist upon making this the 
 first and the paramount consideration. 
 
 In the next place, carry out this principle in fixing 
 upon a house to dwell in. In this world we are con- 
 stantly changing. Let me tell those who have mansions 
 and those who have cottages those who have palaces 
 and those who have cellars, that they are all equally 
 precarious in their tenure, for there are two ways to get 
 rid of them : either the inhabitant will be removed from 
 the house, or the house will be removed from the inha- 
 bitant. There are two ways of separating the one from 
 the other ; we are but dwellers in tents ; strangers and 
 pilgrims as all our fathers were ; and therefore, if you 
 are changing your house, do not, like Lot, prefer the 
 well- watered plain, just within range of the din and 
 the noise of Sodom, basking in its sunshine, listening to 
 its noise, as to the sweetest and best music ; but rather 
 prefer a much smaller house, with a less beautiful lawn, 
 and less spacious grounds, and far fewer conveniences, 
 that basks in the sunshine of the countenance of God, 
 and that gives you the opportunity of hearing the Gospel 
 of the blessed Jesus. Prefer a house near to a pious and 
 evangelical minister, rather than a house near to the 
 hall of a noble or the palace of a king. Be content 
 with bread living bread where ) r ou can know God, 
 rather than the king's meat and royal wine without that 
 knowledge. 
 
 Arid so, my dear friends, I would urge you to carry 
 out the same principle in entering upon any business. 
 Do not select a business inconsistent with the exercise 
 of your Christian duties, or in which you must sacrifice 
 your Christian principles in order to practise what it 
 requires. Only let me add, do not be rash in saying, 
 I cannot live as a Christian here, and therefore I will 
 abandon it. That is very often an excuse for self- 
 indulgence. It is very often an excuse for not deter- 
 
TRUE PRINCIPLE IS TRUE EXPEDIENCY. 39 
 
 mining to be firm, and faithful. It is supposing that 
 you can do your duty best on the soft lawn, and not on 
 the hard and tented battle-field. Wherever Providence 
 has placed you, make the experiment if you can faith- 
 fully serve God there. And if you find that you cannot 
 serve God, then you have no alternative. If you are 
 about to choose a business, let it be one in which you 
 can secure your Sabbaths. Give not up your Sabbaths ; 
 do not sacrifice them. It is not rich men who will feel 
 the loss of such an institution, but the poor. Depend 
 upon it that the working man will get no more wages 
 for his seven days' work than he now gets for six. It is 
 a maxim of political economy which is worth repeating 
 from the pulpit, that the amount of wages is always 
 dependent upon the amount of labour. Where there 
 are few labourers and much to be done, there wages will 
 be high ; where there are many labourers and less to be 
 done, there wages will be low. Now if you add a 
 seventh day over all the kingdom, to the six working 
 days of the week, you bring a seventh part more of all 
 the labourers in the land into the labour market, and 
 wages will proportionately decrease. Rely upon it, that 
 by sacrificing your Sabbaths you will be dead losers even 
 in a temporal point of view. J 
 
 Therefore, my dear friends, stand fast for your privi- 
 leges; " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." It 
 is the poor man's privilege ; the Sabbath is emphatically 
 the poor man's day; and nothing is to me more beautiful 
 than this thought, that there is a day that comes round 
 among the days of the week, in which the poorest man 
 and the richest man may meet in the sanctuary, and 
 say, " We are peers; though equally sinners by nature, 
 we are equally saints by grace;" and in this world, 
 where men have divided so much and monopolised so 
 much, there is still a place where the rich and the poor, 
 the mightiest noble and the meanest peasant, can meet 
 together and feel that " the Lord is the maker of them 
 all." I advocate the maintenance of the Sabbath on 
 these low grounds; but I advocate it also on higher 
 grounds than these, but which I need not now repeat. 
 
40 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 I say again, therefore, my dear friends, never give up 
 your Sabbaths. Labour, as many young men do labour, 
 to gain more time on your week-day evenings for the 
 cultivation of your minds, and for the study of all that 
 can adorn, and beautify, and perfect them, as Christians 
 and heirs of immortality; but never, never surrender 
 this greatest of privileges the Sabbath. 
 
 And lastly, I would say, in your homes " seek first 
 the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other 
 things shall be added unto you." "Wherever there is a 
 fireside, let there be an altar ; seek the blessing of God 
 in your homes, and depend upon it that blessing will 
 not be withheld from you. One reason why there are 
 so many sad homes is just this, that there are so many 
 homes in which there are no altars. One reason why 
 there are so many undutiful children is, that no blessing 
 has been asked by the parents on behalf of the children. 
 Seek therefore, in your homes, "first the kingdom of 
 God and his righteousness, and all other things will be 
 added unto you." 
 
 In short, Daniel found, what every true Christian has 
 found, that Christian principle is the highest expediency. 
 
 fW tj* / 
 
 4^d 
 
 ^ *--/ 
 
 
 
LECTURE Y. 
 
 BABYLON", THE GOLDEN HEAD. 
 
 " Thou, king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven 
 hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and 
 glory. And ivheresocver the children of men dwell, the 
 leasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he 
 given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them 
 all. Thou art this head of gold" DANIEL ii. 37, 38. 
 
 THIS chapter records a prophecy revealed to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, and through him, as the mere organ of 
 utterance, to us, of what shall be the succession of the 
 kingdoms of the world till the day when the great stone, 
 the rock that is laid in Zion, shall grind them to powder, 
 and there shall rise and nourish on their ruins the king- 
 doms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign 
 for ever and ever. This great image is meant to be a 
 standing symbol, representative, as Daniel explains it, 
 of four successions of supreme and sovereign kingdoms, 
 beginning in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. History 
 shows that there have been just four universal kingdoms 
 in the world, and only four ; those very four which were 
 clearly foreshadowed to the king, and explained by Daniel 
 as the interpretation of the dream. The first supreme 
 kingdom without a rival, was the kingdom of Babylon, 
 or symbolically the Head of Gold ; the second kingdom 
 was the Medo-Persian, which I shall hereafter more 
 fully explain. The third kingdom was the Macedonian, 
 which every one knows to have been for a season 
 universal. The fourth kingdom was divided into ten 
 kingdoms, as the two feet of the image were divided 
 into ten toes. These ten kingdoms, which I shall also 
 
42 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 show to have actually existed, and the prediction thus 
 to have been fulfilled, have tried to mingle, one or other 
 having set up to absorb the rest and be supreme, and all, 
 in every instance, have failed. Since the Roman empire 
 was divided into ten kingdoms, Charlemagne has swept 
 the world, and retired unsuccessful from the effort to 
 make an universal sovereignty. After him, and others 
 who might be named, Napoleon visited every land, and 
 subjected almost every country in Europe : but just as 
 it seemed to be within his reach to lord it over all the 
 world, and to construct out of the ten kingdoms a new 
 and universal sovereignty, the snow fell softly and beau- 
 tifully from heaven, as the light upon an infant's eye ; 
 but those same insignificant snow-flakes formed them- 
 selves into ramparts that checked his troops, and ulti- 
 mately made shrouds and graves for all his chivalry. 
 So that we have already, in the history of the past, clear 
 evidence that what Daniel here describes as a dream, 
 and gives the interpretation of, was a prophecy of that 
 which has actually occurred, so that history in its chap- 
 ters sounds the echo of truth in the prophecies of God. 
 
 In looking at the introduction to this vision, and the 
 failure of the magi to explain it, you will notice the 
 unreasonable requirement of the king. He substantially 
 said, " I shall not be satisfied by you astrologers giving 
 me an interpretation of my dream ; you must state what 
 the dream itself was, and I shall thereby have proof - 
 for it seemed as if he were a sceptic even in his own re- 
 ligion I shall have proof by your thus telling me the 
 nature of my dream, that you have a divine authority 
 adequate to expound and unfold the substance of that 
 dream." The magicians and astrologers made every ex- 
 cuse and apology : first, that the thing was uncommon ; 
 and secondly, that no king or dreamer had ever made 
 such a requirement before, and that no wise man, or 
 magician, or astrologer, had even explained such a thing 
 before. At this, the king became furious, and, like all 
 men who have great power as well as ungovernable 
 passions, he orders them to be slain. That king is but a 
 specimen of what uasanctified man becomes when he has 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD. 43 
 
 too great power. It is well that man in this world should 
 not have absolute power. It is too awful a prerogative 
 for him to possess in this dispensation ; it never has been 
 wielded rightly, and it never will be until man is made 
 a new creature, and all things are become new. At present 
 we need restraint, modifications, and limitations con- 
 stitutional laws that counterbalance the excessive weight 
 of democracy on the one hand, and check the effects of 
 despotism in its fury on the other, so that the machinery 
 of government may best answer its ends. Daniel, hear- 
 ing of the king's decree, went into the royal presence and 
 begged for a little time. And why did Daniel ask time ? 
 the answer is given in the subsequent verse : he asked 
 time in order that he might go and speak to God, and 
 implore on bended knee his help, instruction, and 
 guidance. And accordingly, we find him, after making 
 his request to Arioch, "making the thing known to his 
 companions, that they would desire mercies of the God 
 of heaven concerning this secret ; that Daniel and his 
 fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men 
 of Babylon." If we are in difficulty, the right resource 
 is prayer. There is no question that God does answer 
 prayer. He may not answer it in the precise way which 
 we in our ignorance prescribe, but He will answer it in 
 the way that is most for his glory and our good. "What- 
 ever be the nature of our trial, we are warranted in ap- 
 proaching God, and beseeching him to remove it ; what- 
 ever be the thorn that is most poignant, we are warranted 
 in asking God to extract it. It is no just objection to 
 this, to say, we may be asking what is not good for us ; 
 it is not our province to determine this, but God's. 
 It is our part to unbosom the wants of our hearts, and 
 offer up the honest petitions of our souls, and to rest 
 confident in this, that God will not give what would 
 prove our present or our eternal ruin. 
 
 When Daniel had prayed to God and had received 
 an answer to his prayers, what did he next do ? He 
 instantly returned to thank God. The man who prays 
 sincerely in the morning will praise as sincerely at 
 night. "Is any man afflicted? let him pray. Is any 
 
44 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 merry ? let him sing psalms." It is wrong to be 
 Christians when we are in want of anything, and to 
 be atheists when we have obtained it. Let us ask as 
 Christians, and praise as Christians. Let us appeal to 
 God for what we want ; and then let us give the glory 
 to God when we have obtained what we asked. 
 
 Daniel then goes to the king, and announces to him 
 this great fact, that " there is a God in heaven that 
 revealeth secrets." And with beautiful humility he 
 adds, " It is not because of the wisdom that is in me 
 that I am able to make known this secret, but it is for 
 the glory of Him who has taught me, and who is willing 
 to do good to thee." 
 
 He next proceeds to explain to the king what he had 
 seen in his vision an image which is here described. 
 He then explains what that image represented. In this 
 Lecture I shall only be able to call your attention to 
 "the head of gold." The text, therefore, on which I 
 shall specially speak in this Lecture is (verses 37, 38) : 
 " Thou, king, art a king of kings : for the .God of 
 heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, 
 and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, 
 the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath 
 he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over 
 them all. Thou art this head of gold;" plainly mean- 
 ing, " thy kingdom or thy state is so." 
 
 The Church of God was now captive in Babylon. How 
 deeply distressed was the whole of Israel at this era ! 
 The glory had departed from between the cherubim ; 
 the sons and the daughters of Judah were captives beside 
 the Euphrates ; the sacred vessels of the sanctuary were 
 now the property of the spoiler. Their grand temple 
 was in ruins; and "Ichabod, Ichabod," "The glory is 
 departed," was the sad inscription too legible to the 
 heart of every captive in Babylon. But in this state of 
 outward depression you will notice how God compensated 
 for all external disadvantages by special manifestations 
 of his wisdom and his power. He showed them that he 
 was not dependent upon outward things ; that when all 
 ordinances have passed away, the Lord of the ordinance 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD. 45 
 
 can take their place, and more than compensate for their 
 absence. Is it not still often felt in the experience of 
 the people of God, that when the outward fabric is dis- 
 solved, the inward glory, that seemed restricted to its 
 walls, only breaks forth with greater splendour, and 
 spreads throughout the world with greater speed ? Was 
 it not to the Church in the wilderness ; to the two wit- 
 nesses prophesying in sackcloth ; to the woman who 
 was obliged to flee from the persecuting power of the 
 Roman apostasy, that God revealed most clearly the 
 riches of his grace, and made known with the greatest 
 power the manifestations of his mind and will ? Often, 
 when the visible Church is in ruins, does God construct 
 upon its wreck a yet more glorious fane a house not 
 made with hands, more beautiful than the temples of 
 Balbec, than the cathedrals of Europe, more splendid 
 than the theatres of Ionia, more magnificent than the 
 temple of Solomon in all its glory. It is often when the 
 Church has no mitre on her head, no Urim and Thum- 
 mim upon her breast, that you may read most legibly the 
 bright inscription on her brow, " Blessed are the pure 
 in heart, for they shall see God." The breaking of the 
 outward crutch makes her lean more simply upon God. 
 The departure of the beautiful sign makes her think 
 more of the inner and the precious substance. You 
 will sec too, in conformity with this idea, how God has 
 ever given the greatest manifestations of his mind to 
 sufferers. To a captive beside the banks of the Ulai 
 and the Hiddekel, i.e. to Daniel, God made known the 
 greatest portions of his mind and will, as these were to 
 be unfolded in future ages. To an exile and a prisoner, 
 amid the dreary solit ides of Patmos, i.e. to John, God 
 revealed that grand procession of saints, and martyrs, 
 and kings, and dynasties, and heroes, and conquerors, 
 the history of which is recorded in the Apocalypse, and 
 the fulfilment of which is contained in every chapter of 
 human history. To the men who felt they had nothing 
 upon earth, did God make known most plainly how 
 much they had in heaven. To the eye that was shut 
 upon all the splendours of time, did God disclose in the 
 
46 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 greatest fulness the glories of eternity. And just as 
 God made known most of his mind to those who were 
 most separate from the world, he will also discover most 
 of the meaning of his word to those who are least bound 
 up with the cares, the anxieties, the pomps, and the 
 vanities of this present life. 
 
 The first thing that occurred, when God was about 
 to reveal to Daniel his purposes, was the silencing ot 
 the wisdom of man. These magicians owned their 
 ignorance before God revealed his wisdom. It is thus 
 that God shows the wisdom of man to be folly, in order 
 that the wise man may not glory in wisdom ; and the 
 strength of man to be but weakness, in order that the 
 strong man may not glory in his strength. In the case 
 of the Egyptian magicians he shoAved the weakness of 
 human power; in the case of the Chaldean magicians he 
 taught the ignorance of human wisdom ; and in both 
 cases he led prince and people from the broken cisterns 
 to the divine and original fount. 
 
 The four empires, as I have already explained, are 
 the Babylonian, the Persian, the GraDco-Macedonian, 
 and the Roman empires ; and the last, the empire of 
 the stone cut out without hands, represents the empire 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 The first kingdom, then, here represented by the 
 head of gold, was that of Babylon. Let me just 
 briefly notice what is said about it in the word of God, 
 and in what respects that which was prophesied of it 
 has been fulfilled You will always perceive, that one 
 kingdom passes from the stage the moment that the 
 other comes on. In other words, the Persian kingdom 
 was constructed from the ruins of the Babylonian ; the 
 Graeco-Macedonian was constructed from the ruins of the 
 Persian ; and the Roman kingdom rose upon the ruins 
 of all that preceded it. 
 
 About 612 years B.C. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Nine- 
 veh ; or, in the language of Scripture, as shown to be 
 true by the disclosures of Layard, "made its grave;" 
 burying in the deep and silent earth all its grandeur, 
 its pomp, and its splendour. And when Nineveh, till 
 
BA.BYLON", THE GOLDEN HEAD. 47 
 
 that time the greatest kingdom upon earth, was thus 
 entombed in its grave, Babylon ascended the throne, 
 and swayed the sceptre over all the nations of the world. 
 The walls of the city of Babylon, as we read not only in 
 Scripture, but in Xenophon, the beautiful and classic 
 Greek historian, were of gigantic size, measuring sixty 
 miles in circumference ; and the breadth of these walls, 
 which were very solid, being built of brick cemented 
 with bitumen, a substance produced upon the soil, were 
 capable of allowing six chariots, each with two horses, 
 to drive abreast upon them. The city had 100 gates of 
 solid brass. The temple of Bel, or of Belus, as it is called 
 by classic writers, had a circumference of half a mile, 
 and was upwards of one thousand feet in height, or 
 nearly three times the height of St. Paul's cathedral. 
 The fertility of the whole region of Chaldea, watered by 
 the Tigris and the Euphrates, was so great that classical 
 historians, Herodotus and Strabo, tell us that it pro- 
 duced two hundredfold ; i.e. that one seed of corn, if I 
 may use this mode of illustration, produced in the ear 
 200 seeds ; a degree of fertility unrivalled in any modern 
 country. This I state to justify the description of the 
 prophet, when he calls Babylon " the excellency of 
 Chaldea," and literally, "the glory of kingdoms." 
 Again, what is the sign of it in Nebuchadnezzar's 
 dream? "The head of gold;" in its natural and 
 physical properties the most valuable of the four metals. 
 In order to show you the descriptions given of it by 
 other prophets of God, I refer to the prophet Jeremiah, 
 who thus speaks of it in chap, xxvii. 5 8 : " I have 
 made the earth, the man, and the beast that are upon 
 the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched 
 arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto 
 me. And now have I given all these lands into the 
 hands of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, my 
 servant ; and the beasts of the field have I given him 
 also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and 
 his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land 
 come: and then many nations and great kings shall 
 serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that 
 
48 PROPHETIC STTTMES. 
 
 the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same 
 Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, and that will not 
 put their neck under the yoke of the King of Babylon, 
 that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, 
 and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I 
 have consumed them by his hand." You have in these 
 words the investiture of the King of Babylon with 
 universal sovereignty : in other words, " the empire of 
 the head of gold," in all its magnificence ; characterised 
 by unrivalled fertility, wielding a dominion superior to 
 that of the nations around, with no limits but the will 
 and the power of the monarch. We then find that the 
 head of gold passes away, to give place to an empire 
 rising from its ruins, only less magnificent than the 
 former. And in order to show how truly history is the 
 echo of prophecy, I will quote the predictions of the 
 downfal of Babylon, and then adds the facts of its ruin 
 as those facts are recorded by Xenophon, Strabo, and 
 Herodotus, the heathen historians. 
 
 I will give, I say, first of all the predictions of God, 
 as these were uttered many years before its fall, and then 
 I will read the facts recorded in history by impartial 
 writers who did not even know of the prophecy, and 
 who could not have the least design or intention of show- 
 ing its fulfilment. The first passage to which I refer is 
 Jer. xxv. 11, 12, and this is a summary of all that 
 follows, where God says, " This whole land shall be a 
 desolation, and an astonishment ; and these nations shall 
 serve the king of Babylon seventy years." You recollect 
 I showed you the prophecy that all nations should serve 
 him, and here you read what is to follow : " And it 
 shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, 
 that I will punish the King of Babylon, and that nation, 
 saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the 
 Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations." The 
 captivity of the Jews in Babylon was to last seventy 
 years : and just while their punishment lasted, the pros- 
 perity of Babylon was to last, and no longer. I will now 
 direct your attention to Isaiah xiii., " The burden of 
 Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos did see ;" and I 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAT). 49 
 
 l read such, verses only as apply immediately to the 
 subject before us. At verse 4, and I will thank you 
 to notice the very words used by the prophet, because 
 the evidence of the inspiration of these prophets will be 
 rendered the more plain by your observing how minutely 
 each prediction has been fulfilled, "The noise of a 
 multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people ; a 
 tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered 
 together : the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the 
 battle. They come from a far country, from the end of 
 heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indigna- 
 tion, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye ; for the day 
 of the Lord is at hand ; it shall come as a destruction 
 from the Almighty. Therefore snail all hands be faint, 
 and every man's heart shall melt. And they shall be 
 afraid : pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them ; they 
 shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth : they shall 
 be amazed one at another ; their faces shall be as flames. 
 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with 
 wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate : and he 
 shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Then, verse 
 17, " Behold, I will stir up the Medes," the very name 
 of the nation which was to destroy them is specified 
 " which shall not regard silver ; and as for gold, they 
 shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the 
 young men to pieces ; and they shall have no pity on the 
 fruit of the womb ; their eye shall not spare children. 
 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the 
 Chaldecs' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew 
 Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, 
 neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to genera- 
 tion ;" and the prophecy grows more specific : " Neither 
 shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the 
 shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the 
 desert shall lie there ; and their houses shall be full of 
 doleful creatures ; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs 
 shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the island 
 shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their 
 pleasant palaces : and her time is near to come, and her 
 days shall not be prolonged." Then at chap. xiv. 4, 
 
 1 
 
50 PEOPIIETIC STUDIES. 
 
 " Thou shalt take up this proverb against the King of 
 Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased ! the 
 golden city ceased!" Then, (verse 11,) "thy pomp is 
 brought doAvn to the grave, and the noise of thy viols : 
 the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover 
 thee." Terse 15, " Yet thou shalt be brought down to 
 hell, to the sides of the pit." Verse 1 9, " Thou art cast 
 out of thy grave like an abominable branch." Verse 22, 
 " I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and 
 son, and nephew, saith the Lord." Then chap. xlvi. 27, 
 recollect that God is predicting here the destruction of 
 Babylon, and the mode in which that destruction should 
 be effected, though seventy years and upwards before 
 anything of the kind had taken place, " That saith to 
 the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers : that 
 saith of Cyrus," before Cyrus was bom, "He is my 
 shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure : even say- 
 ing to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built ; and to the temple, 
 Thy foundation shall be laid ;" giving a prophecy of the 
 rise of Jerusalem, emerging from the ruins of Babylon. 
 
 I then call your attention to Jer. 1. " The word that 
 the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of 
 the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye 
 among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard ; 
 publish and conceal not : say, Babylon is taken, Bel is 
 confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces ; her idols are 
 confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of 
 the north there cometh up a nation against her, which 
 shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell 
 therein ; they shall remove, they shall depart, both man 
 and beast." Again, verse 9, " For, lo, I will raise and 
 cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great 
 nations from the north country: and they shall set 
 themselves in array against her ; from thence she shall 
 be taken : their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert 
 man ; none shall return in vain. And Chaldea shall be 
 a spoil : all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the 
 Lord." Again, at verses 12, 13, "Your mother shall 
 be sore confounded ; she that bare you shall be ashamed : 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD. 51 
 
 behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilder- 
 ness, a dry land, and a desert. Because of the wrath of 
 the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly 
 desolate : every one that goeth by Babylon shall be 
 astonished, and hiss at all her plagues." Again, at 
 verses 15, 16, "Shout against her round about: she 
 hath given her hand : her foundations are fallen, her 
 walls are thrown down : for it is the vengeance of the 
 Lord : take vengeance upon her ; as she hath done, do 
 unto her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that 
 handlcth the sickle in the time of harvest : for fear of 
 the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his 
 people, and they shall flee every one to his own land." 
 Again, at verses 24 26, "I have laid a snare for thee, 
 and thou art also taken, Babylon, and them wast not 
 aware : thou art found, and also caught, because thou 
 hast striven against the Lord. The Lord hath opened 
 his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his 
 indignation : for this is the work of the Lord God of 
 hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her 
 from the utmost border, open her storehouses : cast her 
 up as heaps, and destroy her utterly : let nothing of her 
 be left." Again, in chap. li. verse 35, " The violence 
 done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the 
 inhabitant of Zion say ; and my blood upon the inhabit- 
 ants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say." And lastly, verse 
 47, " Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do 
 judgment upon the graven images of Babylon : and her 
 whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall 
 fall in the midst of her." 
 
 Then, once more, turn to chap. li. ver. 36 : " There- 
 fore thus saith the Lord ; Behold, I will plead thy cause, 
 and take vengeance for thee ; and I will dry up her sea, 
 and make her springs dry." And again, ver. 37, "And 
 Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, 
 an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant." 
 And again, ver. 39, " In their heat I will make their 
 feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may 
 rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith 
 the Lord." And again, ver. 41, " How is Sheshach 
 
 E 2 
 
52 PEOrHETIC STUDIES* 
 
 taken ! and how is the praise of the whole earth sur- 
 prised ! How is Babylon become an astonishment among 
 the nations!" Yer. 44, "And I will punish Eel in 
 Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that 
 which he hath swallowed up : and the nations shall not 
 flow together any more unto him : yea, the wall of 
 Babylon shall fall." And again, ver. 46, 47, "And lest 
 your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be 
 heard in the land ; a rumour shall both come one year, 
 and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and 
 violence in the land, ruler against ruler. Therefore, 
 behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the 
 graven images of Babylon : and her whole land shall be 
 confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her." 
 
 I have thus read the leading parts of that great burden 
 of prophecy against Babylon. I now quote in evidence 
 of the fulfilment of these the prophecies of God, the dis- 
 passionate testimony of the heathen historians : and I 
 shall then give you an account not only of the rise, as I 
 have already briefly done, but also of the fall, of the 
 head of gold, previous to the silver empire taking its 
 place, and its order in succession onward to the end. 
 
 First, then, in these prophecies, Cyrus is specified as 
 the general who was to march his forces against Babylon. 
 Xenophon directly states that such was the fact. Babylon, 
 trusting in its gigantic walls, and in its provisions for 
 twenty years, adequate to maintain it in case of its being 
 besieged, instead of preparing to repel the invading army, 
 gave itself, its whole population, from the prince upon 
 the throne down to the meanest of his subjects, to de- 
 bauchery, riot, profligacy, and drunkenness. In the next 
 place, Cyrus, after he had come in array against Babylon, 
 besieged it for years without success, and at last fell 
 upon the expedient of digging trenches round the walls 
 of Babylon, ostensibly for blockade, but really to divert 
 the waters of the Euphrates from their accustomed course, 
 and leave in the empty channel a pathway for his soldiers 
 to march into the city. It was, as I have described, 
 surrounded by vast walls ; but the river Euphrates rolled 
 through the midst of it. There was therefore an opening 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD. 53 
 
 thus formed through the centre of the city ; only there 
 were walls upon each side, or on each bank of the river, 
 with gates to each street leading down to it; and the 
 plan of Cyrus was therefore to divert the waters of the 
 Euphrates into the trenches he had dug, and to make 
 the dry central channel a road for his troops to march 
 down in order to gain possession of the city. Herodotus, 
 the father of historians, relates that, even after having 
 marched along the bed of the river, the obstacles to his 
 entrance were just as great as elsewhere ; for there were 
 gates to each street leading to the banks of the river ; 
 and if these had been secured, the obstruction to the 
 entrance of Cyrus would have been complete. But there 
 was a prophecy part of which I read to you that these 
 gates should not be shut ; and the Babylonians, not sus- 
 pecting the stratagem of Cyrus in diverting the waters 
 of the river, left their gates open as if in conscious pos- 
 session of impregnable security ; when part of the army, 
 therefore, entered at one side of the city, marching up 
 the bed of the river, and another part of his troops at 
 the other side of the city, marching down the bed of the 
 river, they found each of these gates open, which would 
 not have been the case had not the people been indulging 
 in feasting and drunkenness ; the troops therefore entered 
 by every gate ; and before the Babylonians were aware 
 that the enemy was so near at hand, their great and 
 impregnable capital was in the hands of the next empire, 
 the empire of the Persians. 
 
 We notice another minute point that was singularly 
 fulfilled. It was predicted that the enemy should come 
 upon them unawares, and that " one post should run to 
 meet another in the midst of the siege." Now, that such 
 was literally the fact is recorded by Herodotus, for he 
 says that those at one end of the city were in the hands, 
 of Cyrus before those at the other end of the city were 
 aware of his attack, and before they had time to give the 
 alarm ; thus fulfilling the prediction of the prophet, that 
 post should run to post, and watchman to watchman, to 
 give the awful and startling alarm that the forces of 
 Cyrus were upon them. 
 
54 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Then it is predicted by the prophet, that " they that 
 were drunken should sleep a perpetual sleep ;" and that 
 " the two-leaved gates should be thrown open." It is 
 stated by the historian that the monarch was indulging 
 in a feast, and was intoxicated with wine, surrounded by 
 all his princes, nobles, and courtiers, at the very moment 
 when the city had fallen into the hands of the Persian 
 army ; and hearing a noise outside the palace, he insisted 
 on knowing what it was ; and when some of the chief 
 princes rushed to the gates of the palace in order to 
 ascertain the cause, and threw them open for that pur- 
 pose, they thus fulfilled the prophecy, the troops of 
 Cyrus instantly rushed in, and Belshazzar and his princes 
 were slaughtered in the midst of their festival : " the 
 drunken slept a perpetual sleep." Thus you have every 
 prediction that God gave by the mouth of Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah fulfilled to the very letter : and that fulfilment 
 is recorded by the dispassionate pens of the historians of 
 Ancient Greece. 
 
 I shall now quote a few short extracts from the works 
 of modern travellers, in order to show how complete the 
 ruin of Babylon has been, and how minutely each pro- 
 phecy has been fulfilled. For these last I am mainly 
 indebted to Dr. Keith's useful work on the fulfilment of 
 prophecy. Porter, in his Travels, states that " mounds 
 of temples and palaces were everywhere visible;" "a 
 vast succession of mounds of ruins is all that now remains 
 of Babylon." "What Porter saw when he visited the 
 spot had been foretold of God, when he prophesied that 
 nothing should be left. Richards, when he visited it, 
 found that " vast heaps constitute all that now remains 
 of ancient Babylon ; there are no inhabitants." God had 
 declared, " It shall never be inhabited." Keppel, another 
 traveller, who visited the same spot, says, " Babylon is 
 spurned by the heel of the Ottoman, the Israelite, and 
 the sons of Ishmael." God had said beforehand, " The 
 Arab shall not pitch his tent there." This is the more 
 remarkable, because the Arabs are a nomadic race, wan- 
 derers that are found in almost every place where they 
 can find temporary shelter or provender for their cattle : 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD. 55 
 
 and Captain Mignon relates, that when he reached the 
 spot, accompanied by six Arabs, he could not induce 
 them to remain all night among the ruins, because, 
 they alleged, the place was haunted. .Buckingham, 
 another traveller, says, " All the people of the country 
 assert that it is dangerous to approach the mounds of 
 Babylon on account of the multitude of evil spirits that 
 dwell among them." Man's excuse may arise from 
 superstition ; but the result is, the accomplishment of 
 the ancient prophecy, " The Arab shall not pitch his 
 tent there." 
 
 "We have thus seen, then, the rise, the magnificence, 
 and the fall of Babylon; and in it we have seen God's 
 word completely fulfilled. God's word is more powerful 
 than princes; more enduring than dynasties: it moves 
 softly and silently, yet surely, to victory; turning ob- 
 stacles into impulses, and obstructions into facilities, 
 until it shall appear enthroned upon the ruins of the 
 kingdoms of this world, and become the glory and the 
 praise of the ransomed people of God. 
 
 We may here observe how transient is human great- 
 ness ! The great walls of Babylon, on which, as we read, 
 six chariots could ride abreast, are no more. Its magni- 
 ficent temple, which caught the first rays of the rising 
 sun, and reflected the last beams of the setting sun, the 
 palace in which the choicest wines were drunk, and the 
 sacred vessels of the sanctuary were profaned, are gone; 
 the golden head is buried in the dust ; the hum of its 
 mighty population is silenced. The Arab ventures not 
 to pitch his tent there ; and the owl, hooting amid the 
 broken ruins, seems to attest how perishable is all that 
 man calls great ! how lasting is all that God pronounces 
 true ! 
 
 The duration of Babylon's power, you notice, in the 
 next place, was specified to be seventy years. It was 
 destined to last only till it had accomplished God's pur- 
 poses. The kingdom is ours ; and its duration we fancy 
 that we are able to control. It is not so. We are in the 
 hands of God, and the times and the seasons are all spe- 
 cified by Him. The Bang of Babylon thought he had 
 
56 PEOrHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 raised a great empire for his glory: in reality, he had 
 built a school-house in which God was the teacher ; a 
 prison-house in which He was to punish his people for 
 a season on account of their iniquities. And as soon as 
 the work appointed of God had been accomplished, the 
 " glory of the Chaldees' excellency" departs, " the golden 
 head" Mis, and the great empire is at an end. 
 
 As its end drew near, Daniel, in clearer terms, as T 
 shall show from the sequel of the prophecy, came to 
 predict its ruin. From this a most able and talented 
 writer on the Prophecies of Daniel, Mr. I3irks, the son- 
 in-law of the venerable Mr. Bickersteth,* argues, that 
 we may expect that, as God revealed by his prophets 
 more clearly for Daniel states that he "knew by books" 
 the number and the date of the seventy years the time 
 when the captivity should be ended, so, as we draw near 
 to the end of this dispensation, he will make more clear, 
 
 * It is difficult to overstate the loss which the Church of Christ 
 on earth has su>tained by the removal of this eminent, excellent, 
 Christian, and Protestant minister. 
 
 He was ever ready to aid, by his advocacy, the cause of truth ; 
 liberal, yet not latitudinarian ; a zealous contender for the faith, 
 and yet never betrayed into bitterness of feeling or violence of 
 speech. He loved his Church, but he loved Christianity still 
 more. No man was so tenacious of essential truth, yet none 
 rejoiced more than he did in the company of the good and faithful 
 of every name. He possessed great clearness of mind, and yet 
 greater warmth of heart ; earnest and unwearied advocacy of 
 truth ; a walk unimpeachable before the severest censor, and 
 beautiful, because truly apprehended by the people of God. 
 
 Every Christian that knew him loved him. Even his enemies 
 the enemies of truth hesitated to select Mr. Hickersteth as 
 the object of vituperation, or satire, or assault, well aware, that 
 in their selection of one so widely revered, their attack would 
 recoil upon themselves far sooner than in the case of other and 
 more easily vulnerable champions of truth. 
 
 His removal at a crisis when his life and counsel were so sin- 
 gularly needed is to us inexplicable Perhaps it is judgment 
 beginning at the house of God, and thus his gain may be not 
 only our loss but our punishment. Very soon he will come with 
 his coming Lord, and such of us as may be alive will meet the 
 sublime procession in the air, and our separation, so widely and 
 bitterly bewailed, will render our meeting again, where separations 
 are unknown, more glorious. Even so, come, Lord Jesus ! 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD. 57 
 
 intelligible, and distinct, the years that number the 
 times of the Gentiles. 
 
 We must not suppose there was anything strange in 
 God's revealing this to a heathen prince, and through 
 the medium of what appears to us so common and trivial 
 a thing as a dream. To Abraham, Moses, and Job, God 
 spoke face to face; but in general he revealed future 
 events by means of dreams. And he himself declares, 
 " If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make 
 myself known to him in a vision, and will speak unto 
 him in dreams." Jacob was promised his patrimony in 
 a dream. In a dream the Lord appeared to Solomon, 
 and bade him ask what he wished. In a dream Pharaoh 
 was warned of the famine that was about to visit Egypt : 
 and from some traditional recollections of these facts 
 arises the popular belief, that that which is about to 
 come to pass is sometimes revealed to men in dreams. 
 It may be so. There is no reason to conclude that God 
 does not come into closer contact with the human mind 
 than many are disposed to believe; only you are not 
 to read Providence and Scripture in the light of your 
 dream; you are to read your dream in the light of 
 Scripture. If in a dream anything seems revealed to 
 you contrary to Scripture, it is not from God ; if it be 
 consistent with Scripture, it is from God. But recollect, 
 you live not by what you dream, but by what you read 
 in God's Holy Word. Any one that adds to that Word, 
 to him shall be added its curses ; any one that subtracts 
 from it, from him shall be subtracted the promises re- 
 vealed in it. 
 
 In the next place, is there not in the destruction of 
 Babylon a foreshadow of what shall be the end of this 
 dispensation? Cyrus burst upon Babylon whilst its 
 princes and its people were feasting and revelling ; and 
 so in the period that immediately precedes our Lord's 
 advent it will be asked, " Where is the promise of his 
 coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things con- 
 tinue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 
 I believe, that only God's people will be taught to anti- 
 cipate that blessed day, that glorious epoch. They alone 
 
68 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 will be found resting, by retrospective faith, upon that 
 perfect sacrifice, which speaks better things than the 
 blood of Abel ; their eyes stretching through the vista 
 of the future, to catch the rays of the approaching sun, 
 which shall rise and shine from his meridian throne to 
 set no more. 
 
 To those that look for him, " he will appear the second 
 time without sin unto salvation." May we not believe, 
 that we have in the destruction of the literal Babylon a 
 type and foreshadowing of what will be the destruction 
 of that Babylon of which it was the prototype, and 
 with whose destruction the Apocalypse is so fully and 
 unmistakeably charged ? It is there stated that " her 
 plagues shall come" upon Babylon "in one day, death, 
 and mourning, and famine." You recollect my endea- 
 vouring to show you what the future prospects of Home 
 are. My belief always was, that the Pontiff would be 
 replaced on his throne ; but, along with that, the clear 
 indications of the prophetic word seem to be, that by his 
 attempts to assert a supremacy that is God's, and to wield 
 a sceptre from which the prestige and the glory seem to 
 be gone for ever, he should precipitate on himself only a 
 more terrible and consuming catastrophe. 
 
 But Babylon has passed away ; and modern Babylon 
 will pass away too. Where, however, are we ? and 
 what shall we do when the crash and desolation of the 
 last hour comes ? Is our citizenship in heaven ? Are 
 our hearts and pleasures beyond the skies? Are we 
 travelling upon our road in practical obedience to the 
 text "Be ye not conformed to this world?" Are we 
 walking amid these dark shadows that are creeping over 
 the surface of the whole earth, as pilgrims and strangers, 
 "looking for a city that hath foundations, whose builder 
 and maker is God ?" Does the dissolution of the king- 
 doms of the world, the breaking up of ancient establish- 
 ments and hoary dynasties, the heaving of all things, 
 Church and State both together, as if some terrible sub- 
 terranean forces were pressing upwards and ready every 
 moment to explode and leave all in ruins, affect us? 
 Are we leaning and trusting upon these things ? Are 
 
BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD. 59 
 
 we thinking of our wealth, our rank, our property, our 
 sect, our church, our party, more than we are thinking 
 of Christ ? Are we looking for the Lord ? Does the 
 night of approaching doom only warn us to prepare for 
 the glorious jubilee that shall follow ? " Take heed to 
 yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be over-charged 
 with surfeiting and drunkenness, and with the cares of 
 this life, and so that day come upon you unawares !" 
 May He add his blessing, and to his name be the praise, 
 Amen. 
 
LECTURE 71. 
 
 THE MEDO -PERSIAN AND GILECO-MACEDONIAN EMPIRES. 
 
 " And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to 
 thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall 
 lear rule over all the earth." DANIEL ii. 39. 
 
 THIS is part of the explanation of the vision seen by 
 Nebuchadnezzar. He saw a great image, of which we 
 read at verse 31, that this great image " stood before 
 him, whose brightness was excellent, and the form 
 thereof was terrible." The head of this image was of 
 fine gold, " his breast and his arms of silver, his belly 
 and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of 
 iron and part of clay." And the king saw until "a 
 stone cut out without hands smote the image upon his 
 feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 
 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and 
 the gold broken to pieces together, and became likes, 
 the chaff of the summer threshing-floors ; and the wind 
 carried them away, that no place was found for them : 
 and the stone that smote the image became a great 
 mountain, and filled the whole earth." This was the 
 dream; and then follows the interpretation: "Thou, 
 king, art a king of kings : for the God of heaven hath 
 given thee a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And 
 wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of 
 the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given 
 into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them 
 all. Thou art this head of gold." This was the first 
 kingdom. Then the second kingdom, which is likened 
 to the breast and the arms of silver, is described in 
 verse 39 : " And after thee shall arise another kingdom 
 
THE SILVER AND BRASS EMPIRES. 61 
 
 inferior to thee." And then the third universal king- 
 dom is represented by the imago having " the belly and 
 the thighs of brass," and is described as "another third 
 kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the 
 earth." And of the fourth kingdom, " the legs of iron," 
 it is predicted : " The fourth kingdom shall be strong as 
 iron : forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and sub- 
 dueth all things : and as iron that breaketh all these, 
 shall it break in pieces and bruise." 
 
 Now, I explained before, that in all the records of 
 history there have been but four supreme, universal, 
 absolute monarchies from the beginning ; the first being 
 that of Babylon, the sceptre of which extended over all 
 the nations that were then known, and the sovereignty 
 of which was undisputed, as it was impossible to oppos3 
 it. Such was the first, or the head of gold. In my last, 
 I showed its rise, its national grandeur, its decay, and 
 its utter destruction before the armies of Cyrus : we now 
 find that another kingdom was to arise inferior to Baby- 
 lon, just as the silver is inferior to the gold; of greater 
 territorial dimensions, but of less national splendour and 
 magnificence. The twofold character that is here indi- 
 cated for every symbol in the Bible has its counterpart 
 in history and in fact viz. its having the breast and the 
 two arms stretching out from it of silver, instantly sug- 
 gests the historic fact that Cyrus was the monarch, that 
 Media was one arm, and Persia the other ; these being 
 two component parts of the kingdom of Cyrus, he being 
 the tie that knit the two realms into one. Persia was 
 the one realm, and Media the other; the latter absorbed 
 by the former, and both, like two arms, joined together 
 in Cyrus, who inspired them with their vigour, wielded 
 their energies with success, and established their empire 
 from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. 
 You have then, in Media and Persia, or, as it is called 
 in history, the Medo- Persian universal sovereignty, the 
 fulfilment, years after Daniel wrote, of the symbol shown 
 to Nebuchadnezzar, and of the prediction unfolded by 
 Daniel ; and thus the coincidence between the prophecy 
 and the fact is entire. 
 
62 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 But that you may see how truly what I state is con- 
 firmed by history, I shall quote two sentences I might 
 quote many, but I will confine myself to two of the 
 most striking the one from Herodotus, " the father of 
 history," who says, in describing the empire of Cyrus, 
 " Wherever Cyrus marched throughout the earth, it 
 was impossible for the nations to escape him ;" and the 
 other from Xenophon, who, in his Cyropcedia, which, 
 literally translated, means, the "instruction," or "bring- 
 ing-up," of Cyrus, and with which every school-boy is 
 more or less familiar (here I may mention by the way 
 is one object in teaching young men the classics, or the 
 learning of the Greeks and Romans ; such knowledge 
 confirms and demonstrates to mankind the veracity and 
 authenticity of the writers of the word of God) Xeno- 
 phon, then, in his Cyropadia, thus describes the univer- 
 sality of the sovereignty of Cyrus : " He ruled the Medes, 
 subverted the Syrians, the Assyrians, the Arabians, the 
 Cappadocians, the Phrygians, the Lydians, the Carians, 
 the Babylonians, the Indians, the Phoenicians, the Greeks 
 in Asia, the Cyprians, the Egyptians, and struck all 
 with such dread and terror, that none ventured to assail 
 him. He subdued from his throne east, west, north, 
 and south." You have thus the heathen historian 
 leaving behind him those recorded facts, which form the 
 brightest comment upon the breast and the two arms of 
 silver, or the second universal monarchy, which during 
 its existence subdued and reigned over the whole earth. 
 After its disappearance, we have a third empire, which 
 is symbolised by " the belly and the thighs of brass." 
 This was the symbol that Nebuchadnezzar saw, and the 
 interpretation of it by Daniel is, "a third universal 
 sovereignty." 
 
 Now show me, from the days of Cyrus downwards to 
 the commencement of Rome, any other empire, either 
 from history or from any source whatever, that can be 
 called universal I mean, extending over the whole 
 known world, except the Graeco-M acedonian empire of 
 Alexander the Great. He and his father Philip, King of 
 Macedon, against whom Demosthenes so eloquently 
 
THE SILVER AND BBASS EMPIBES. 63 
 
 harangued, subdued the Medo-Persians, and finally and 
 ultimately all the provinces of the habitable globe. 
 This third monarchy was of brass ; making up in strength 
 what it lost in value ; in glare and apparent splendour 
 what it lost in real and substantial merit. But it also 
 was divided, you find, into two great provinces, which, 
 from their position, formed the lower or supporting 
 parts of the empire. Accordingly, we ascertain from 
 history, that Syria and Egypt, the lower parts of the 
 empire, were divided ; and on these the colossal image, 
 or empire of Alexander, rested. It was about 334 years 
 before Christ that Alexander began his expedition against 
 Persia, the second universal empire. He overthrew the 
 silver monarchy, just as it had overthrown the golden 
 monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar ; and by the great battle 
 of Arbela, which was fought about 331 years before 
 Christ, he established his own undisputed supremacy. 
 It arose upon the ruins of Babylon and Persia, fed its 
 strength from their wreck, and stretched out a sceptre 
 more powerful than either, till Alexander the Great, 
 when he had overthrown the wide world, leaving like a 
 wilderness behind, what he had found to be the garden 
 of the Lord before him, sat down and wept like a child, 
 because, the whole world being subdued, there was no 
 other place to conquer and attach to his empire. 
 
 You have, then, in the Graeco-Macedonian empire 
 the fulfilment of that portion of the image which repre- 
 sented the third universal sovereignty that occupied the 
 whole world. In looking at this part of my subject, 
 there is just one thing more I should like to notice. The 
 period that comprehended the Medo-Persian and the 
 Grseco-Macedonian empires, or uuc second and third 
 universal monarchies, was, perhaps, the most brilliant 
 in the world. The galaxy of heroes, poets, painters, 
 orators, statesmen, historians, that shine in the firma- 
 ment of that celebrated era, has perhaps never been 
 equalled in brilliancy and beauty. But what I wish you 
 to notice is, that whilst this period occupied all the 
 attention of the historians, the poets, and the orators of 
 Greece and Rome, and is referred to by them as the 
 
64 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 brightest and most illustrious in the history of the world, 
 how little space it occupies in the word of God ! 
 
 During the course of these empires, we have the con- 
 quests of CJTUS, the expedition of Xerxes Marathon, 
 the name of which is almost an oration Thermopylae, 
 which is the burden of so many poets' songs and 
 Salamis. We have Miltiades, Themistocles, Aristides, 
 Pericles, and Demosthenes ; in short, all that man can 
 appreciate of earthly glory reached at this period its cul- 
 minating grandeur, and has commanded in every land 
 the admiration of poets, and the reminiscences of histo- 
 rians ; but these events, so prominent in the records of 
 man, are but feebly touched by the pencil of the Spirit of 
 God. Great warriors able orators mighty poets 
 illustrious statesmen are treated in the Bible as the 
 grass that groweth up and the flower of the grass that 
 fadeth ; and great truths, interwoven with man's ever- 
 lasting well-being, are alone prominent in the word of God 
 that livethand endurethfor everand ever. 13ut while these 
 fade like the grass, and their greatest ones as the flower 
 of the grass, the same book teaches us that "they that 
 be wise shall shine as the firmament, and they that turn 
 many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 
 Man's history relates to his own heroes and victories, and 
 these occupy all his pages ; God's history relates to and 
 describes man in the light of eternity, and views all 
 things as they bear upon that momentous issue. 
 
 These, then, were the second and third empires ; and 
 in verse 40 we have the fourth empire in its undivided 
 state. "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron," 
 &c. This empire can be proved from history to be none 
 other than the great lloman empire itself. From the 
 period when Alexander swept the world and made it the 
 measure of his kingdom, to the period when Home 
 gained the ascendancy and became the universal empire, 
 we read of no other universal, supreme, and absorbing 
 sovereignty. "We find from history that the Macedonian 
 empire, which I have described, was overthrown about 
 142 years before Christ. Syria was conquered 64 years 
 before Christ; Egypt 30 years before; and this vast 
 
THE SILVER AND BRASS EMPIRES. 65 
 
 empire then began its course about 30 years, or, at the 
 very remotest, 142 years before Christ, and continued 
 until nearly 400 years after that period, the alone 
 supreme and universal empire. One may also see that 
 this the judgment formed by modern commentators was 
 the universal judgment of the earliest writers upon the 
 word of God. Theodoret, a Greek father, states, that 
 the iirst empire, of gold, was the Babylonian; the 
 second, of silver, was the Medo-Persian ; the third, of 
 brass, the Graoco-Macedonian ; and the fourth, or iron 
 empire, he says, was none else than the Eoman empire 
 itself. 
 
 You must notice, in looking at this prophecy of Daniel, 
 that more space is devoted to the history of the lioman 
 empire than to that of any of the other three. A large 
 space is devoted to Babylon ; but a much larger space in 
 the Bible relates to the Itoman empire. Why so ? The 
 Roman soldiers were present at the crucifixion ; a lioman 
 officer was the first among the Gentiles to receive the 
 Gospel ; the lioman Capitol was the pulpit of Paul ; the 
 Koman people became the first converts to the Gospel ; 
 through the Itoman language and by lioman roads the 
 Gospel was carried from the Capitol to the remotest re- 
 gions of the habitable globe ; and on the ruins of the 
 Roman empire was constructed that dread sacerdotal 
 despotism which has corrupted the oracles of God, ruined 
 the souls of mankind, and is now drunk, as I shall show 
 you in a subsequent lecture, with the blood of the saints 
 of God I mean the Romish Church. 
 
 Now, in showing the rise of the Roman universal em- 
 pire, we notice, first, Maeedon was conquered, and dis- 
 appeared from occupying its place among the nations of 
 the earth ; Carthage was razed to the ground ; Corinth, 
 the capital of all that was luxurious and refined, was 
 reduced to ashes. Spain next fell before the victorious 
 arms of Rome ; Egypt was reduced to a Roman province ; 
 Judea became part of the Roman empire, as the New 
 Testament will show you ; and Jerusalem itself, the 
 capital of Judea, was torn up by the Roman ploughshare, 
 under Titus and Yespasiau, the Roman emperors. When 
 
 I 1 
 
66 PEOPHET1C STUDIES. 
 
 Borne had thus, like iron, bruised and broken, down all 
 the nations of the earth, and reduced them under its iron 
 sceptre, this island, a small spot in the midst of the deep 
 a country full of roving savages and wild barbarians 
 a race that knew not what civilisation was, and had 
 still less idea of what Christianity proclaimed this dis- 
 tant isle of the sea provoked the cupidity and stirred the 
 ambition of Rome ; at length it was invaded, and like- 
 wise subjected to the rule of the Roman empire. It was 
 when the Romans had reached Scotland, and were sub- 
 duing a portion of it, that Galgacus, the celebrated chief- 
 tain, addressed the Caledonians in the following words, 
 which show how truly Rome was at this moment becomo 
 the universal sovereign : " These ravagers of the 
 world," said the Scottish chieftain, "after all the earth 
 has been too narrow for their ambition, have ransacked 
 the sea also. If their enemy be rich, they are covetous; 
 if poor, they are ambitious. The East cannot satiate 
 them, no more can the West. To plunder, to murder, to 
 rob, is all their delight. Violence they call dominion ; 
 and wherever they make a dreary solitude, they call it 
 peace." But the most decisive testimony to the universal 
 iron supremacy of Rome, the fourth empire of Darnel, is 
 given by Gibbon, who, as usual, is here the undesigning, 
 the unconscious, but the faithful witness to the truth of 
 the prophecies of God. Gibbon thus speaks of the extent 
 of the Roman dominions : " The empire was about two 
 thousand miles in breadth, from the Avail of Antonius and 
 northern limits of Dacia to the Atlas and the tropic of 
 Cancer. It extended in length more than three thou- 
 sand miles, from the Western ocean to the Euphrates. 
 The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in 
 battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid 
 strides to the Euphrates, and the Danube, and the 
 Rhine, and the ocean ; and the image of gold, or silver, 
 or brass, that might serve to represent the nations or 
 kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of 
 Rome." , 
 
 Thus, strange enough, Gibbon states, as if he could 
 find no language so truly descriptive of historic fact as 
 
THE SILVER AND BRASS EMPIRES. 67 
 
 the language of Daniel, " The image of gold, or silver, 
 or brass, that might serve to represent the nations or 
 kings, was successively broken up by the iron monarchy 
 of Home;" so completely does God's prophecy find its 
 echo in man's unconscious history. In other words, the 
 infidel historian could find no language so descriptive of 
 fact as the very words of prophecy in the book of Daniel ; 
 and thus he proved, not only the fulfilment of prophecy, 
 but the fulness, the beauty, and the force of the words in 
 which that prophecy was couched. 
 
 This iron despotism or empire is further proved to be 
 the fourth universal empire, by another extract which I 
 will give from Gibbon. " There was," says the historian, 
 " not an inch of ground then known exempt from its 
 sceptre. The modern tyrant who should find no resist- 
 ance in his own breast,, or in his people, would soon 
 experience a gentle restraint from the example of his 
 equals, the dread of censure, the apprehension of enemies. 
 The object of his displeasure escaping the narrow limits 
 of his dominion, would easily obtain, in a happier climate, 
 a secure refuge, freedom of complaint, and, perhaps, 
 means of revenge. But the empire of the llomans filled 
 the world, arid when that empire fell into the hands of a 
 single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison 
 for his enemies. To resist was fatal, and it was impossible 
 to fly. On every side he was encompassed with a vast 
 extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to 
 traverse, without being discovered, seized, and restored 
 to his irritated master. Beyond the frontiers, he could 
 discover nothing except the ocean, inhospitable deserts, - 
 and hostile tribes of fierce barbarians." 
 
 Gibbon is my witness that the fourth kingdom should 
 be " strong as iron ; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces 
 and subdueth all things, so shall it break in pieces and 
 bruise." Thus truly is history the echo of prophecy ! 
 God sketches the outline in his word, and kings, and 
 heroes, and poets, and painters, and historians, as if 
 smitten with some mysterious instinct, instantly rise to 
 their places, and fill up with their details what God has 
 so fully sketched. 
 
 r 2 
 
68 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Now then, having looked at the evidence of the exist- 
 ence of four great empires, I ask, can any one doubt, in 
 reading their history, that the prophecy which predicted 
 that existence hundreds of years before, is inspired by 
 the Holy Spirit of God ? Can we doubt, from the com- 
 parison of the prophecy so plain with the historic facts, 
 so indisputable and so clearly established, that there is a 
 God who revealed them, and does reveal secrets still ? 
 Can we suppose that that man was uninspired by Him 
 to whom the present and the future are equally clear, 
 who could stand up in the midst of the Babylonian empire, 
 when its grandeur and power seemed the prophecy of its 
 immortality, and the sceptre of its monarchy a sceptre 
 too strong for any rival to destroy, or for any foe to 
 shatter; can we suppose that Daniel, standing under 
 such circumstances, in the midst of such imperial mag- 
 nificence, and predicting that this empire should pass 
 away, and a second should speedily occupy its throne ; 
 and that that second empire should also fade, and a third 
 should take its place ; and that a fourth empire should 
 arise, fiercer and more powerful than the three that 
 preceded it, and, like iron, irresistibly tread down and 
 subdue to its supremacy all the nations of the habitable 
 globe ; could he, I say, have done all this, if he had 
 not been inspired by a power far greater than any human 
 foresight could bestow r ? If God be in history, which 
 we know to be the fact, is there not God in prophecy ? 
 and history, therefore, is but the echo resounding in the 
 ears of the present generation of that voice which 
 'sounded along the corridors of time in centuries and 
 generations long past. 
 
 We notice, then, the sublime and yet humbling light 
 in which all the heroes and statesmen of ancient days 
 were thus unconsciously placed. We see Hannibal, who 
 had never heard of God's prophecies, begin his wars 
 with Home, and train her soldiers for being the con- 
 querors of the world. We see Scipio, Marius, Pompey, 
 and Csesar, each take up the position assigned to him, 
 and fight, or fall, or conquer, till they have made Home 
 nothing less and nothing more than what Daniel pre- 
 
THE SITTER AND BRASS EMPIRES. 69 
 
 dieted that Rome should become. Thus we see the 
 eloquence of Cicero, the poetry of Virgil, the odes of 
 Horace, the annals of Tacitus, the pungent satires of 
 Juvenal, the history of Gibbon, rush forward and be- 
 come the witnesses to mysterious truths, which they 
 could not themselves comprehend, but which are the 
 most conclusive proof's that Daniel spoke by the inspira- 
 tion of God, and the demonstrations to a sceptic world 
 that God changeth the times and the seasons, he re- 
 moveth kings and setteth up kings, he knoweth what is 
 in the darkness and in the light, he revealeth the deep and 
 secret things, and the light dwelleth Avith him. All these 
 fell into their places just at the appointed times, and whilst 
 they thought they were doing each his own work, all 
 were co-operating to accomplish God's predictions; whilst 
 they thought they were the statuaries cutting out the 
 image after their own design, they were but the chisels in 
 the hand of the great Statuary, unconsciously and unin- 
 tentionally fulfilling his own grand and sublime purposes. 
 In the next place, we learn the lesson that there are 
 no accidents on earth all history is thus constantly ful- 
 filling all prophecy. If you read attentively the history 
 of Rome, you would see that at times it seemed almost 
 to struggle for existence. At one time it depended, you 
 would say, upon the turning of a straw, whether Remus 
 and Romulus, the alleged founders of Rome, should be 
 left to perish in the wilderness; it rested, you would 
 say, at another time, upon the single sword of Camillus, 
 which scale should preponderate ; and once the Capitol 
 of the city was saved by the geese which were accident 
 ally fed there. All these seem to man accidents ; and 
 human history, read by human light, seems a collection 
 of lucky and fortuitous occurrences. But when a Chris- 
 tian looks at history, it becomes all luminous in the light 
 of the Gospel. The sword of Camillus was chosen and cal- 
 culated by God as plainly as any fact in history ; the birds 
 that saved the Capitol had their mission by the appoint- 
 ment of God ; and soldier and senator, poet and orator, 
 had each his work to do, that God's great plans might 
 be completed, and God's great work might be done. 
 
70 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 In the next place, we may learn that what was true 
 of Rome, who fulfilled her portion of prophecy, is no less 
 true of Great Britain, which is fulfilling hers. We see 
 around us conflict, and trouble, and exaction, and dis- 
 may ; and we are sometimes prone to tremble, as if the 
 glorious issue were placed in jeopardy. Save your.- elves 
 that feeling; you need not tremble. Man's word does 
 fail, and he that builds on it may tremble; but God's 
 word endureth for ever, and heaven and earth shall pass 
 away, but one jot or one tittle of this book shall not fail 
 till all be fulfilled. And therefore, when I look around 
 me in this great land of ours, and see all things, con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, criminally or innocehtly, 
 doing God's work the illustrious Wellington in the field 
 the great Pitt in the senate the invincible Nelson on 
 the deck the martyrdom or the murder, call it which 
 you please, of Charles the ascendancy of Cromwell 
 the reign even of George the Fourth, and the pure and 
 beautiful sway of her who now wields the sceptre of this 
 mighty land, I discover that all are equally helping 
 the purpose, and accomplishing the predictions of God ; 
 I rest in the Lord, and am still. In the narratives of 
 Scott the poetry of Byron the socialism of Owen 
 the piety of Wilberforce the atheism of Voltaire the 
 vulgar infidelity of Paine the pantheism of Emerson 
 the " pamphlets for the last days of Carlyle," all of 
 them, whatever be their virtues or their crimes, whatever 
 be their falsehood or their truth, whatever be their folly 
 or their wisdom, are rising on the stage, each trampling 
 down the other in its turn, to fulfil the purposes and 
 manifest the glorious predictions of God. Their freedom 
 and their responsibility are untouched; the direction 
 and the effect of all they say and do, is clear as the stars 
 in the firmament. Thus centuries have their mission and 
 their duty to perform moments have their work all 
 men their places; and the most wicked, like a leech 
 applied to the human body, seek to serve themselves, but 
 are only doing the work of the great Physician who pre- 
 scribes, controls, and governs them. 
 
 The next lesson we learn from this survey is, that God 
 
T1IE SILVER AND BRASS EMPIRES. 71 
 
 is also in the world. The world is not an orb abandoned 
 by the Deity, and left to traverse its own course, or to 
 follow its own impulses. Society is not like raindrops 
 sprinkled in the field or on the pavement, without de- 
 sign, without cohesion or purpose ; but they are all under 
 God's providential government ; and God is as much in 
 the midst of this great city as he was between the che- 
 rubim when his glory dazzled all eyes by its splendour, 
 or when he revealed himself in the burning bush, or 
 when he thundered upon the heights of Sinai. Our 
 creed is not " God was," but " God is." The leaf that 
 falls from the tree, and the king that is struck from his 
 throne, the storm that sweeps the broad earth, and the 
 tide of war, revolution, and convulsion that desolates 
 great kingdoms, are all responses to the touch of God 
 missionaries, consciously or unconsciously, criminally or 
 innocentty, executing and fulfilling the everlasting pur- 
 poses of Him whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
 and whose dominion endureth for ever and ever. 
 
 In the next place, let us learn from the survey of 
 these four kingdoms, the downward and deteriorating 
 tendency of all society, and nations, and corporations of 
 all sorts, if they are without religion. They begin with 
 gold ; they go on to silver ; they deteriorate into brass ; 
 and lastly, they end in iron. And when the strongest 
 has developed itself, a stone, physically weak, as I shall 
 show in future lectures, but morally omnipotent, touches 
 the iron that has subdued all, and it is scattered like 
 chaff upon the threshing-floor. Let us learn this great 
 lesson, that true religion is the sweetener and the 
 strengthencr of society. Exhaust religion from a coun- 
 try, from its schools, and its churches, and you exhaust 
 the vital oxygen from the nation's air. It is only when 
 the altars of a country burn with holy fire that the intel- 
 lect of a country shall glow with pure and increasing 
 light. It is just in proportion as religion leavens a 
 nation that that nation stands firm on its feet, and may 
 smile at the wear and tear of ages, knowing that it has 
 immortality in proportion as it has Christianity. Babylon 
 perished, because it had no religion. The Medo-Persian 
 
72 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 empire perished, because it had no religion. The Gneco- 
 Macedonian empire perished, because it had no religion ; 
 and the lloman empire perished, because it had no reli- 
 gion. And if you look around at the present day, you 
 find Egypt, because without religion, is a mere mummy ; 
 Greece, because without religion, is dead ; India, because 
 without religion, is a moral desert ; China, because with- 
 out religion, is a stagnant morass; and all society, 
 domestic, national, provincial, universal, if stripped and 
 deprived of its religion, becomes like a rope of sand, held 
 together by political compression, but the instant that 
 the politics tremble, that instant all its institutions go to 
 decay. And this explains what has taken place on the 
 continent of Europe. Why is France dying every day, 
 so that one of its most illustrious writers has written an 
 essay on the deterioration of France ; in which he shows 
 that it is becoming daily so depopulated that they are 
 obliged even to lower every succeeding year the standard 
 of its army, till at length they will become pigmies 
 instead of giants, as the Gauls once were ? Its moral 
 state too is of the most awful description. And why is 
 it thus sinking and deteriorating ? Because, as a nation, 
 it has cast off God. And why is Prussia, as a nation, 
 weak and disturbed ? Because Prussian Protestantism has 
 ceased to be what Luther left it. And why is it that 
 Spain has a population above the soil not one whit 
 grander or more capable of noble deeds than those that 
 sleep quietly beneath it ? Because it has no real religion. 
 And why is Rome the by- word of the nations its infalli- 
 bility a scoff, and its sacerdotal dynasty the horror of all 
 that are acquainted with its terrible secrets ? Because it 
 has no religion. You can raise a country's intellect only 
 by raising its people's conscience. The bulwarks and 
 the battlements of a land are not soldiers, nor sailors, 
 nor creed, nor politics; it is righteousness that exalteth 
 a nation, and sin that is the ruin of any people. 
 
 But we have another lesson to learn from this : if all 
 the movements of society are thus the executors of the 
 purposes of God, it becomes the Christian to study what 
 is going on around him, as well as what is written in 
 
THE SILVER AND BRASS EMPIRES. 73 
 
 the Bible. Christians are apt to exclude themselves 
 from society, and to be ignorant of it ; to be acquainted 
 with the Bible, which is their greatest glory, but to be 
 criminally and injuriously ignorant of all that is around 
 them fulfilling the Bible, which is the neglect of their 
 plainest duty. It seems to me that at the present 
 moment, when, as I believe, the stone cut out without 
 hands is breaking the kingdoms of the world into atoms 
 at this moment, it seems to me, that the first study 
 should be the book of grace the chiefest, deepest, most 
 solemn, most prayerful ; but the next to that the study 
 of God's providential dealings at the present hour. So 
 that, in my humble judgment, the very newspaper at 
 this time is to me of no mean importance ; and if you 
 want to see the Bible, which is prophecy, reflected in 
 the form of history, just read the foreign correspondence 
 of the newspapers of every day. We see there the world 
 commenting upon what God has written ; and God, in 
 his Providential history, showing us the truth of his 
 ancient and inspired prophecy. But do not read the 
 newspaper to the neglect of the Bible : read the Bible 
 first and last, and chiefest ; and use the newspaper only as 
 you would use any one fact in the past or present, as the 
 evidence that God speaks in the Bible, and that God now 
 acts in the world. The Bible is the key that unlocks 
 all: it is the torch carried into the otherwise dark 
 chambers of history, showing us order in apparent con- 
 fusion ; revealing harmony in seeming discord ; unity, 
 design, in what is otherwise inexplicable. Thus it be- 
 comes the bright chart that helps us to tread with 
 certainty the windings of the labyrinth ; and to rise from 
 the chaos in which men plunge and speculate, to the light 
 in which God is, and lives for ever. 
 
 All around, I add, is changing ; but the word of God 
 lives and abides for ever. Thrones and dynasties and 
 kings are passing away, but God's word remains ; and 
 in the midst of all the vicissitudes and changes that are 
 constantly occurring around us, how delightful to know 
 that there are added day by day to the Church of the 
 living God such as shall be saved. I believe that, day 
 
74 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 by day, religion is becoming more felt and appreciated. 
 I believe too, what you knoAv, that empires may be shat- 
 tered sceptres broken thrones convulsed but that 
 little thing, in the world's eye so weak, according to the 
 world's calculation so perishing, the company of God's 
 faithful people, may seem buried in the waves like the 
 ark of old, but it is only to rise with the next billow 
 nearer to the skies. " I give unto them," says our Lord, 
 "eternal life, and none shall be able to pluck them out 
 of my hand." Nothing shall separate a living Christian 
 from the living God ; neither life nor death, nor angels, 
 nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor 
 any other creature. Brethren, are we such Christians ? 
 are we transformed by the Spirit in the renewing of our 
 hearts? No discussion on the fulfilment of prophecy 
 must ever divert, but, on the contrary, should draw OUT 
 minds to the consideration of our personal safety in the 
 sight of God. Are we reposing on the only fixture, the 
 Hock of Ages ? Are we hiding ourselves within the ever- 
 lasting arms, and when the last storm shall come, and 
 the last thunder shall roar, and the last fires shall blaze, 
 are we conscious that we shall be found resting on the 
 rock that shall never fail ? Are we born again ? Are we 
 in the world, and of the world ? or, are we in the true 
 Church, and of the true Church, heirs of God and joint 
 heirs with Christ ? If we are, then we can stand and 
 gaze upon the bright panorama that spreads before us, 
 disclosing God in history, fulfilling God in prophecy ; 
 knowing that all things only work together for good to 
 them that love God, and hasten that bright and blessed 
 epoch, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the 
 kingdoms of our God, and all the people shall praise 
 him; and the earth shall yield her increase, and God, 
 even our God shall bless us. Amen. 
 
LECTUEE VII. 
 
 T:KE MYSTIC STONE SMITING THE IMAGE. 
 
 " Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, 
 which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron 
 and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, 
 the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to 
 pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer 
 threshing-floors ; and the wind carried them away, that 
 no place was found for them : and the stone that smote 
 the image became a great mountain, and filled the ivhole 
 earth. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part 
 of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall le 
 divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the 
 iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry 
 clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and 
 part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and 
 partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed 
 with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the 
 seed of men : but they shall not cleave one to another, 
 even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days 
 of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, 
 which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not 
 be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and 
 consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 
 Forasmuch as thou saivest that the stone was cut out of the 
 mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the 
 iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great 
 God hath made known to the king w-hat shall come to pass 
 hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpreta- 
 tion thereof sure" DANIEL ii. 34, 35, 41 45. 
 
 I HATE explained the origin of the remarkahle symbols, 
 the last of which in this chapter I have this evening 
 
76 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 read. A great and supernatural image was made to pass 
 before the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar the king, intended 
 to presignify great events destined in the purposes of 
 God to evolve in the latter days. That symbol none of 
 the soothsayers of Babylon could interpret. What God 
 reveals God's people alone will clearly comprehend; and 
 what God makes known by mysterious signs God's own 
 commissioned interpreter is able clearly to explain. 
 
 The head, we are told, was made of gold, and was 
 declared expressly by Daniel to be the Babylonian 
 monarchy. That head of gold, or Babylonian kingdom, 
 passes away, as I have showed you by facts drawn from, 
 history, and another kingdom forthwith occupies its 
 place : the silver breast, with the silver arms, denoting 
 the conjunct or combined kingdom of the Mcdo- Persians 1 , 
 which instantly succeeded the kingdom of Babylon, on 
 its overthrow and subjugation by Cyrus, after whose 
 victory its golden glory left scarce a, rack behind. "We 
 then read of a third kingdom not guessed by man to be 
 so ; but expressly explained by Daniel to succeed the 
 second on its ruin and decay. " His belly and his thighs 
 of brass." This kingdom, I showed you, denotes the 
 only possible kingdom it can be applied to the Grse co- 
 Macedonian, called frequently, as those acquainted with 
 classic literature are aware, " the brazen-coated Greeks" 
 the Greeks who wore coats and helmets of mail and 
 brass. This kingdom may be said to have been founded 
 by Philip, who warred so successfully with the Greeks, 
 and against whom the thunders and lightnings of De- 
 mosthenes were so vividly and so frequently pointed. 
 He was succeeded by his son Alexander Alexander the 
 Great who, I need not tell any one acquainted with 
 the elements of schoolboy literature, swept the whole 
 known world subjugated every kingdom, almost the 
 instant he touched it, by his victorious phalanxes; and 
 at last, when he had subdued the whole world, he sat 
 down and wept, because there was no more world to 
 conquer. His kingdom passed away after it had fulfilled 
 its mission, and was succeeded by the mightier, more 
 powerful, iron kingdom of the Romans ; whose history 
 
THE MYSTIC STONE SMIT1N& THE IMAGE. 77 
 
 rise, and progress, are described by heathen writers, and 
 even by Gibbon, in a manner eminently confirmatory of 
 the predictions of Daniel, as I have already endeavoured 
 to delineate in the former lecture. This fourth empire 
 has been called again and again " the iron empire." The 
 crown or diadem of its monarchs was iron ; the " iron 
 sway" was the name that poets gave to it; and when 
 Gibbon, the sceptic historian, wished to describe its rise, 
 its splendour, and its might, he could find no symbol so 
 expressive of its actual and historical nature as the very 
 imagery used by Daniel, which he consciously or uncon- 
 sciously quoted, in order thereby to denote and delineate 
 its unrivalled greatness, strength, and progress. 
 
 I stated that the lloman empire* occupies a space 
 larger than the rest, because the destiny of the people of 
 God is very much interwoven and mixed up with it. I 
 have showed you (and this is one great point I ask all to 
 recollect), that there can be found no four successive em- 
 pires in the world, or in the history of mankind, 
 possessed of universal sovereignty, except the four I 
 have mentioned. Now, I ask you, is it possible, if 
 Daniel were a mere guesser a mere sagacious guesser of 
 future possibilities is it probable that he could have 
 guessed so exactly what has taken place, and what all 
 history attests ? Many are found who ask for miracles. 
 Here is a miracle fresh and patent to all. Here is a de- 
 lineation minutely given 600 years before the advent of 
 Christ ; and kings mount their thrones to fulfil it ; and 
 the Roman legion and the Macedonian phalanx march to 
 victor}-, in order to make its most microscopic lines 
 appear true. Empire succeeds to empire, army destroys 
 army, nation follows in the rear of nation, as if each saw 
 the chart plainly delineated, and felt that each had a 
 Divine commission to go forth, verbatim et literatim, to 
 
 * In Bearchirifcf Chrysostom for another quotation, I found, in 
 his fourth Homily, on 2 Thess, ii. 5, the following words : - "Qanfp 
 y<)p fi'i irpo rovrov KariXiiQrjaav I3a<n\tiai, olov / Mrjdwv virb 
 Twit Ba(3v\<i)i>iu)]>, i'i Kaf3n\<ai'i <>v inro Hipffuv, ; TlipatiJV into 
 IvlaKtd'n'wv, r'i MaKidoviuv VTTO 'Pw/iatun- OI'TW KOI avTt) viro TOV 
 *AvTiY/>/<rrov, Ka/ctTvoc virb TOV Xpiarou Kal ovKtri KaOt^tt. 
 Vol. xi. p. 613. Paris, 1838. 
 
78 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 fulfil it. Is not this prophecy written by the finger of 
 God ? Is not all history the evidence of its inspiration ? 
 Is not this a miracle that supersedes the necessity of 
 mere manifestations of power, however impressive, and 
 proclaims with a voice irresistible and full of argument, 
 " Thy word, God, is truth r" 
 
 In this lecture I proceed to show the division of the 
 last kingdom, into what are called " the toes of the feet" 
 of this image. The legs, from the knee, were represented 
 as made of solid iron ; the feet were composed of iron and 
 clay ; and there were the five toes upon the one foot and 
 the five upon the other, constituting thereby ten. But 
 we should not conjecture it was ten, were it not that, 
 subsequent visions in the Book of Daniel, to which I 
 hope to be able to direct your attention, plainly state it ; 
 and no less clear statements in the Eook of Revelation 
 indicate the same number of kingdoms. AVe read of the 
 "beast that was, and is not/' " And the ten horns 
 which thou sawest are ten Icings, which have received no 
 kingdom as yet." The words "king" and " kingdom" 
 are used convertibly in Daniel. Mr. Birks, who has 
 written most ably and eloquently upon this book, says 
 the expression " kingdom" is used when it is the subject 
 of change or division, and that it is called a king when 
 it goes forth conquering and deciding the destinies of a 
 nation. Accordingly we read in the 44th verse : "In 
 the days of these kings;" but in the previous passage it 
 is said, " these kingdoms." Again, of the king of 
 Babylon it is said : " Thou art that head of gold ;" mean- 
 ing, " thy kingdom is represented by it." The two words, 
 therefore, are used convertibly. 
 
 Now it is said, that this last kingdom, which we have 
 shown, I think irresistibly, to be the Roman empire, was 
 to be split into ten divisions ; or, if the wild beast from 
 the abyss, seen by John in Patmos, be ta&en, it was to 
 have ten horns ; or, if Daniel's subsequent visions be had 
 recourse to, (which we shall come to by-and-bye,) it was 
 to be ten-fold. We have the fact clearly predicted, that 
 it was to be split or divided into ten kingdoms. Here is 
 a broad prediction, of which palpable facts can alone be 
 
THE MYSTIC STOtfE SMITING THE IMAGE. 79 
 
 regarded as the fulfilment. Is it then matter of historic 
 fact, as it is matter of prophetic declaration, that this 
 Roman empire has been divided into ten kingdoms at its 
 fall, or decline ? That this has been so every historian 
 will tell you. Gibbon speaks of the ten kingdoms : 
 M tiller, the German historian, alludes to the ten king- 
 doms of the Roman empire ; and I might quote from 
 historians innumerable, all speaking of this ten-fold divi- 
 sion, not as a prophetic announcement, but as an histo- 
 rical and actual fact. 
 
 That this was so, I will show, by giving these ten 
 kingdoms as they have appeared in successive centuries. 
 I need not enter into historical details, for they would be 
 inappropriate here : all that devolves upon me is to 
 show you the fulfilment of the prophecies of God ; and 
 the discourse that proves to you that what God inspired 
 in prophecy has been fulfilled in history is a discourse 
 that contributes at least a drop to that mighty, deepen- 
 ing, widening current which carries, day by day, accu- 
 mulating evidence of the inspiration and heaven-des- 
 cended origin of God's blessed book. 
 
 In the year 532 after the birth of Christ that is, 
 rather more than a thousand years after the prophecy was 
 uttered we find the Roman empire, if I may use the 
 expression, on its last legs ; and these last legs divided 
 into the following ten toes, or kingdoms : the Bavarians, 
 the Anglo-Saxons, the Alleman-Franks, the Burgundian 
 Franks, the Visi-Goths, the Suevi-Franks, the Yandals, 
 Ostro-Goths and Lombards. The next or last three, as 
 if to fulfil the significance of another vision of Daniel, 
 were devoured by the " little horn" (which we shall 
 afterwards speak of), or were absorbed by the Roman 
 Pope, and constitute at this moment what are called 
 " the three estates of the Church. Then, in the year 
 900, there was the folio wing division: Bavaria, Germany, 
 Burgundy, France, Aragon, Castile, Lower Italy, and 
 Rome, comprehending the three estates of the Church 
 the Vandals, Ostro-Goths, and Lombards. In the year 
 1214, the division was Bavaria, Germany, Upper Italy, 
 France, Portugal, Spain, Naples, and Rome with its 
 
80 PEOPHET1C STUDIES. 
 
 three estates, represented by the Pope's triple crowns 
 subject to the jurisdiction of the Church, and constitut- 
 ing its property. Then we come to 1 700, when we find 
 Bavaria, Austria, Savoy, France, Spain, Portugal, Naples, 
 and Rome with its three estates, making altogether ten 
 kingdoms, into which the Roman empire was at last 
 divided. 
 
 As you are aware, there is sometimes in reading his- 
 tory a difficulty in distinguishing the one kingdom from 
 the other ; but, mark you, that very difficulty only makes 
 the fulfilment of prophecy more clear, because the asser- 
 tion of the seer is, that they shall attempt to intermingle 
 with the seed of men, but that they should not succeed 
 in being consolidated into one universal empire, as they 
 were under Nebuchadnezzar, under Cyrus, under Alex- 
 ander, or under the Roman Ccesars ; that with all their 
 intermingling, as the sea interlocks with the land, the 
 one losing and the other gaining a bit, the ten kingdoms 
 should cast up at the end of every century, more or less 
 separate, and should last till the end when they should 
 be smitten into fragments by a " stone cut out without 
 hands." I ask you to notice this startling fact. If you 
 will read any history of Europe, or if you Avill study the 
 maps showing this division maps which I hope one day 
 to exhibit in my schoolroom, as I have exhibited others, 
 if I can only get them prepared on a large enough scale 
 you will find that in each century these ten kingdoms 
 have always cast up, have always turned up out of each 
 revolution ; and every attempt to make them fewer, or to 
 make the u one, has signally and historically failed. 
 
 The expression " They shall mingle themselves with 
 the seed of men," simply means, that they should try by 
 human alliances to intermingle. Napoleon, for instance, 
 connected himself by marriage with Austria. One would 
 have supposed that this would surely have brought about 
 the consolidation of the two empires ; but it did not do 
 so. Charlemagne subdued Germany, Saxony, Spain, and 
 Italy ; but his conquests were temporary : he had no 
 sooner turned his back upon the country he conquered 
 than it rose and re -asserted its independence. Louis XI Y., 
 
THE MYSTIC STOJfE SMITING THE IMAGE. 81 
 
 whose brilliant, but sensual and profligate reign may be 
 known to many of you, made the same experiment. 
 Napoleon, with his iron crown, his formidable sword, 
 and his devastating battalions, swept through Europe, 
 reached Africa, visited even Palestine itself, or at least 
 Syria ; till at last, in his desperate effort to consolidate 
 all the nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa, under his 
 sway, he was all but paralysed in his infatuated ambi- 
 tion amid the snows of liussia; and finally, in that 
 great victory in which our country signalised itself with 
 glory, because it was a contribution to the peace of 
 Europe and the well-being of mankind, he was finally 
 smitten down. His attempt showed, as did the attempts 
 of all that preceded him, that the inner powers of repul- 
 sion in the ten kingdoms were stronger than the outer 
 compression of Napoleon's, or Charlemagne's, or Louis's 
 sword. "We have thus, then, the ten kingdoms always 
 coming up, notwithstanding the efforts of successive 
 despots, conquerors, and heroes, to consolidate them. 
 "We have the failure of each hero written in blood, and 
 stereotyped upon the page of Europe ; in spite of man's 
 great forces, God's true word stands still, fulfilled to the 
 very letter. Did Daniel guess all this ? Who is the 
 more credulous the man who says a Jewish captive 
 guessed the history of Europe, or he that says a Jewish 
 prophet predicted it by the inspiration of God ? 
 
 We read, after this division of the empire, that " a 
 stone cut out without hands" was to smite " the image 
 upon its feet that were of iron and clay." Then it is 
 stated that " in the days of these kings shall the God of 
 heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." 
 " Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out 
 of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in 
 pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the 
 gold; " so will it be with the setting up of this great 
 kingdom which shall never be destroyed. 
 
 What the stone cut out without hands is, there can 
 be scarcely a doubt in the mind of any Christian. The 
 Apostle Peter tells us. " To whom coming, as unto a 
 living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of 
 
82 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up 
 a spiritual house." In his birth there was not the least 
 of human agency ; in his resurrection there was none. 
 In Christ, peculiarly and alone and only of him can it 
 be said so there is realised and verified the symbol of a 
 living stone, " cut out without hands." 
 
 But while this may be true, that Christ here person- 
 ally is to be the Great Destroyer of the nations, it may be 
 no less true that his people instrumentally are to play a 
 part in it. I cannot believe that the action of the 
 " stone cut out without hands " upon the ten kingdoms 
 was the birth of Christ, and the gradual spread of his 
 empire, because it does not say that a power was to be 
 introduced into the Roman empire that should spread 
 like leaven, though that was true ; but it is here asserted 
 that a stone was to strike the toes of the image in its 
 last stage, and shatter it to pieces. Now the progress of 
 the Gospel, as a converting power, is gradual, slow, and 
 invisible ; but the action of the stone, as here described, 
 is not that of a converting power, but of a destroying and 
 annihilating power. Therefore it is represented as smit- 
 ing the ten kingdoms, or the toes of the image, and 
 breaking them in pieces, so that they are scattered like 
 chaff upon the threshing-floor of summer. 
 
 It is believed by many, and I am one of those who in- 
 cline to that belief, that the mystic stone at this moment 
 has begun to smite the ten kingdoms of the Roman 
 empire. And I am sure that no one who looks around 
 him upon Europe, and reads its mysterious and its 
 melancholy history, no one who is at this moment con- 
 versant with what is doing in Trance, where the volcano 
 is smothered, but anything but ' extinguished ; or with 
 what is now passing in Italy, where the TV hole soil rocks, 
 and is convulsed, as if by the heaving of some mighty, 
 dread, subterranean elements, can doubt that if the stone 
 be not smiting at this moment, preparatory to the final 
 destruction of the kingdoms of Europe, there is that 
 going on which is the likest possible to it. Bavaria, 
 Austria, Savoy, Erance, Spain, Portugal, Naples, the 
 three kingdoms of the Pope, or, as they are called, " the 
 
THE MYSTIC STONE SMITING THE IMAGE. 83 
 
 three estates of the Church " the Yandals, Ostro-Goths, 
 and Lombards are all at this moment convulsed, each 
 to its very centre ; flying from each other, as if by an 
 irresistible centrifugal force ; breaking to pieces, as if 
 under the blows of some mysterious stone : Hungary fly- 
 ing off from Austria, as if a hammer smote it, and chipped 
 it off ; Sicily dashed off from Naples ; the Pope's " three 
 estates " rent, torn, agitated, convulsed; Ireland feeling 
 also the blows, as if it belonged to the ten kingdoms, 
 whose Popish characteristics were to remain to the end, 
 and struggling we trust, in vain to be severed from 
 the nation that is its best, and its greatest, though it has 
 been in past times its guilty and its offending friend. 
 Does not all this look as if the stone had begun to smite 
 the ten toes of the kingdoms of the earth ? And if it be 
 so, how solemn is the moment we occupy ! standing on 
 the eve of startling events ; hearing thundering through 
 the sky the reverberation of falling thrones, and explod- 
 ing dynasties sharing, indeed, a momentary lull, but, 
 like the lull at sea which the sailors know between the 
 hurricanes, only preparatory to the rending elements 
 that are instantly and terribly to succeed. 
 
 Need I tell you that almost all men who have looked 
 abroad upon the subject are full of these thoughts ? You 
 cannot read the foreign communications of any of our 
 newspapers without seeing it ; jou. cannot converse with 
 any man acquainted with the state of Europe who does 
 not tremble, if he has any stake in it, for fear of the 
 things that are coming upon the earth. There is an 
 ancient German prophecy, of which you may have heard, 
 that can be traced half a century back ; I do not say it 
 is inspired far from it because I have no evidence 
 that it is so but it was certainly a strange guess for the 
 Germans to make so long ago : "I would not be a king 
 in 1848 ; I would not be a soldier in 1849 ; I would not 
 be a grave-digger in 1850; I will be anything you 
 please in 1851." This may be but a rough conjecture; 
 but how significant is, "I would not be a king in 
 
 1848 !" How striking is, " I would not be a soldier in 
 
 1849 !" And whether " I would not be a gravedigger in 
 
 G 2 
 
84 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 1850," is to be the foretoken of a yet more desolating 
 scourge than any of those through which, by God's 
 mercy, we have passed, God only knows. This, how- 
 ever, we know we are guilty. This we know we 
 ought now, in the moment of respite, both as affects the 
 physical, and still more, the spiritual condition of our 
 fellow-men, to lend a helping-hand, and that right 
 speedily. A pious person, writing from the continent, 
 makes this statement : " Much that has come before us 
 of late shows how rapidly things are classified how all 
 men are ranging themselves under their respective ban- 
 ners all watching for the morning, the one for the Lord, 
 and the other for Lucifer." While some are looking 
 for Christ, the pantheists of Germany are looking for 
 what they call "the coming man," the incarnation or 
 personation of intellect, a human God. The beauty of 
 the Gospel is, that God was made man; the error of 
 pantheism is, that man is believed to be made God. The 
 former was real ; the latter is a mockery. 
 
 I have shown you, then, kingdom rushing from king- 
 dom ; one detached from another, and all left unsettled. 
 Jf you were to look into churches, you would see the 
 same thing ; fragments flying off from one church ; 
 larger fragments from another church ; and the parties 
 standing by, and seeming to enjoy the rending, them- 
 selves being rent in turn. This is the very age of 
 breaking up the age of crushing, of destroying, of 
 rending the age, in short, of the " stone " smiting 
 the ten toes, and grinding to powder the kingdoms of 
 this world. 
 
 What would also confirm that which I have now 
 been stating is, that it seems, from the language em- 
 ployed, to synchronise with the description of the seventh 
 vial given by John. " The seventh angel poured his 
 vial into the air." That I have already explained to 
 you. You have the air physically and morally tainted. 
 I told you in Exeter Hall in 1847, before the vial was 
 poured out, that the effects would be, whenever it came, 
 if the principle of interpretation I thought to be true 
 was correct, a taint of the air with a physical or pesti- 
 
THE MYSTIC STONE SMITING THE IMAGE- 85 
 
 lential taint, and the deterioration of public opinion, 
 sentiment, and belief, by deadly and destructive prin- 
 ciples. " And there came a great voice out of the 
 temple of heaven from the throne, saying, ' It is done.' " 
 Then, what takes place ? " There were voices " who 
 has not heard the voices that have been sounding over 
 Europe for the last three years, in all shapes and 
 forms ? " and thunders and lightnings ; and there was 
 a great earthquake." As I told you, every newspaper 
 said, that 1848 was the year of earthquakes. An earth- 
 quake shook all the ten kingdoms till they reeled and 
 tottered, as if about to issue in their final destruction. 
 " And the great city was divided into three parts, and 
 the cities of the nations fell ; and great Babylon came in 
 remembrance before God," the Popedom is now being 
 visited and scourged, as the beginning of its utter and 
 thorough destruction. If this, then, synchronises with 
 the seventh vial, you have still more confirmatory evi- 
 dence or rather, other language illustrative, still more 
 forcibly, by its symbols, of the period at which we are 
 now arrived. 
 
 If it synchronises with the seventh vial, it would 
 also synchronise with what our blessed Lord has told us 
 in Matthew (this is before the coming of Christ) : " Im- 
 mediately after the tribulation of those days shall the 
 sun " (used to denote imperial power) " be darkened, 
 and the moon " (either a lesser civil power, or the eccle- 
 siastical) " shall not give her light, and the stars " (or 
 rulers in the church) " shall fall from heaven, and the 
 powers of the heaven shall be shaken : and then shall 
 appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then 
 shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall 
 see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with 
 power and great glory." 
 
 And if it synchronises with this, it will also syn- 
 chronise with other predictions in the 37th and 38th 
 chapters of Ezekiel : " Thou shalt ascend and come like 
 a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, 
 thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee." 
 There is a series of predictions in tlese chapters of 
 
86 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Ezekiel revealing judgments that were to take place in 
 the latter days ; the restoration of the Jews, and glory 
 of the Gentiles, which you can read at your leisure. 
 
 It appears, then, that just before the advent of the 
 Lord, there is to be the vial poured into the air, the 
 thunder, the lightning, the great earthquake, and Baby- 
 lon, the Boinish apostasy, coming into remembrance 
 before God ; secondly, to use the words of our Lord, the 
 sun and moon and stars darkening, the heavens covered 
 as with a sackcloth, and men's hearts failing them for 
 fear of the things that are coming upon the earth ; and 
 thirdly id quote the imagery of Daniel that the great 
 stone (beyond all dispute, the Saviour) cut out without 
 hands, is to smite the image, and break it in pieces, till 
 it becomes like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, 
 swept to and fro by the wind, and carried away, so that 
 no place should be ultimately found for it ; and this stone, 
 despised and rejected of men, whom men would not have 
 as their foundation, becomes a great mountain, and fills 
 the whole earth. Every one who looks abroad, as I have 
 told you, sees what I may call the presumptive evidence 
 of these things. You have only to look at the nations 
 of Europe to see that they want the great cohesive ele- 
 ment of living, Scriptural religion. No society can stand 
 unless it be pervaded and knit together by the cement 
 of a living Christianity. The strength of Britain is in 
 the ratio of the depth of Britain's Christianity. The 
 stability of our throne rests upon the Christianity of our 
 population. Never let it be forgotten, that the despised 
 Scripture reader, and humble city missionary, in the dens 
 and alleys, and subterranean cellars of this great metro 
 polis, are contributing (the great men of the world may 
 not see it, but Christian men feel it) to the stability of 
 our most gracious Queen's throne, to the splendour of 
 her crown, and to the glory and greatness of this great 
 empire. It is by religion that a nation stands ; and in 
 the absence of it a hundred thousand bayonets are not 
 stronger than a hundred thousand straws as Louis 
 Philippe, in his own experience, can tell you ; and with 
 that religion in a nation's heart, it needs few battalions 
 
THE MYSTIC STONE SMITING THE IMAGE. 87 
 
 lound the throne, or soldiers to maintain and to defend 
 it. There is a defence in the midst of us mightier than 
 all the glory of the Lord, our refuge and our strength, 
 and our present help in time of trouble. But with the 
 nations of the earth, every one sees that there is no 
 chance of their keeping together. All their constitutions 
 are carnal. They are merely being patched up ; the evil 
 day is, as it were, staved off. "Who does not see, who 
 has the least knowledge of what is going on, that the 
 kingdoms of Europe the ten kingdoms are kept down 
 and quieted purely by management ? Like an old ruin, 
 they are propped up ; like a diseased body, they are kept 
 in life by medicine ; but the props will fall ; the medicine 
 will lose its power ; and then will come, as Metternich 
 prophesied, " the deluge, desolation, destruction, ruin." 
 Seeing, then, that the gold and the silver, and the 
 brass, and the iron and clay all these things must be 
 dissolved Babylon, Medo-Persia, Macedonia, Greece, 
 the Roman Empire, and the ten kingdoms let me ask 
 this question of you a question that has been asked for 
 1800 years : " What manner of persons ought ye to be 
 in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and 
 hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the 
 heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the ele- 
 ments shall melt with fervent heat?" Reading the 
 handwriting of doom upon the walls of palaces, and 
 upon the face of thrones ; hearing the successive crashes 
 of nations booming over sea and land, as if they were the 
 trumps of judgment, spared as we are, in a momentary 
 lull when all seems quiet, only that the forces may 
 muster for the more terrific havoc that is to come; 
 standing on a part of the earth toward which earth- 
 quakes seem to roll, and yet, by a divine protection, 
 seem successively to be repelled ; how earnestly should 
 we examine ourselves, how should we think of our state 
 before God,- how should we try to anticipate, from the 
 knowledge of our hearts, as reflected from God's Holy 
 Word, where we shall stand when the last crash shall 
 come, and the Son of man, coming in the clouds of 
 jieaven, sljajl cover the sl$y with an unearthly splendour, 
 
88 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and all men shall, for one brief period, enjoy a dreadful, 
 suspensive, trembling pause, anxious to know, " shall 
 we stand at the right hand, or at the left hand of the 
 Judge?" "Seeing all these things shall be dissolved, 
 what manner of persons ought ye to be ? " 
 
 But does not a retrospect of this image, which repre- 
 sented to Daniel all the kingdoms of the world, tell us 
 how to estimate these kingdoms? Riches what are 
 they ? Fragments of the golden head ; mere filings of the 
 silver breast and of the silver arms ; possessed, indeed, of 
 currency below, but destitute of any currency where 
 Christ and our inheritance are. And what, after all, is 
 earthly rank ? It is merely a foothold upon the iron legs ; 
 or, if a higher rank, upon the thighs of brass ; or, if a 
 higher still, upon the silver arm ; and the highest rank 
 in the land is merely seated on the golden head. And 
 when we know that the golden head, and silver arm, and 
 belly of brass, and legs of iron, and toes of clay, shall be 
 all smashed to pieces by that Stone, scattered like chaff 
 upon the summer threshing-floor, oh ! how pale does all 
 earthly rank become how poor does all worldly grandeur 
 appear how little worthy of a people's love how little 
 entitled to a nation's anxiety ! What a call to us to think 
 of the "unsearchable riches" that moth cannot corrupt 
 to think of the " honour that cometh from God" to 
 think, and secure while we think of a foothold, not upon 
 the leg of iron, nor belly of brass, nor arm of silver, nor 
 head of gold, but a foothold on the Rock of Ages, which 
 shall become one day " a great mountain," and shall "fill 
 the whole earth." Blessed hope ! brilliant prospect ! 
 As it was told by David, in the 72nd Psalm, " His name 
 shall endure for ever:" it shall last like the sun. The 
 names of Calvin, of Luther, of Knox, of Wesley, and 
 "Whitfield, and other names that may be musical to our 
 ears, shall all be hushed, and the name of Christ alone 
 shall endure audible for ever. All nations shall bless 
 him, and all nations shall be blessed in him ; and when 
 that Stone has been turned into this great mountain, 
 and when the whole earth shall be covered by that 
 mountain, then shall be the era of the triumph of the 
 
THE MYSTIC STONE SMITING THE IMAGE. 89 
 
 Catholic, or the universal, and the true church ; that 
 mountain-brow basking in perpetual sunshine; and 
 around that mighty mountain that fills the whole earth 
 shall be successive belts, like bright zones, of adoring and 
 worshipping companies, that say and sing, " Unto him 
 that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own 
 blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto our God; 
 to him be glory for ever and ever." Glorious structure, 
 beautiful and holy home, sublime cathedral, happy rest, 
 for the holy and happy people of God ! No hospitals will 
 be there, for there shall be no sick ; no graves shall be 
 dug in it, for death shall be destroyed ; no sorrow, nor 
 sighing, nor tears ; but the church catholic, apostolic, 
 holy, blessed, for ever and ever, Christ their King, and 
 none known by any other name than Christians, the 
 anointed subjects of the great King'. 
 
 My dear friends, some men quarrel with the study of 
 prophecy. I have learned more since I began to study 
 it thoroughly than ever I learned before. I do not say 
 that these simple truths are denied by ministers of the 
 Gospel, but certainly they are not studied. They say, 
 " We do not like to study these subjects." They even 
 boast of their good sense, in skipping the book of Daniel 
 and the Apocalypse. Alas ! for such unprotestant preach- 
 ers. Whatever God has written, it is surely worth 
 our trouble to study ; and if we commit an error here 
 and there charity will forgive it, and God will forgive it 
 for the sake of the great truths that are beside it. This 
 I have learned ever since I studied these truths : I have 
 learned less and less to value those distinctions of church 
 and dissent, of episcopacy and independency and pres- 
 bytery ; and to feel more and more their utter insignifi- 
 cance in comparison with that glory that streams from 
 the better land, and shows me that, in the sight of God, 
 in the cycle of eternity, there are but two classes the 
 lost, in hell, who have clung to antichrist, and the saved, 
 in heaven, with whom. Christ has been all and in all. 
 
 The future ! cruel were the power 
 
 Whose doom would tear thee from my heart ; 
 
 Thou sweetener of the present hour, 
 We cannot no we will not part ! 
 
90 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Then haste thee, Time 'tis kindness all, 
 That speeds thy winge'd feet so fast : 
 
 Thy pleasures stay not till they pall ; 
 And all thy pains are quickly past. 
 
 Thou fliest and bear'st away our woes J 
 And as the shadowy trains depart, 
 
 The memory of sorrow grows 
 A lighter burden on the heart. 
 
LECTUEE YIII. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 ' Thou, Icing, sawest, and behold a great image. This 
 great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before 
 thee ; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's 
 head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, 
 his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet 
 part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a 
 stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image 
 upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them 
 to pieces. Then ivas the iron, the clay, the brass, the 
 silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became 
 like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors ; and the 
 wind carried them away, that no place was found for 
 them : and the stone that smote the image became a great 
 mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream ; 
 and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the 
 king. Thou, king, art a king of kings : for the God 
 of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, 
 and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, 
 the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath 
 he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over 
 them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee 
 shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another 
 third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the 
 earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron : 
 forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all 
 things : and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break 
 in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet 
 and toes, part of potter 1 s clay, and part of iron, the 
 kingdom shall be divided ; but there shall be in it of the 
 strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron 
 
92 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were 
 part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be 
 partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou 
 sawe&t iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle them- 
 selves with the seed of men : but they shall not cleave one 
 to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in 
 the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
 kingdom, which shall never be destroyed : and the king- 
 dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in 
 pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand 
 for ever" DAXIEL ii. 31 44. 
 
 TIME would fail me, were I to attempt to recapitulate 
 what I have preached on the portion of Scripture which 
 I have now read. It will be sufficient to observe, that 
 I showed that the head of gold was the Babylonian 
 kingdom the first supreme and universal sovereignty 
 that then existed upon earth ; that the breast and arms 
 of silver we could have no difficulty in denning to be the 
 Medo-Persian kingdom the breast denoting its monarch, 
 and the two arms, Media and Persia, united in him, and 
 constituting one kingdom ; that the belly arid thighs of 
 brass represented the next succeeding universal kingdom, 
 the Graeco-Macedonians, or the Macedonian Greeks, 
 known in classic story as the "brass-covered Greeks," 
 who, first under Philip, and next, and completely, under 
 his son Alexander, swept the earth, and subdued every 
 kingdom under their powerful sceptre. I also showed, 
 by irresistible proofs, drawn from Gibbon, and from his- 
 torians whose testimony in this matter must be regarded 
 as dispassionate, that the fourth kingdom, the fourth in 
 succession, and the only succeeding kingdom that had 
 absolute and universal sovereignty, was the iron king- 
 dom of Rome, or the Roman empire. Now, this is not 
 mere conjecture. I ask you to point out to me, in past 
 history, any other four successive kingdoms each of 
 which was in its day mistress of the globe, as far as the 
 globe was then known. There have been but four uni- 
 versal empires the four I have stated each sovereign 
 and supreme in its sway, and each displaced by its sue- 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 93 
 
 cessor. The last of these, the Roman empire, which was 
 of iron, subdued and ground to pieces all the kingdoms 
 that preceded it. I showed you also, by comparisons 
 with the Book of Revelation, and subsequent passages in 
 the Prophecy of Daniel, to which I will refer you, that, 
 as the two feet of the image were divided into ten toes, 
 the Roman empire might be expected, if the prophecy 
 were true, to be divided into ten kingdoms. If you will 
 open any history, of any school or creed, you will find it 
 stated that the Roman empire was thus divided into ten 
 kingdoms in the fourth or fifth century ; this is matter of 
 universal admission. Strange enough, ever since that 
 division took place now some fourteen hundred years 
 ago the ten kingdoms, which I specified by name, are 
 seen, in every century, more or less clearly to cast up. 
 Were they to cast up the same in limits and geographical 
 extent in every century, prophecy would not be fulfilled ; 
 because the prediction is that they would try to " mingle 
 with the seed of men ;" that is, there should be efforts 
 made to compress, to consolidate, to jumble them ; in 
 other words, destroy though not intentionally God's 
 prediction, and make them cease to be what God has de- 
 clared they long shall be numerically and clearly ten. 
 Now, it is a fact, that ever since the division into ten, 
 successive rulers have tried to amalgamate them into one 
 great universal empire ; and in each instance they have 
 found that the word of the Almighty was stronger than 
 the sword of Caesar, of Charlemagne, or of Napoleon, or 
 of any other ambitious prince or soldier that made the 
 experiment. Again and again marriages have been 
 made among the ten kings. The most powerful effort, 
 and the nearest to successful, was made by Napoleon, 
 when he allied himself to the house of Austria. He con- 
 trolled the most gallant, the bravest, the most active 
 nation on the continent of Europe. Europe seemed to 
 lie prostrate at his feet, ready to accept his sovereignty; 
 the cup of universal empire was almost at his lips ; but 
 God had destined it otherwise, and expressly said it 
 should be otherwise, 600 years before the birth of Christ, 
 and more than 2,000 years before Napoleon was born. 
 
94 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 The waters of the Borodino engulphed his invincible 
 battalions, and the snows of Russia became winding- 
 sheets to half his army, and the bones of the rest, bleach- 
 ing or buried on the plains of "Waterloo, tell how feeble 
 is the might of man, and how lasting is the truth 
 of God. 
 
 But we are told that in the time of these ten kingdoms, 
 into which the Roman empire was to be divided, the God 
 of heaven should set up a kingdom which should never 
 be destroyed. Now, this cannot be the commencement 
 of Christianity 1800 years ago, because it is said that God 
 would set up this kingdom subsequent to the division of 
 the empire into ten kingdoms ; assuredly he will yet set 
 up this kingdom in all its grandeur, completeness, and 
 sovereignty ; and between the ruin of the ten kingdoms 
 of the Koman empire and the culminating glory of the 
 Christian kingdom there shall be nothing intervening. 
 This last and universal sovereignty of the Christian 
 kingdom was to be the result of another fact: that a 
 " stone cut out without hands" (which I showed by 
 comparison to be the Lord Jesus) was, not gradually to 
 leaven, but suddenly to smite the ten kingdoms. You 
 will notice that the stone, which was Christ, ("to whom 
 coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, 
 but chosen and precious,") was to smite the image in its 
 ten-fold division state. It was not to smite it in the time 
 of its golden head, nor in the time of its silver breast, nor 
 in the time of its brass thighs, nor in the time of its iron 
 limbs ; but when the iron limbs should be divided into 
 ten toes, partly clay and partly iron. This stone was 
 suddenly to fall upon the ten kingdoms, and to split 
 them into atoms, and scatter them as chaff is driven and 
 scattered upon the summer threshing-floor. I showed 
 you, by two or three simple facts, that it seems as if the 
 blows of that stone were at this moment reverberating 
 throughout the continent of Europe. "Who can fail to 
 see kingdom after kingdom without any explanation of 
 the why without any preconcerted scheme, or plan, or 
 conspiracy, that will account for the result suddenly 
 broken to atoms ? And if great statesmen are to be 
 
THE KINGDOM OP GOD. 95 
 
 believed, whose sagacity is generally the nearest thing to 
 prophecy, never was the continent of Europe at this 
 moment in a more unsettled state. The stone seemed 
 first to, have smitten France ; and left that monarch, who 
 fell asleep with a hundred thousand bayonets bristling 
 around him, a refugee and an exile on the rise of to- 
 morrow's sun. The stone then struck Austria ; and its 
 monarch was an exile among the Swiss. It next struck 
 Germany; and even that giant empire reeled and 
 staggered under the blow. The stone then struck Italy ; 
 the Pope was driven from his throne ; and the " three 
 horns" that belonged to him "the three states of the 
 Church" part of the ten are at this moment sub- 
 stantially severed from him. I was told by a Roman 
 refugee, soon after this, that the prospect of his ever 
 wielding the temporal sovereignty over that people is 
 remoter at this moment, than ever. And, as if the very 
 elements were sustaining men in their efforts to destroy 
 him not the man Pius IX., but the personation, the 
 head, the representative of Babylon we find, that no 
 sooner was he settled in his recent place of retirement, 
 than the earthquake rocked the soil, and Vesuvius burst 
 out with preternatural fury ; and the Pope himself, who 
 fled from his people a year ago, was flying from the 
 burning element ; as if the foretokens of the predicted 
 downfal of Babylon were accumulating and thickening 
 every day.* When I read this fact in the papers, it re- 
 minded me of what Mr. Elliot has shown will be tbe 
 
 * " That which nothing else has been able to effect, the erup- 
 tion of Vesuvius has effected, the flight, or rather the removal of 
 the Pope. It is only, however, to the palace on Capo di Monte, 
 where he can enjoy the magnificent scenes now being exhibited 
 on Vesuvius without trembling at the dreadful roaring of the 
 mountain, and without fear of being overwhelmed. I hear 
 nothing, however, of a more distant flight. Cardinal Dupont is 
 still here, and the steamer, the Vauban, which brought him, waits 
 in port. Arrests still continue here, and I hear that, last night, a 
 terribly large batch was seized and sent off to prison some say 
 twenty-seven men of birth and respectability. Mr. Brown, an 
 American, formerly Consul at Rome, has been ordered to quit 
 Naples within forty-eight hours, whereupon an indignant and 
 angry correspondence has taken place between the American 
 
96 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 nature and agent of the destruction of Babylon. His 
 belief is and Scripture leads him to this conclusion 
 that that gigantic despotism, which has made slaves of 
 the free and martyrs of the holy, and out of which there 
 is only escape for such men as Achilli, when the power 
 of our country and that of France are made to tell upon 
 the fears of the guardians of its despotism is to be 
 literally burned with fire, and that there are volcanic 
 elements enough in Italy, not only to account for, but to 
 lead us to expect, so terrible and so consuming a cata- 
 strophe. "We wait : the only concern we have in the 
 
 Charge d' Affaires and the Neapolitan Government. As yet I 
 know not if, or how, it has terminated. 
 
 " I must not forget to inform you of the state of Vesuvius. 
 For a week, we have now enjoyed the most splendid eruption 
 which has taken place for many years. The ashes have been car- 
 ried as far. we know, as twenty miles, and, no doubt, much 
 farther. The lava descends in two streams upon Ottajano, where 
 it has destroyed a palace and much land belonging 1 to a nobleman 
 of that name, and another towards Torri deli Annunziata, whilst 
 the flames and the immense masses of rock which aru ejected, 
 form, at night, a splendid and terrific spectacle. The roaring of 
 the mountain on Saturday night last was such as to disturb the 
 whole country for miles round, and here in Naples our windows 
 shook with every repetition of it, which was unceasing night and 
 day. Immense crowds, of course, walk over to the other side of 
 the bay to get a nearer view ; religious processions are moving 
 about, for the intercession of the Madonna and the saints ; and it 
 is said that the Pope is to perform some ceremonial to cause the 
 mountain to stay its ruinous proceedings. I am sorry to add that 
 the accidents to those who went over have been very sad. On 
 Saturday night a young Pole was struck in the leg by a burning 
 stone, which cut through the limb, and he died on the mountain 
 from loss of blood. A young American officer was struck in the 
 arm, which hung suspended by a bit of flesh. On his arrival in 
 Naples he had lost so much blood that an amputation could not 
 take place, and as no reaction has up to this time taken place, it 
 is not expected that he can live. A gendarme is also reported 
 killed, and two men who had fallen a sacrifice to the eruption 
 were said to have been buried yesterday at Portici. Some anxiety 
 has been felt for an Englishman and his wife who had not re- 
 turned from a visit to the mountain ; and yet crowds roll on night 
 and day to see this wonderful phenomenon. From the neighbour- 
 hood of the mountain all the inhabitants have fled, and the 
 powder from the magazine at Torre has been removed." Corre- 
 spondent of the Daily News. (April, 1H50.) 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 97 
 
 prospect of her catastrophe is : " Come out of her, my 
 people, that ye partake not of her sins, and receive not 
 of her plagues." I believe those who hold what are 
 called Tractarian views are partaking of the sins of 
 Babylon, and that they will perish in her ruin unless 
 they repent. I believe it is the duty of every man more 
 and more to protest against the system, and whatever 
 be his love to its victims and that love cannot be too 
 intense, and he cannot speak the word of truth in too 
 much love to speak of it as God speaks of it, and him- 
 self to take care that he share in none of her sins ; aad 
 so shall he not suffer any of her plagues. 
 
 Having, then, reviewed the whole of my statement 
 on the great image, I now proceed to notice the kingdom 
 that is here stated to succeed the other kingdoms, to 
 cover the whole earth, and never to be moved. This 
 kingdom is composed, first, of principles; next, of per- 
 sons : both now imperfect, but by-and-bye to be made 
 perfect in glory. 
 
 First of all, it is composed of principles. The Spirit 
 of God says " The kingdom of God is not meat nor 
 drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost." Here you have this kingdom in its essential 
 and constituent principles. Before unfolding these let 
 me first notice its negative aspect. 
 
 " The kingdom of God is not meat nor drink." In 
 other words, nothing merely ceremonial constitutes tho 
 kingdom of God. The ceremonies may be too many, or 
 they may be too few they may be very brilliant, or they 
 may be very bald they may please the senses, or gratify 
 only the intellect : it is of no consequence. These things 
 do not form a vital part of the kingdom of God. Nothing, 
 in the next place, that is merely ritual constitutes this 
 kingdom. "It is not," says the Apostle, "meat nor 
 drink." There may be rubrics, or there may be none 
 you may fast, or you may feast you may kneel at 
 prayer, or you may stand you may kneel at the com- 
 munion-table, or you may sit the minister may wear 
 a silk gown, or a surplice, or neither; he may preach 
 without notes, or he may preach with them; these are 
 
 H 
 
98 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 matters of ceremony evanescent as the clouds ; the great 
 truths beyond and beneath them are, like the stars, fixed 
 and beautiful for ever. This kingdom is not described 
 by any fixed and clearly specified ecclesiastical regime. 
 The church may be governed by bishops, or it may be 
 governed by presbyters, or it may be governed by the 
 people ; it may be episcopal, presbyterial, or congre- 
 gational ; it may be favoured by the state, or it may be 
 free from it ; it may be endowed by the state, or sup- 
 ported by the people ; it may be a very imperfect church, 
 or the most perfect church of all; these are matters 
 that may be of less or greater advantage to the kingdom, 
 but they are not, of necessity, essentials to the very 
 existence of the kingdom; and if men only felt this 
 more, they would labour less to reform the mere ex- 
 ternals, and labour more to plant in the heart and 
 impress on the people the vital and essential doctrines 
 of the Gospel. The true way to get a church perfect is 
 to try to have perfect men to compose it. The purity 
 of the government of a church will always be in the 
 direct ratio of the piety of the people that constitute 
 that church. If we prayed more and quarrelled less, 
 and each in his sphere did the work that devolved upon 
 him more heartily, there would be far greater success 
 in promoting the Gospel in vindicating the honour of 
 God in winning souls. Far preferable would this be 
 to any efforts to improve the outworks, or to alter its 
 constitution, or to change its robes, its ceremonies, and 
 its rites. ]S["ever forget that the citadel of a church's 
 strength is not outward, but inward Christianity. Yital 
 forces are in each individual heart ; not in bishop, pres- 
 bytery, or people. Thus, then, no one outward govern- 
 ment is specified as an essential part of the kingdom of 
 Christ. It is not "Lord, Lord," but being Christian; 
 it is not creeds, or fasts, or incense, or genuflexion ; it is 
 not the voluntary system, nor the establishment ; it 
 is not beads, nor holy water; it is not dipping, nor 
 sprinkling ; it is not kneeling, nor standing ; it is not 
 Gerizim, nor Sinai; "neither on this mountain," nor on 
 that ; " the kingdom of God is neither meat nor drink," 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 99 
 
 nor ceremony, nor form, "but righteousness, peace, and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Let us now look at the positive side of this kingdom, 
 or the constituent and normal elements of that kingdom 
 which is to supersede all, and rise in beauty and glory 
 when other kingdoms have passed away. It is composed, 
 first, of " righteousness." What is this righteousness ? 
 It is two-fold : there is a righteousness without us, by 
 which we are justified; and there is a righteousness 
 within us, by which we are sanctified. The first is the 
 act of God's free grace ; the second is the work of God's 
 Holy Spirit. The righteousness by which we are justi- 
 fied, is as perfect at the moment we believe, as it will be 
 when we are admitted into heaven ; the righteousness 
 by which we are sanctified is day by day growing in 
 strength, in influence, in power, until grace is lost in 
 glory. The first, or the righteousness by which we are 
 justified, is imputed to us; the second, or the righteousness 
 by which we are sanctified, is imparted to us. The first 
 is our title to heaven ; the second is our fitness for heaven. 
 This righteousness, both as imputed and imparted 
 the act of Christ, and the work of the Spirit is an 
 essential element of that kingdom which " is not meat 
 nor drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost." 
 
 Another element, we are told, is " peace." " Justified 
 by faith, we have peace with God." There is no peace 
 real or lasting, except the peace that passeth under- 
 standing. Old Mr. Howells used to say, " If you see 
 two dogs at peace with each other, it is the indirect 
 evidence of the power of the Gospel." There would be 
 nothing but war, interminable and exterminating, 
 throughout all society, but for the direct or indirect in- 
 fluence of the Gospel of Jesus. "When we are justified 
 by faith in the righteousness of Jesus, we have then 
 peace : peace with God, for he is our father peace with 
 our conscience, for on it is the reflection of that Father's 
 countenance peace with every man who is a Christian, 
 for he is a brother peace with every man who is not a 
 Christian, for he may, by grace, be made a brother : peace, 
 
100 
 
 rilOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 not indolence ; not ease, in any respect, but strife not 
 self-indulgence, but self-sacrifice not acquiescence in 
 what is evil, for the sake of quiet, but war with what is 
 evil, for the sake of God not a prudential avoiding of 
 quarrels, but the sustained endeavour to make all things 
 what grace has made us ; and to feel our peace increasing 
 and flowing as a river, in proportion as the Gospel of 
 grace pervades, and permeates, and leavens all around 
 us. Such is the peace here indicated peace with God, 
 peace with conscience, and peace with one another. 
 
 The third element, we are told, is " joy." It began 
 in righteousness, it proceeds in peace, it culminates in 
 joy. In other words, the kingdom of God that is, 
 Christianity is one-third character and two-thirds 
 privilege. I have often declared, what I now repeat, 
 that the Gospel was inspired, that Jesus died, that the 
 Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost, as much to make 
 you and me happy and joyful, as to make you and me 
 righteous and holy. Nay, the very first sound in that 
 glorious message is " good news." For what is the 
 meaning of the word Gospel ? " Good news." Instead 
 of shrinking from that Gospel, instead of looking upon it 
 as something sepulchral and awful, that will dissipate all 
 your joys, and dry up all the currents of your pleasure, 
 you ought to know that the main elements of the kingdom 
 of God are peace and joy. I am sure, if we confess at 
 the throne of grace that the Gospel has not made us 
 righteous as it ought to have done, we ought to confess 
 with equal sorrow that it has not made us happy, peace- 
 ful, joyful, as it was meant to do. If there be any man 
 in this assembly who is not a happy man, it is not be- 
 cause the Gospel has made him miserable ; if there be any 
 man in this assembly who is not a joyful man, it is not 
 because the Gospel is not fitted to make him so ; but be- 
 cause he is cherishing some sin which acts like a blind 
 upon the Gospel light, and prevents its cheering, its 
 enlivening, and illuminating beams from entering into 
 the chamber of his soul, and there lighting up perpetual 
 sunshine. The Gospel, then, is one-third character, and 
 two-thirds privilege : not meat nor drink, nor form nor 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 101 
 
 ceremony, about which men fight; but " righteousness, 
 peace, and joy." 
 
 How striking it is that all the quarrels among Chris- 
 tians are mostly about the negative part about meat or 
 drink. Now, if they would lay aside looking at the 
 negative form, ceremony, fasting, feasting, silk robe 
 and surplice, meat and drink, about which disputes are 
 endless, and would look more at " righteousness, peace, 
 and joy," about which we feel unanimous, they would 
 find they had left the region of passion and the arena of 
 conflict, the grey twilight of misapprehension ; and that 
 they were in the province of unity, amid the air of peace, 
 and the lights of joy where the wilderness rejoices, and 
 the solitary place blossoms as the rose. 
 
 Having ascertained what this kingdom is, as God 
 himself has defined it, we see what it is that can truly 
 renovate mankind. Man has various prescriptions : God 
 has but one. One man has a temperance society, and 
 that is, I dare say, good ; another has a peace society, 
 and that is good enough, I suppose in its place ; another 
 man has some other society for some other object, and it 
 may be equally good. But all these must fail, however 
 good in design, however pretty in their little spheres of 
 little working they are toys, not quickening truths. 
 Men will never be truly temperate, until the grace of 
 God that teacheth to live soberly is implanted in their 
 hearts ; and nations will never get peace by burning 
 the navy and reducing the army. One of the greatest 
 means, perhaps, in this sinful world of keeping peace 
 may be the maintenance of the army and the navy ; and 
 one of the greatest blunders, I fear, may be found to be 
 the destroying or weakening of cither. But neither 
 army nor navy are the means of creating peace. The 
 only thing that can make peace is the kingdom of peace 
 in every man's conscience, and the reign of the Prince 
 of peace in every king's kingdom. When the whole 
 world has become Christian, then will be the time to 
 beat the spear into the ploughshare, but not until then. 
 Our Lord has told us, " I am not come to send peace on 
 earth, but a sword ;" not intentionally, but necessarily. 
 
102 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 The result of holiness coming into contact with sin, 
 peace coming into contact with war, love coming into 
 contact with enmity, will be war, discord, division, dis- 
 pute. All man's plans for ameliorating society fail, 
 because they touch merely the robes of society ; they do 
 not reach its heart. Man would be for manufacturing 
 peace and happiness by machinery : God, for making 
 happiness ana peace by implanting within the principles 
 of the Gospel of peace. Man hits upon a scheme ; God 
 implants a principle. Man wants to make duty a soft 
 lawn, not a battle ; his life sitting in an easy chair, not 
 a race that he has to run. Thus he proposes to reform 
 society by reforming its circumstances, an empirical 
 scheme which must always, inevitably fail. Christianity 
 proposes a revolution within, and then there will be a 
 reformation without. It acts by mind ; all other schemes 
 act by mechanism. Man's plan is to begin at the cir- 
 cumference, and try to get inward; God's plan is to. 
 begin at the heart, and then carry power, principle, and 
 reformation outward. Man's way is to give man some- 
 thing that he has not ; God's way is to make man 
 something that he is not. Man's plan is to give the 
 patient a softer bed ; God's plan is to cure the patient. 
 The one is weakness, the other is power. The one is the 
 quackery of man ; the other is the kingdom of God, and 
 " righteousness, peace, and joy" in the individual heart ; 
 and thus " righteousness, peace, and joy" in universal 
 society. 
 
 If this be the kingdom of God, is it implanted in your 
 hearts? However sure the prospect of its universal 
 sovereignty may be however possible that it may burst 
 upon the world like a thunder-clap ; yet it is true that, 
 day by day, it is gaining power and progress in indivi- 
 dual hearts it is advanced by means it is ours to use 
 them. Day by day, I solemnly believe, all society is 
 splitting into two grand sections. You will find that 
 all such names as Churchmen and Dissenters, Inde- 
 pendents, and Baptists, and Wesleyans, et cete/a, et cetera, 
 and unfortunately et cetera still, will be lost in one great 
 phalanx they that are the Lord's. On the other hand, 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 103 
 
 there will be another section antagonistic to that 
 Tractarians, Puseyites, Papists, the Greek Church, and 
 all that hold the traditions of men all passed over to 
 their side, and under their banner, and forming the pha- 
 lanx of antichrist: God's people finding the centre of 
 their unity in Christ ; they that are not God's people 
 finding the centre of their unity in antichrist. During 
 the heat of the collision, the Lord will appear, and shine 
 before his ancients gloriously ; and after smiting all the 
 opposing kingdoms of the world, as the great mystic 
 stone, he will, in the language of the text, " set up a 
 kingdom that shall never be destroyed; but it shall 
 break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it 
 shall stand for ever." I ask, my dear friends, have you 
 the elemental principle of this kingdom in your hearts ? 
 In other words, are you Christians ? Hem ember, if there 
 be any valid excuse why you should not be Christians, 
 you will never be condemned for the want of Christianity. 
 Wherever there is a valid excuse, there is no duty ; but 
 there is no excuse in the height or in the depth, why 
 every man in this assembly should not, this very night, 
 resolve that for him and his, he will serve the Lord. 
 All the excuses that men make are paltry and untenable. 
 One says : "How liberal I would be, if I had not this 
 encumbrance." Another says : " How religious I would 
 be, if I were not so busy." Another, again, says : " How 
 good I should be, if I could only dispose of those circum- 
 stances which trammel me at present, but which by-and- 
 bye will be removed." My dear friends, circumstances 
 are to be the servants of man ; not man the servant of 
 circumstances. We have nothing in the universe to do 
 with circumstances, but to conquer them. The solemnity 
 of duty, the obligation of convictions, responsibility to 
 God, cannot wait till the circumstances around us are 
 adjusted, but must pass, like ploughshares, through all 
 circumstances ; leaving scope for duty, none for excuse. 
 I ask again, is the kingdom of God erected in your heart ? 
 Do you know what it is to have a righteousness to lean 
 upon, so complete that you would not fear at this moment 
 to look the Sovereign Judge in the face, and feel that 
 
104 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 there is no condemnation for you ? Have you, at this 
 moment, that peace which would enable you to feel per- 
 fectly composed if the earth were to vibrate beneath your 
 leet by successive earthquakes, the sun to become as 
 blood, the stars to fall from their sockets, and the last 
 conflagration to kindle on the globe that you tread upon 
 would you feel peace ? Nay more, in the absence of 
 all, in the loss of the fruit of the fig-tree of all the pro: 
 perty you have accumulated in the midst of all losses, 
 can you say : " Yea, I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy 
 in the God of my salvation ?" Christianity is not a mere 
 creed that a man subscribes to ; it is a kindling principle 
 that runs through the whole of man's nature. Christianity 
 is not a dogma for schoolmen to wrangle about ; it is a 
 great, vital, personal experience for each man to feel, and 
 for the absence of which each man is responsible. We 
 can all dispute about orthodoxy, and quarrel about cere- 
 monies ; and the devil avails himself of such quarrels to 
 conceal and darken the solemn obligations to believe in 
 Jesus, to go to God, and to have peace with him through 
 the blood of the covenant, and righteousness and joy in 
 the Holy Ghost. Let us cease to quarrel. Let us begin 
 to live. 
 
 I have thus looked at this kingdom as composed of 
 principles ; let me notice it now as composed of subjects. 
 "Who are the subjects of this kingdom ? In one short 
 sentence, they are those in whose hearts are " righteous- 
 ness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." But, if I may 
 expand it, I would say, the subjects of this kingdom are 
 not, as I have already endeavoured to indicate, men of 
 any one denomination, or any one ceremony. You may 
 be churchmen, or you may be dissenters, and not sub- 
 jects of this kingdom. You may pray with a liturgy, 
 or pray without one, and yet not be subjects of this 
 kingdom. You may worship in chapel, in church, or 
 in cathedral, and yet not be subjects of this kingdom. 
 The subjects of this kingdom are not distinguished 
 by the conventionalisms of man, but by inward re- 
 generation of heart by the Holy Spirit of God. I do 
 believe that if the attempt succeed that is now made to 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 105 
 
 identify, by a decision of any sort, baptism a precious 
 sacrament with regeneration ; leading men to suppose 
 that, baptised canonically, they are regenerated surely, 
 the most awful apostasy will be commenced by the 
 church of many of our fellow-subjects. If it were only 
 understood what is man's state by nature, they would 
 never dream that baptising him by water could essen- 
 tially alter that state. It may alter it ecclesiastically : 
 morally and truly, it cannot. "What is man's state ? If 
 man, by sin and by the fall, had merely suffered a slight 
 shock if all that Adam's ruin and Adam's sin had done 
 were to throw man into a faint or swoon, then I do not 
 see why water sprinked on him might not revive him, 
 and set him on his feet again. But if this be not the 
 expression of the true state if man be really dead in 
 trespasses and in sins, let me ask you, who can raise the 
 spiritually dead ? Only he who will sound the trumpet, 
 and the dead shall come forth from their graves, can 
 speak to the heart, and the heart of stone shall become 
 a heart of living, of sensible, and of sympathising flesh. 
 The members of this kingdom are not the baptised, nor 
 the circumcised as such ; but they are members of the 
 body of Christ, the sons of God, the elect of God, a 
 chosen generation, a peculiar people, a holy nation : 
 "the lights of the world," "the salt of the earth," 
 "living stones, a "royal priesthood," "kings and 
 priests," and " servants of God," the "sheep of his pas- 
 ture," " disciples," and "heirs of God," " Christians" 
 the first name, as it will also be the last. 
 
 Let me notice, briefly, the external characteristics of 
 this kingdom. It is a catholic kingdom. "\Ye are the 
 true catholic church ; and this is a branch of the catholie 
 church. The Romish church is a section split oif from 
 it ; and our objection to it is, that it is sectarian and 
 not catholic. Catholic is the attribute of some of the 
 epistles in the New Testament ; it is the attribute of the 
 church of Christ. But whom does it comprehend ? 
 First, all those who have fallen asleep in Christ. 
 Secondly, those who are now alive, and born again. 
 Thirdly, those who are not yet born, but will be bom, 
 
100 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and shall be born again, in the Providence of God. 
 These are they who compose the catholic kingdom ; and 
 when the last day shall come, all its subjects, from the 
 first hour of the world's existence to its last, shall meet 
 tog-ether, and constitute the one visible catholic church 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 This kingdom is a united kingdom. Its members 
 may differ in farms, in ceremony, in detail, as men ever 
 differ in these respects; but they have one common 
 characteristic they are born again, they are children of 
 one Father, they are walking in Christ the one way, 
 they are regenerated by one Spirit, they cleave to one 
 Bible, they are looking for one home : Let there be no 
 strife between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we 
 be brethren." The Ilomish Church is a united kingdom, 
 but it has a false centre man ; we are a united king- 
 dom, but it is around the true centre, and that centre 
 Christ. And as* I told you before, it is not enough to 
 claim uniformity ; there must be unity. Man can make 
 a company uniform by dressing them alike, and making 
 them march or move to the same tune ; but God alone 
 can make hearts one by uniting them to himself, and 
 inspiring them by his Almighty grace. 
 
 In the next place, this kingdom is a holy kingdom : 
 it is composed of saints. Who are saints ? If you ask 
 a member of the Church of Home, he will say, Saints 
 are those who wrought miracles, and, fifty years after 
 the miracles were wrought, were canonised by the Pope, 
 according to a certain ceremony appointed for that pur- 
 pose, and who are to be prayed to. If you ask the Bible, 
 it tells you: " The saints at Philippi," " The saints at 
 Damascus," "The saints that are at Corinth," "The 
 saints that are at Rome." In other words, all true 
 Christians are saints. The word is a translation of 
 ay 01, the holy ones, the people of God. "We are either 
 saints by grace, or we are sinners by nature, and in no 
 respect saints at all. If we belong to this kingdom, as 
 its subjects, we shall be characterised by holiness, not 
 perfect, but progressive ; holiness in aim, holiness in 
 aspiration, holiness in sympathy, and perfect holiness 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 107 
 
 when time shall be no more. At present, I do not 
 believe there is any one perfectly holy; I do not believe 
 that perfect holiness is attainable in this world; for 
 there is no stage of a man's life in which he will not 
 find these words applicable to him : "If we say," says 
 John not separating himself from his flock " that we 
 have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not 
 in us." " But," he adds, "if we confess our sins, God 
 is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse 
 us from all unrighteousness." And the 7th chapter of 
 the Epistle to the Eomans need only be read to show 
 you that there is a battle-field in every man's heart; a 
 law of the spirit that wars against the law of the flesh ; 
 so that when you would do good evil is present with 
 you. The man who is born again, and seeks to be holy, 
 as God is holy, is like the poor captive bird in the cage : 
 the cage cannot kill the bird, the bird cannot free itself 
 from the cage ; it can only still wait, and persevere, and 
 sing, and seek, and look, till the hour of its freedom, 
 its perfect emancipation into brighter realms and better 
 days, draws near. 
 
 Finally, then, this kingdom, thus characterised and 
 composed of these subjects, is the kingdom that shall 
 destroy all other kingdoms and cover the whole earth. 
 Babylon, the great apostasy of the earth, shall be utterly 
 consumed ; the smoke of her fire shall rise up for ever 
 and ever. The Jews shall be gathered to their own land ; 
 yea, Jesus shall shine in the midst of them, and before 
 his ancients gloriously. Then the body shall be raised, 
 for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall 
 rise first ; then we who are alive shall be caught up with 
 them, and so meet the Lord in the air. Then Christ 
 shall be revealed ; we shall be like him that is, per- 
 fectly holy ; we shall be like him, for we shall see him 
 as he is. Then sacraments shall cease, for they are only 
 to last " till I come again; " then faith will depart, for 
 it will be merged in fruition ; then hope will disappear 
 like a bright vision, for it shall be merged in having; 
 and then grace shall be swallowed up in glory; there 
 shall be no more tears, nor sighing, nor sorrow; all 
 
108 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 graves shall be filled up ; the orphan's weeping face no 
 more scarred with tear- channels; all creation's discord 
 subdued ; all nature at one with itself and at one with 
 God ; and earth a vestibule of heaven ; heaven and earth 
 eternally one ! "What a blessed day ! humanity pines 
 for it; creation groans and travails till this kingdom 
 consume all other kingdoms, and nourish for ever. The 
 slave in the mines of Siberia longs for it ; the slave in 
 the Southern States of America cries for it; the poor 
 needle-woman, the greatest slave of all, earning a half- 
 penny or a penny per hour, as I have myself witnessed, 
 sighs and cries for it. Let them have patience and pray 
 on ; it will come. God hears the cry of the oppressed, 
 the groans of nature, the petitions of his saints; and 
 the kingdom shall come, and " it shall not be destroyed, 
 nor left to other people, but break in pieces and consume 
 all these kingdoms." Its light shall never be quenched, 
 for God is its illumination ; its life shall never be ex- 
 tinguished, for God is its everlasting life. Sublime 
 thought ! that from the lonely and sequestered villages 
 of Bethlehem and Nazareth there has come forth a 
 kingdom whose triumphs multiply every day, whose 
 gleries shall fill the whole earth, whose expanding and 
 progressive spring is God the Omnipotent ; a kingdom 
 that will shine when marble statues are defaced, and 
 when palaces, and noble halls, and thrones, and dynasties 
 are ground to powder and scattered as the chaff upon 
 the summer threshing-floor. That kingdom is at our 
 doors ; that bright epoch comes speedily. Are you in- 
 terested in it ? Have you a share in it ? Are you 
 subjects of it ? Are you born again? 
 
 My dear friends, what an awful thing if that kingdom 
 should come in all its glory, and we should find ourselves 
 excluded. "What a terrible thing, if, when the trumpet 
 shall sound (and we know not when it may sound), and 
 the dead in every churchyard shall rise, if from a grave 
 where there are twain, one shall be taken and one loft. 
 And then, we that are alive, it is said, shall be caught 
 up in the air. Oh, what a terrible separation will it be 
 for one of a family, on hearing the royal sound, to assume 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 109 
 
 mysterious wings, and soar, and come to Jesus, and the 
 other to be left ! And yet I am not describing a picture 
 of fancy; I am stating what God himself has said. How 
 dreadful the separation ! We now mourn over the loss 
 of those that fall asleep in Jesus ; what a terrible shock 
 will it be when we find those that we loved upon earth 
 severed from us for ever and for ever ! Why is it, my 
 dear friends, that we are not Christians ? "Why are we 
 not the people of God ? Why are we not trying to make 
 others so? There is no reason outside you. There is 
 only one you will not. Your inability is moral. There 
 is not the least reason why every man in this assembly 
 may not go home this night and bow his heart before 
 God and be at peace with him through Jesus Christ. 
 Recollect the serpent of brass. The dying Israelite had 
 but to look : the instant he looked he had physical life. 
 As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of man 
 be lifted up, that whosoever belie veth on him, looketh 
 to him, leans upon him as a Saviour, may have instant 
 life. May we have this kingdom within us ; may we be 
 its subjects, and so be the subjects of the kingdom of tho 
 Lord, for Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 EARLY MARTYRS. 
 
 " Shadrach, Meshach, and A.led-nego, ansicered and said 
 to the J&ng, Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to 
 answer thee in this matter" DANIEL iii. 16. 
 
 You will recollect that I explained in a series of 
 successive discourses that remarkable image which ap- 
 peared to Nebuchadnezzar, of gold, silver, brass, and 
 iron, and then the ten toes, representing ten kingdoms, 
 mixed with iron and with clay, and incapable, by any 
 pressure applied to them, of coalescing and mingling. 
 I showed you that all this is so minutely described in 
 prophecy has been exactly fulfilled in history; that man's 
 history, written by man's pen, is the echo of God's pro- 
 phecy inspired by God's Spirit ; and that the strongest, 
 because accumulating evidence that holy men of old 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, is not in 
 the record of the miracles that were done, or in the 
 sublimity and purity of the truths that were uttered, 
 but in the continuous fulfilment of those ancient pro- 
 phecies in the years as they roll past before us. 
 
 We now come to another stage in the incidents con- 
 nected with Daniel himself not connected with pro- 
 phecy, but with personal character. I may, however, 
 notice that Daniel's exposition of the image made the 
 king raise him to the highest dignity, and Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego also to the highest honour. 
 But one grieves to see how short-lived is the patronage 
 of man ; for we find by the preceding chapter that the 
 men who were the objects of royal adoration yesterday 
 are the objects of his fury and his vengeance to-day. 
 Truly we are not to trust in princes nor in man's son. 
 
EAELY MAETYES. Ill 
 
 I may here notice the meaning of what I omitted to 
 explain in my last lecture, that Daniel sat in the gate of 
 the king (chap. ii. 49.) You must have observed that 
 in the Bible, gates are frequently referred to : "He sat 
 in the gate." "Judgment in the gate." "Honoured 
 among the elders in the gate." So Daniel was seated in 
 the gate. The gate of a city in ancient times was the 
 place from which justice was dispensed ; it was a strong 
 place, and was specially guarded ; and to put Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego in the gate, was to make them 
 counsellors, and judges, and rulers in the midst of the 
 land. The only country that retains anything like a 
 memorial of this usage is Turkey. You know the phrase 
 used in the newspapers, when they refer to Turkish de- 
 cisions the "sublime Porte" a word derived from 
 porta, which means a gate. It is simply the remains of 
 an ancient eastern custom, or Oriental usage, retained in 
 a modern tongue, and connecting the world that now is 
 with the rites and customs of a world that is passed 
 away. 
 
 In the chapter I have read, we find that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar raised a golden image of prodigious height. He 
 tried to captivate all to worship it by the sounds of 
 music, the dulcimer, and flute, and various instruments ; 
 and he warned them that if his music would not prevail, 
 his furnace would be sure to punish all recusants ; so 
 that if they were not captivated, he would try to force 
 them ; and if he did not force them, he would take care 
 to burn them. ( How like Popery ! 
 
 It appears that certain Chaldeans and counsellors 
 applied to the king men who envied the dignity of 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego and informed him 
 that there were Jewish parties who had dared to disobey 
 his commands. He sends for them, speaks to them in 
 very reasonable terms, warns them of what they had 
 done, and the consequences that would follow, but unex- 
 pectedly receives from them the magnanimous and noble 
 reply : " We are not careful, king, it is not a matter 
 of anxiety to us, to answer thee; our minds are fully 
 made up; we know what is duty, and in the face of 
 
112 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 kings, and amid the prospect of a fiery furnace, we have 
 grace to stand by it." 
 
 This image set up by Nebuchadnezzar, some think, 
 was meant to be an imitation of the splendid image 
 which he saw in a dream. An image passed before him 
 to give him a foresight of the fate of the kingdoms of 
 the world ; but instead of learning prophetic wisdom 
 from it, which was its legitimate use, he makes a copy 
 of it a copy that seems, to his taste, to excel the 
 original and sets it up as an idol, or an object of 
 worship. It is a singular fact, that all false religion is 
 not original ; it is only the corruption of the true : and 
 we may calculate the height, the depth, and substance 
 of the true religion by the false religion which follows 
 it; just as men estimate the height of the pyramids by 
 the length of the shadows they cast around them. This 
 king used the image which he saw, and which God 
 meant for a sublime and good purpose, to be a model for 
 an idol, which was to take the place that belonged -to 
 God alone ; just as the Israelites took the brass serpent, 
 which had a most beneficent mission according to God's 
 appointment, and made it an object of worship. Never, 
 never is corruption so great as when it is the corruption 
 of that which is pure. ( Popery is thus more corrupt than 
 heathenism } an angel falling becomes a fiend ; a woman 
 falling front her dignity and purity becomes the most de- 
 graded of all ; and pure rites and ordinances perverted 
 b} r the wickedness of man become the most deadly 
 vehicles of dishonour to God and injury to mankind. 
 /Take the sacrament of baptism, and make it occupy the 
 place of the Holy Spirit ; and you do what the Israelites 
 did with the brass serpent, what Nebuchadnezzar did 
 with the golden image : you lift it from its true and its 
 beautiful position a sign, a seal, and an introduction to 
 the visible Church and you put it in the room of God, 
 and make it sit in the Temple of God, in antichristian 
 state, showing itself that it is God. j 
 
 Host likel}-, the cause of the king's acting thus was 
 not so much his love of idolatry as the cunning advice of 
 his counsellors around him. They saw that Shadrach, 
 
EAKLY MAKTYES. 113 
 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego, were raised to honour ; they 
 were envious of the dignity to which these great and 
 good men were exalted. They, therefore, hit upon the 
 scheme of ensnaring them by getting the king to erect a 
 god for universal worship, which they knew too well, 
 because they knew the substance and depth of these 
 men's religion, they would never consent to adore. Party 
 spirit is the bitterest of all : it has done what nothing 
 else in the history of man can do ; but it is a lesson to 
 those who indulge in it, that wherever in the Bible it 
 has been made to act against the people of God, it has 
 recoiled in its action, and injured or destroyed those who 
 used it. These men tried to destroy Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego, and they were destroyed themselves. It 
 seems to be a great law or ordinance in God's dispensa- 
 tions with mankind, that they that shed blood, their 
 blood shall be shed ; that they that wield the sword 
 shall fall by the sword ; that no man can smite another 
 without being smitten himself; nor any man curse 
 another without receiving the echo and rebound of that 
 curse immediately into his own bosom. /''Let us pray for 
 kings, that they may have grace not to set up idols ; let 
 us pray for their ministers and counsellors, that they may 
 have grace to give them good advice. A king has power; 
 and when that power is allied to goodness, it is all but 
 divine ; when that power is allied to wickedness, it is as 
 disastrous as it is sinful.^ 
 
 The image is here described to be of a certain measure- 
 ment threescore cubits in height, and in breadth six 
 cubits. Anybody can see that this is a disproportionate 
 measurement, and that an image which was sixty cubits 
 (about ninety feet) in height, and only six cubits (or nine 
 teet) in breadth, would be utterly disproportionate. It 
 is plain, therefore, that this is if I may reverently use 
 the expression a loose way of describing the imago and 
 pedestal together, the united height of both being ninety 
 feet. Herodotus, the father of history, alludes to a 
 golden image that was set up at Babylon, which he him- 
 self had heard of, and which every one was obliged to 
 kiss before he entered the city. And we know, from 
 
 I 
 
114 PEOPHET1C STUDIES. 
 
 classic story, that at Rhodes there was an image of gold 
 seventy cubits in height ten cubits higher than this 
 one and that it took thirteen years to construct it, or 
 put together its different molten parts ; and on its being 
 thrown down by an earthquake, such was its weight, 
 that it ploughed up the solid earth, and buried itself to a 
 considerable extent beneath the ground. I quote these 
 facts to show that the incidents here recorded are 
 attested by heathen historians ; that in heathen history 
 itself we have a parallel case ; and that such images were 
 not unusual, nor impossible to be constructed by ancient 
 art. 
 
 This image, you read, in the next place, was made 
 completely of gold. One can well conceive what a splen- 
 did object it must have been. It was incapable of being 
 oxidised by the rains and the atmosphere, and therefore 
 it perpetually retained its splendour in that eastern and 
 purer climate. No doubt, the king depended for popular 
 adoration upon the splendour of the image, thinking its 
 brilliancy and grandeur would be an attraction irresistible 
 to all men. It seems to be the law of false religion that, 
 having no inner moral beauty, it must depend upon out- 
 ward trappings, pomp, and splendour, for its weightiest 
 claims ; so much so that whenever we see a church begin 
 to heap up splendid pomps and ceremonies, gorgeous 
 robes, magnificent rites, it should always lead us to sus- 
 pect that that church is aware that the inner beauty is 
 evaporated, and that the outer beauty must be increased 
 and augmented, in order to conceal its loss and make it 
 attractive /So it is with that great apostasy in the West. 
 The Church of Rome depends for her power, not upon 
 the purity of her creed, not upon the greatness and holi- 
 ness of her morality, but upon the splendour of her rites, 
 her crucifixes, her genuflexions, her golden shrines, her 
 embroidered altars, her august and impressive temples: 
 like the ancient temples of Egypt, all magnificent as 
 architecture could make them without, but inside are the 
 reptiles of the Nile, the gods the people bow down to.^ 
 
 In order to make the image as impressive as possible, 
 the king collected around it a great band of musicians, 
 
EARLY MABTYES. 115 
 
 with all sorts of instruments of music. He knew the 
 charm, the power, and popular effect of good music ; and 
 he was resolved, that not only should the image have 
 unwonted splendour by being golden, and thus reflecting 
 the rays of rising and setting suns, but that it should 
 also have near it all that is impressive and attractive in 
 the shape of beautiful music. Painting and statuary are 
 for the eye ; music for the ear. Thus he thought he 
 would be sure to make his way to the heart. Some one 
 has sarcastically remarked, that if you can secure the 
 five senses of men, you may calculate upon all the rest. 
 What was said in sarcasm has too often been fulfilled in 
 in fact. Men are too often led by their senses, not by 
 their judgment ; they worship show, not in spirit and 
 truth. The church of Rome is aware of this fact, and 
 has made provision for man's senses in a most wonder- 
 ful manner; calculating, with masterly sagacity, that, 
 having secured the homage of all the senses by her 
 adaptations to them, she will, in nine cases out of ten, 
 secure the conversion of the mind and the homage of the 
 heart, j 
 
 These three Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, 
 as I have already said, were accused as guilty. They 
 felt they had no alternative : they refused to bow down, 
 and worship the image the king had set up. It was not 
 on account of veneration for their own idolatry that the 
 Chaldeans accused them ; it was envy, jealousy, hatred, 
 and all uncharitableness. When the king hears of their 
 disobedience, he sends for them, speaks to them with 
 condescending courtesy and kindness, and asks them the 
 reason why they had refused to worship the image that 
 he had set up. He had no idea that a man had a con- 
 science not the least idea that there was a word 
 mightier and more impressive than a king's word ; and 
 he thought it the most monstrous, and perhaps the most 
 extraordinary phenomenon he had met with in all his 
 reign, that any man should refuse to obey a king's com- 
 mand, and refuse in circumstances where obedience was 
 entitled to so much favour, and where disobedience 
 would be visited with so severe and terrible a penalty. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 The three Hebrew youths calmly, courteouslj-, but firmly, 
 refused. They were not insolent to the king; they did not 
 insult his creed ; they were prepared to argue with him, 
 no doubt, if he condescended to permit them ; they used 
 no offensive epithets, but they calmly and firmly said : 
 " We cannot do it ; it is with us a matter of conscience." 
 Conscience is that sacred realm, even in the bosom of the 
 lowliest, into which a king's hand may not dare to enter ; 
 it is that sequestered, solemn, awful nook in the con- 
 stitution of the human soul, into which God alone can 
 claim admission. Kings may control the body ; they 
 cannot make or alter the convictions of the soul. Force 
 may make bad men hypocrites ; but no force or fraud can 
 make good men disobey the behests of conscience and 
 the commandments ot their God. There is nothing be- 
 neath God and the Bible so sacred as the conscience ; 
 and there is no one faculty within us to which we should 
 listen with more reverential and attentive awe. It may 
 be blinded, it may be warped, it may be hardened, it 
 may be seared, but it is never utterly dead ; and a day 
 always comes when, if long neglected, long seared, long 
 disregarded, it re-asserts its ancient and inherent rights, 
 ascends to its own sacred pulpit, and reasons, in tones of 
 thunder, of righteousness, and judgment, and temperance; 
 and man must hear it. 
 
 The king, finding these three youths determined, see- 
 ing that they could not be captivated by his music, nor 
 persuaded by his reasons, to worship the image, threatens 
 them with the burning fiery furnace seven times heated. 
 Such is invariably the last resource of a false religion. 
 It will try, first, to captivate by its charms, and if it 
 fail, it will then endeavour to coerce by its threats. But 
 the same conscience that smiled at the seductions of the 
 music will triumph over the threatcnings of wrath. The 
 seven times heated furnace has no terrors for that man 
 who knows that the ever-living God is his friend, and 
 eternity his happy and blessed home. Tertullian, in 
 speaking of the treatment of Christians by the lloman 
 emperors of his day that is, in the days of heathenism, 
 says : " We are thrown to the wild beasts to make U8 
 
EARLY MARTYRS. 117 
 
 recant ; we are burned in the flame ; we are condemned 
 to the mines ; we are banished to the islands, such as 
 Patmos ; l and all have failed.' ' So was it here : the 
 sovereign's frown created no terror in these young men's 
 breasts. They felt the force of duty ; their eye was 
 single ; their path was plain ; their course was marked 
 out before them. /'How absurd is persecution, in what- 
 ever way you look at it ! No punishment inflicted on 
 the body can possibly alter the .convictions of the soul. 
 One wonders man can think so. If a man were all body, 
 persecution might make him what the persecutor pleased; 
 but man is soul and body, and no maltreatment of the 
 one ought, or is able, to warp the judgment of the other. 
 The soul is to be dealt with by argument, by evidence, 
 by love ; the body, being either pleased or punished, can 
 exercise no real influence over it. / 
 
 In the conduct of these Hebrew youths we have a 
 great precedent for ourselves to follow in less painful 
 circumstances. We should rather suffer, and if needs 
 be, die, than renounce the Gospel. It is a strong state- 
 ment, but it is a scriptural one. St. Paul says : I am 
 ready not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem for 
 the name of the Lord Jesus." Perhaps it is not right to 
 say to men in these times of so great civil freedom; 
 " You should be prepared to die for the Gospel. Per- 
 haps to ask you to test your present Christianity by your 
 readiness at a future time to die for it, is not fair, 
 scriptural, or necessary. I believe, when martyrs are 
 required, God gives a martyr's spirit to meet the re- 
 quirement. God's grace is also sufficient for the crisis ; 
 it is not given in excess before the crisis comes. The 
 great question we have to ask is, Are we truly the chil- 
 dren of God ? Are we, in heart and conviction, the 
 followers of the Lamb ? Are we washed in his most 
 precious blood ? Are we leaning upon his most perfect 
 righteousness : Are we looking to God as our Father ? 
 Are we anticipating the glory to be revealed as our 
 home ?" If we can make sure of this, we need not now 
 consider whether we could die for Christ. When the 
 exigency arrives that will require us to do so, the God 
 
118 PHOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 that permits the crisis in his Providence will supply 
 the strength in his grace ; and you will find it amply 
 sufficient for you. 
 
 How composed and beautiful was the remark of these 
 Hebrew youths : " The God whom we serve is able to 
 deliver us ; if he does not, well ; we commit ourselves 
 to a faithful God." As if they had said : "If he mira- 
 culously deliver us, it is well ; if he do not, we know it 
 is equally well. It will be but the torture of a moment ; 
 an exceeding weight of an eternal glory is beyond it. 
 We do not like the the fire ; we have nerves as well as 
 [Nebuchadnezzar ; we have sensibilities as keen j we 
 shrink from torture, as all humanity must shrink ; but 
 we are willing to brave the flame for the glory that lies 
 beyond it ; we are willing to cross the deep, dark 
 flood of death for the sake of the bright land of Goshen, 
 that stretches in perpetual sunshine on the other side, 
 "We do not love death, nor do we wish death ; but we 
 are willing to bear it for what death leads to. "/"When 
 you hear persons say, " We wish to die," their language 
 is not correct. ISTo man wishes to die. I have said 
 before, that of all things death is the most horrible, the 
 most unnatural, the thing from which we naturally and 
 properly shrink and recoil ; because man was never made 
 to die. Sin has brought in " death and all our woe." 
 But the Christian says : "I am willing to meet death 
 either as a foe to hurl defiance at, or as a friend, to wel- 
 come the message and the messenger too ; not because I 
 love that friend, or because I court that foe, but because 
 in either case he is a pioneer that paves and opens the 
 way for me to an inheritance which is incorruptible, 
 and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." These youths 
 said : " The God whom we serve is able to deliver us ; 
 and we know that if it be for his glory he will deliver 
 us." They placed the whole stress upon God's ability. 
 Satan would say of miracles, " Let God never interfere 
 to deliver ; " Man would say, " Let God always interfere 
 to deliver;" God has determined in his wisdom to in- 
 terfere when it is most for his glory, and best for you. 
 Were God always to deliver his servants by a perpetual 
 
EARLY MARTYRS. 119 
 
 miracle, it would not be a miracle ; it would be called 
 to use the phraseology of the day " a law of nature." 
 Were God never to deliver his servants, then the world 
 would say, and Christians would begin almost to think, 
 " There is no God." He interposes miraculously often 
 enough to convince that God is, and God acts ; and he 
 interposes seldom enough to make more vivid the inter- 
 position as an evidence of a divine and Providential 
 power. I need not say that a ceaseless miracle is, by 
 its very necessity, no miracle at all. The present law is, 
 that water should run down-hill ; but if the law were 
 that it should run up-hill, and if it had been so for 
 eighteen centuries, men would say, "For water to run 
 up-hill is a law of nature ;" and if anything occurred to 
 make it run down-hill, they would say, " This is a 
 miracle." The present law is, that the vine should be 
 planted, that the rain should saturate the soil in which 
 it grows, that the juice should rise through the stem and 
 go into the branches and the leaves, that it shall effloresce 
 into blossom, and ripen into fruit ; that the fruit shall be 
 pressed, the juice fermented, and be converted into wine. 
 But Christ, by one word, shortened the process; and 
 instead of taking a year to allow the water to turn into 
 wine, which is the ordinary law, he did it in a minute, 
 saying, " Let the water be wine." But if water always 
 became wine by the looking of a man, that would be a 
 law, and the other process would be the miracle. What 
 is continuous is called the law ; the suspension of the 
 continuity indicates the interposition of the Lawgiver. 
 A ceaseless miracle, then, is an absurdity. Therefore 
 the idea of that body of Christians, who have followed 
 the late Edward Irving, or improved or misimproved, upon 
 what he said that there should be ceaseless miracles in 
 the church, is to me absurd ; it will not bear examination ; 
 it cannot be, by the very nature and necessity of the thing. 
 We read, that when the king had failed to convince, 
 or to awe, or seduce these youths, he ordered the furnace, 
 in his fury, to be heated seven-fold. The means of doing 
 so were very easy in that country. The whole soil of 
 Babylon to this day is full of naptha and bitumen. They 
 
120 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 had only to collect the brash- wood of the forests, and to 
 cast in plenty of this naptha and bitumen (as an ancient 
 historian says was done), and the heat of the furnace, as 
 any one must be aware, would become highly intense 
 or, as it is here said, be seven-fold. 
 
 The three youths were then cast into the fire, with 
 their hosen and their clothes on, as the last and most 
 desperate punishment the furious monarch could inflict. 
 But God forgets not his own. At this crisis God was 
 true to his promise, beheld in love his servants, and 
 interposed for their deliverance. The flame recognised 
 the presence of Him that made it, and bowed reverently 
 before the Son of God, just as on other occasions the 
 waters of the sea owned him ; the winds heard him ; and 
 all nature responded to him, and obeyed him. The flame 
 lost its power to consume, because it was commanded 
 not to do so by Him that kindled it at the first. Nature 
 is all pliant in the hand of Jesus. He is the Lord of 
 creation ; he has but to speak, and all things will respond 
 in ten thousand echoes, " Speak, Lord, thy servants 
 hear.'' These Hebrew youths, we are told by the 
 Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, " quenched 
 the violence of fire" by their faith. They said nothing 
 calculated to irritate the king, as I have told you ; they 
 submitted meekly to the judgment he decreed, and cast 
 the whole stress of their deliverance upon the Lord. 
 Let me gather, then, from all this these lessons. 
 
 The mightiest on earth learn here, and have learned 
 often since, how insignificant are the greatest efforts to 
 injure the cause of Christ. 
 
 If you will read the history of the Church of Christ, 
 you will find that the most furious opposition has only 
 served to spread its principles, and to add new attrac- 
 tions to those that professed them. All the power of earth 
 and hell cannot burn out one single truth ; all the 
 patronage of earth and hell cannot build up one perma- 
 nent lie. It is God's great law that all things, directly 
 or indirectly, shall build up truth ; and that nothing 
 upon earth shall serve permanently to build up a lie. 
 The Hebrew youths walked in the burning fire as amid 
 
EAKLY MAKTYBS. 121 
 
 groves of orange and of myrtle, while one walked with 
 them, like unto the Son of God no doubt the Angel of 
 the Covenant. The fury of the king was disappointed ; 
 the party-spirit of his ministers was checked ; and they 
 that kindled the fire were themselves the first victims 
 of it. ..!;*** 
 
 In looking at the conduct of these three youths, I may 
 notice, that they might have urged, that it was their 
 duty to obey the king, and worship the image he had set 
 up ; for it was the established religion of the country. 
 So it unquestionably and, in this case, unhappily was. 
 The king patronised the idol, and, no doubt, its wor- 
 shippers ; and these youths might have argued, as some 
 men argue still : " It is the established religion ; it 
 enjoys the sunshine of the countenance of the monarch ; 
 and as loyal subjects, it becomes us to embrace it." 
 Whatever be the excellence, the merit, or the demerit of 
 established religion, we should learn this : that the mere 
 establishment of a creed whether doing so be right or 
 the reverse, it is needless now to discuss is not neces- 
 sarily the making of truth a lie, or the making of a lie 
 truth. Mahonietanism is established in Turkey ; but it 
 is not, therefore, my duty to become a Mahometan there. 
 Popery is established in Austria ; but it is not, therefore, 
 my duty to become a Papist there. Pantheism, or the 
 endowment of everything upon earth that assumes the 
 name of religion, is established in France ; but it is not 
 my duty to become a Pantheist, or to worship in the 
 temple of the province in which I may be placed in 
 France. Let religion be established by the powers that 
 be, which they think true ; but let me be regarded as 
 having a conscience. If I cannot conform to the religion 
 that is established by law, either from conscientious con- 
 viction, or from God's word, or from scrupulosity, as is 
 the case with some, let me have the freedom the full, 
 unfettered freedom of worshipping beneath my own vine 
 and my own fig-tree, according to the prescriptions of 
 that conscience which kings can neither bind nor free, 
 which laughs at sword and fire, and glories only in 
 subjection to God its Sovereign. Because, then, it was 
 
122 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 the established religion, it was not therefore, their duty 
 to conform to it. Nor did they cease to be loyal sub- 
 jects, because they would not be the churchmen of that 
 day. It is possible to be churchmen, and to be most dis- 
 loyal ; it is possible to be a dissenter, and to be most 
 loyal. Our conformity to the established church, how- 
 ever excellent, is not necessary to our loyalty ; our non- 
 conformity to the established church, however bad, is not 
 necessarily disloyalty. In religious matters the laws 
 should leave us free ; in civil matters, the law of CaBsar 
 ought to be, not for wrath, but for conscience' sake, reve- 
 rently obeyed. I am not here speaking against a religious 
 establishment, but against the abuse of it. 
 
 These Hebrew youths might have urged also the 
 highest possible expediency for bowing down and wor- 
 shipping the image. Mark how they were situated. 
 They were captives in the midst of Babylon ; they were 
 promoted to places of power ; they had great means of 
 doing good to their captive countrymen in the midst of 
 the city of their habitation ; and if they had belonged to 
 the expediency-mongers of every age and country, they 
 might have argued in this way : " True, it is very bad 
 to bow down and worship this image ; but we hold places 
 of power ; we have excellent salaries ; we have great in- 
 fluence ; we may be the means of doing good to our poor 
 captive fellow-countrymen. Had we not better, there- 
 fore, bow the body, though we do not bow the soul, to 
 this golden image :" If it had been a matter of form, or 
 ceremony, a matter of discipline or ritual, then I would 
 have said, " Remain in the communion in which you 
 can do the greatest good ;" but as it was a matter that 
 touched the conscience ; and as that conscience responded 
 to what God said, " Thou shalt not bow down to them 
 nor worship them," these three Hebrew youths had no 
 choice. They did what was right, and feared not that 
 the right would be always the most expedient. Do what 
 is right, and you will always find it expedient. That 
 cannot be politically expedient which is morally wrong. 
 It is God's law plainly unfolded in his word. Do not 
 look behind you, nor before you, nor above you, nor 
 
EAE1Y MAJRTYES. 123 
 
 around you ; but be satisfied that all things will work 
 for good to you, while you continue to act aright. Duty 
 alone is ours ; all the region beyond it the region of 
 events and consequences is exclusively God's. We are 
 to mind the duty that devolves upon us ; we are to leave 
 with God to settle the issues that may flow from our 
 obedience to that duty. 
 
 There was another reason they might have urged for 
 their conforming to the king's requirements that was, 
 their personal obligations. They might have argued : 
 "He has been to us a most gracious monarch; he has 
 raised us, in his sovereignty, to places of high power and 
 high honour ; he has made us sit in the gate, the place 
 of judgment, of greatness, and of justice, and we owe 
 homage to the king and gratitude to the man." But 
 duty to God was even stronger than gratitude and loyalty 
 to an earthly king. My dear friends, there is nothing 
 more painful than to be obliged to refuse a dear friend 
 what our consciences tell us we cannot give. But " he 
 that loveth father or mother," much less a friend, " more 
 than me, cannot be my disciple." "VVe must take up the 
 cross, and follow Jesus. Do all that you can to gratify 
 your friends ; but do nothing to irritate and disturb your 
 peace of conscience, and the allegiance that you owe 
 to God. i * ** 
 
 ~ These youths might have also argued : "If we refuse 
 to worship the golden image, we shall present a very 
 singular aspect : it is the universal worship ; the whole 
 mass upon the plain of Dura fall down and worship the 
 image ; and we three shall appear the most singular and 
 grotesque of nonconformists amid the inhabitants of 
 mighty Babylon." Singularity, when it is assumed, is 
 contemptible, and indicates a very weak mind indeed. 
 To te singular for singularity's sake is positively detest- 
 able below the dignity of man, and unworthy of the 
 gravity of a Christian ; but to be singular because it is 
 the necessary result of not sinning, is worthy of the 
 Christian, and it dignifies the man. We must not be 
 afraid of being singular when duty makes that sin- 
 gularity inevitable. If it be in an excellent thing, our 
 
124 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 singularity should not make us ashamed. Did you ever 
 hear of any man ashamed of being singularly rich ? of a 
 woman ashamed of being singularly beautiful ? of a man 
 ashamed of being singularly wise ? Is it not very odd 
 that men should be ashamed of being singularly reli- 
 gious ? Is not religion more beautiful than beauty ? 
 wiser than wisdom ? and far more valuable than riches ? 
 Do not court singularity, but cleave to duty ; do not fear 
 singularity, if avoiding sin necessitates it. Do not mind 
 that the multitude are against you, if God be with you. 
 Plant your foot upon one single text of the Bible, and 
 defy all mankind : " Thou shalt not follow a multitude 
 to do evil." " As for me and my house," be it in Con- 
 stantinople, be it in Vienna, Petersburgh, or Rome, or 
 Babylon, or London ; " as for me and my house," what- 
 ever other men may choose to do, " we will serve the 
 Lord." 
 
 These men, too, might have pleaded the terrible penalty 
 to which they were exposed by disobeying the command- 
 ments of the king. It was a terrible penalty ; and a 
 severe penalty for disobedience to a command so easily 
 obeyed by a genuflexion of the knee, yet so impossible 
 to be done by the bowing of a Christian's heart. They 
 might have said, " It is a terrible thing to be cast into 
 a burning fiery furnace ; " but they looked at the furnace, 
 even when it was hottest, and they looked at the duty, 
 when it had not one advocate or follower besides them, 
 and they chose duty naked, simple duty; and they 
 were not careful to answer the king how they should 
 meet or endure the burning fiery furnace. What grati- 
 tude do we owe to God that we can be true to duty, and 
 yet not incur such a dreadful penalty. But what re- 
 buke does the conduct of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego administer to many of us ! You think if you be- 
 come Christian it is the thought of many a young man 
 here to-night if you become Christian you will be 
 what ? Thrown to the wild beasts ? One might not be 
 surprised if you hesitated. Be cast into the burning fiery 
 furnace. If so, one might not be surprised that you 
 should pause. But you think only : " If I become a 
 
EARLY MARTYRS. 125 
 
 Christian I shall have to give up this profit," that is all ; 
 " I shall have to renounce this pleasure ; I shall have to 
 shut up my shop on Sunday," that is all. And can 
 you hesitate to comply with a clear command from God, 
 because you will lose a little pleasure, part with a little 
 profit, die not so rich, live not so splendidly : when 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to bow the 
 knee for once upon the plain of Dura, though doing so 
 would have gained them a loftier place, apparently, in 
 the favour of their king, and shielded them from the 
 terrible penalties attached to disobedience ? What you 
 do now indicates what you would have done if you had 
 been added to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and 
 been a fourth there. You would have bowed the knee, 
 and worshipped the image, and escaped the penalty. 
 But how will you meet Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego at the judgment-seat ? They, with less light and 
 fewer privileges not having heard of Calvary, its cross, 
 its agony, its bloody sweat not having the Gospel, in 
 all its grace, and glory, and riches, unfolded to them 
 with weaker motives, less acquaintance with God, man- 
 fully refused the bribe, despised the penalty, and clave 
 to duty; and you, amid privileges such as the world 
 never tasted or enjoyed before, are overcome by the 
 bribe, repelled by the penalty; open your shops on 
 Sunday, cheat on the Monday, and grow rich by work- 
 ing to death, in thousands, the young men that serve 
 you. How would Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego 
 have done if they had been of your religion and your 
 spirit ? And how will you meet them at that day when 
 all the pageantry of kings and palaces will have passed 
 away like a pale, airy phantasm ; and duty, conscience, 
 responsibility, God, the Saviour, the soul, will alone 
 stand great and blessed, or terrible realities? 
 
 These Hebrew youths had faith in God's power : they 
 said, " He is able to deliver us." They had faith in 
 God's promises ; they felt that he would deliver them. 
 Perhaps they had heard sounding on the plain of Dura 
 that very promise which God pronounced to Isaiah about 
 a hundred years before: "Whenthou passest through 
 
126 PHOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers 
 they shall not overflow thee : when thou walkest through 
 the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the 
 flame kindle upon thee." 
 
 Then, these three youths had the hope of the " glory 
 that remains to be revealed." Some persons have tried 
 to show that the ancient Christians, before Christ the 
 Christians in his twilight, as we are Christians in his 
 dawn had no idea of a future state, and that it is not 
 clearly revealed in the Bible. It appears to me that 
 the Old Tesament does better than in express terms 
 announce it ; for in every sentence and verse it une- 
 quivocally implies it. If the burning fiery furnace was 
 to be the termination of the being of these Hebrew 
 youths, how could they have braved it ? What reward 
 or inducement was there to do so ? But we are told by 
 the Apostle, who knew what his countrymen believed 
 for he himself was a Hebrew, (Heb. xi. 14,) " Tor they 
 that say such things declare plainly that they seek a 
 country." " They desire a better country, that is, an 
 heavenly." And again, speaking of Moses ; " Choosing 
 rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than 
 to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the 
 reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in 
 Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompense of the 
 reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the 
 wrath of the king ; for he endured, as seeing him who 
 is invisible." 
 
 And now, let us learn this great lesson from all I have 
 said that the path of principle is always the highest 
 possible expediency. Never do a thing because it seems 
 expedient if it be not clearly right. Never hesitate to 
 feel that the thing that is right in the sight of God will 
 be the most expedient in the experience of man. God 
 himself has said, " He that walketh uprightly walketh 
 surely." Enter the furnace, if needs be, in obedience 
 to God, and God will deliver you. Enter Paradise itself 
 in disobedience to God, and God will not keep you, but 
 it will be to you more terrible in the end than the fur- 
 nace seven times heated. Remember always that God 
 
EAKLY MAKTYES. 127 
 
 is able, and is willing to deliver you, and he will deliver 
 you when, how, and where it is most for his glory, 
 and best for you. 
 
 Learn also this last lesson : Christ has been with his 
 church from the beginning of the world. Where has 
 the church not been : But you ask, perhaps, what is 
 the church ? The church is not a great cathedral, or a 
 national establishment, or local denomination Inde- 
 pendent, Wesleyan, Episcopal, or Presbyterian. The 
 normal idea of the church of Christ is : " Where two or 
 three are gathered together in my name, there am I in 
 the midst of them." The church was once the family 
 of Adam, and Jesus was present when Adam and Eve 
 and Abel kneeled down before the altar of their God. 
 The church was tossed upon the deep in the ark with 
 Noah. The church was in Abraham's family when he 
 remonstrated with Lot. The church was on the plain 
 of Dura when the three Hebrew youths stood firm. 
 And the church was, lastly, in the burning fiery furnace 
 when the three youths were there, and the Son of God 
 was present in the midst of them, true to his promise : 
 " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, 
 there am I in the midst of them." An architect can 
 build a cathedral ; a queen by her presence can create a 
 palace ; but the presence of the Lord of glory alone can 
 constitute a church ; and where two or three are present, 
 there he will be. Let it be in the flood, or the fire, in 
 the wilderness, or in the city, he will preserve it unto 
 the last. The bush may blaze, but God is in the bush, 
 and it cannot be consumed. His saints may suffer ; but 
 their sufferings shall only spread their faith, and glorify 
 their Lord. And all things, the blunders of its friends, 
 the bitterness of its enemies, the silence of its advocates, 
 the opposition of its foes all things, in height and 
 depth, shall aid the cause of Christ, and prosper that 
 church of which he is the foundation and blessed hope. 
 Amen. 
 
LECTURE X. 
 
 PRIDE ABASED. 
 
 " Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the 
 King of heaven, all whose ivorks are truth, and his ways 
 judgment : and those that walk in pride he is able to 
 abase" DANIEL iv. 37. 
 
 PERHAPS, as I quoted all the previous chapter in my 
 former lecture, it will be necessary now to read the 
 greater portion of the chapter from which the text is 
 taken, and on which, rather than on a mere historical 
 statement, I desire in this lecture to dwell. 
 
 We are told, that Nebuchadnezzar the king wrote an 
 epistle "unto all people and nations and languages that 
 dwell on the earth;" and the substance of that epistle 
 we are told was, " Peace be multiplied to you." He 
 explains the ground on which he bases his statement 
 " I thought it good to show the signs and the wonders 
 that the high God " not his idol Bel, whose praises he 
 had sung before, but " that the high God hath wrought 
 toward me." And then, carried away by the magni- 
 ficent ideas that were before him, and by the goodness 
 of that God who had so mercifully dealt with him, he 
 exclaims in ecstasy, "How great are his signs ! and how 
 mighty are his wonders ! his kingdom is " not like my 
 kingdom, a frail and a fleeting one, but " an everlast- 
 ing kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to 
 generation." He then rehearses the main facts from 
 which he draws the precious truths contained in this 
 chapter, one of which I am about to unfold ; he tells 
 them, " I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house, and 
 flourishing in my palace." All his enemies were sub- 
 
PRIDE ABASED. 129 
 
 dued without ; all his fears were quieted within. And 
 while he was thus " at rest in his house and flourishing 
 in his palace," another dream, different from the one 
 which had before glanced before his eyes in the night 
 visions, passed before him, and his thoughts troubled 
 him. He called all the magicians of his kingdom to 
 whom he had been wont to look in his prosperity, and 
 asked them to explain the marvellous vision which he 
 had beheld. They were unable to make it understood. 
 God always taught Nebuchadnezzar what he has so often 
 taught us, that ail human glory must be stained, that 
 God's alone may shine forth ; that the wisdom of man 
 even of the magicians of the earth, must be seen and felt 
 to be folly, in order that we may be led to drink from 
 that fountain of wisdom which alone is pure and unde- 
 filed, and worthy of the name. Daniel, the minister of 
 God, was again brought before Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 was informed by him what his dream was, and required 
 to give the solution of it. The dream was as follows : 
 " I saw a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height 
 thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and 
 the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight 
 thereof to the end of all the earth : the leaves thereof 
 were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat 
 for all : the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and 
 the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, 
 and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my 
 head upon my bed, and lo, a watcher and an holy one 
 came down from heaven ; he cried aloud, and said thus, 
 Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off 
 his leaves, and scatter his fruit : let the beasts get away 
 from under it, and the fowls from his branches : never- 
 theless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even 
 with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the 
 field ; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let 
 his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth : 
 let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's 
 heart be given unto him and let seven times pass over 
 him." Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, 
 explains to Nebuchadnezzar what was the meaning and 
 
130 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 intent of the dream in these words: "My lord, the 
 dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpreta- 
 tion thereof to thine enemies." You will notice in 
 this verbe (19), that the word "be" is printed in 
 italics ; which shows that it was employed by the trans- 
 lators, as being supposed by them to express more freely 
 the meaning of the original. If it be so, the sentence 
 would seem like a sort of anathema pronounced by 
 Daniel on the enemies of the king ; but if we look at 
 the original, we shall find that we ought to leave out 
 "be," and then the verse would run thus : " the dream 
 (is) to them that hate thee," &c. i.e. "it is a dream 
 which will make glad the hearts of your enemies ; be- 
 cause it makes sorrowful your own." It is not an im- 
 precation of what Daniel wished on the foes of the king, 
 but a declaration of what the foes of the king would feel 
 when they heard of the calamities he was about to suffer. 
 Daniel then proceeds, " The tree that thou so west, which 
 grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the 
 heaven, and the sigLt thereof to all the earth; whose 
 leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it 
 was meat for all ; under which the beast of the field 
 dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven 
 had their habitation : it is thou, king, that art grown 
 and become strong : for thy greatness is grown, and 
 reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of 
 the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and an 
 holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew 
 the tree down, and destroy it ; yet leave the stump of 
 the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron 
 and brass, in the tender grass of the field j and let it be 
 wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with 
 the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him ; 
 this is the interpretation, king, and this is the decree 
 of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the king: 
 that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling 
 shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make 
 thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with 
 the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, 
 till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the 
 
ABASED. 131 
 
 kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 
 And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the 
 tree roots ; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after 
 that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. 
 Wherefore, king, let my counsel be acceptable unto 
 thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine 
 iniquities by showing mercy to the poor ; if it may be 
 a lengthening of thy tranquillity." 
 
 After he had heard the interpretation, and undergone 
 the. sentence of degradation, king Nebuchadrezzar thus 
 concludes his history : " And at the end of the days I 
 Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and 
 mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the 
 Most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth 
 for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
 and his kingdom is from generation to generation : and 
 all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing : 
 and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, 
 and among the inhabitants of the earth : and none can 
 stay his hand, or say unto him, "What doest thou ? At 
 the same time my reason returned unto me ; and for the 
 glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness re- 
 turned unto me : and my counsellors and my lords 
 sought unto me ; and I was established in my kingdom, 
 and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I 
 Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of 
 heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judg- 
 ment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase." 
 
 This closing epistle, addressed by the king Nebuchad- 
 nezzar to his subjects, breathes a quiet and a beautiful 
 spirit, that indicates to my mind a change in his heart, a 
 transformation of his character a true and an actual 
 conversion to God. We cannot but notice in this epistle, 
 first, the great humility by which it is characterised. 
 The pride that provoked punishment is superseded by 
 humility, that owns its justice and gives glory to the God 
 who punished him for his sins ; and thus he shows that 
 he felt his sin to be grievous, and his sentence to be just. 
 You will notice, too, in the blessing which the king pro- 
 nounces upon all mankind such a wish as can be ex- 
 
 K 2 
 
132 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 pccted to proceed only from a Christian's heart. The 
 tierce monarch is changed altogether. Instead of war, 
 he prays for peace ; the hand that wielded the sword is 
 stretched forth in benediction ; the lion, fierce and raven- 
 ous is changed now into the lamb. He that blasphemed 
 and defied the attributes of heaven, now submits like a 
 weaned child, and owns the justice of his punishment ; 
 and prays that blessings, such as God alone can give, 
 and monarchs cannot take away, may be bestowed upon 
 all his subjects, and that all mankind may rejoice in the 
 enjoyment of them. 
 
 You will notice, too, another feature in the epistle of 
 the king namely, the missionary feeling and missionary 
 sympathy that pervades it. He says, " I thought it good 
 to shew the signs and the wonders and the might he had 
 wrought," which is only another form of expressing 
 what David said, when he cried, " Come, all ye that fear 
 God, and I will make known to you what he hath done 
 for my soul." The king says, " I have seen the greatness, 
 I have tasted the goodness of God. It is now my wish 
 that all the people of my realm should see that I have 
 done so ; and learn that the God they are to worship is 
 no golden image, but the God who mads the heaven and 
 the earth, and whose kingdom is an everlasting king- 
 dom;" and thus the Babylonian throne became the 
 Christian pulpit. The mighty monarch became the 
 humble and the faithful missionary ; and his epistle a 
 sermon eloquent of wonders," of mercy, of righteousness, 
 and of peace. Here, then, we have an evidence what 
 grace can do ; what transformations it can work ; what 
 results sanctified affliction can achieve ; how blasphemies 
 are turned into blessings, and the fierce despot into the 
 meek and humble and submissive saint. And the same 
 grace that changed the heart of the Babylonian monarch 
 can and will change the heart of the most depraved of 
 mankind. That grace, like the air of heaven, can enter 
 by the smallest cranny, and can achieve by the smallest 
 means the greatest possible results. It has found, and 
 it will find, access into congress, divan and cabinet, and 
 family. It will find its way into the temple of Brain ah, 
 
PRIDE ABASED. 133 
 
 into the mosque of Islam, into the cathedral of the 
 Romanist. "Wherever there is a heart that beats, there 
 grace can find a throne for its blessed supremacy. 
 
 The dream of the king, which we have read, and 
 which Daniel interpreted, was a beautiful one. A lofty 
 tree was seen planted in the centre of the earth ; herds 
 and cattle from a thousand hills enjoyed shelter beneath 
 its branches, and the birds of the air built their nests 
 amid its boughs. Such is the symbol of a prosperous 
 and happy king. Nations dwelt beneath his sovereignty; 
 families found peace beneath his sceptre; his kingdom 
 was rooted in the hearts of his loyal subjects ; a spec- 
 tacle too magnificent for man long to enjoy elated the 
 monarch's heart; drew out the corruption of his nature, 
 and prompted the exclamation which brought down the 
 vengeance of heaven : "Is not this great Babylon, that 
 I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might 
 of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" The 
 instant that he utters these thoughts, the sentence is 
 issued that fells the tree, deposes and degrades the 
 monarch of whom that tree was tho symbol. So true 
 is it in every age, "I have seen the wicked great in 
 power, and spreading himself as a green bay- tree; I 
 passed by, and lo ! he was not ; I sought him, but he 
 could not be found." And again, God says, "All the 
 trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought 
 down the high heart." The catastrophe of the monarch 
 is the result that is here foreshadowed in the hewing 
 down of the tree. The sceptre is. shattered in his hand. 
 The mighty ruler, is driven to herd with the lowest 
 cattle the monarch of that mighty kingdom goes out a 
 wretched and an unreasoning monomaniac ; the inmate of 
 a palace becomes an inhabitant of the desert ; he that 
 ate king's meat feeds with the beasts of the field ; and he 
 whoso brow wore a diadem that reflected splendour upon 
 a thousand kings, is naked and wetted with the dews of 
 heaven. "He wit down; cut away its branches ; shake 
 off its fruit." Thus there are two ways in which God 
 can punish kings, just as there are two ways in which 
 he can punish their subjects. He can drive the monarch 
 
134 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 from his realm, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar ; or he 
 can drive the kingdom from the monarch, as in the case 
 of Belshazzar. So with the subjects, he can snatch the 
 landlord from his estate, and place him at the judgment- 
 seat ; or he can snatch the estate from the landlord, and 
 leave him poor and friendless in the world. The one or 
 the other of these results will follow whenever pride is 
 indulged. It is a law as sure as that the sun shines by 
 day, that pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty 
 spirit before a fall. Let a church be proud and boast of 
 itself, and that church will soon be laid low. Let a man 
 become elated and exalted by a sense of his talents, and 
 he will soon be brought down. Let a people glory in 
 their wealth, or glory in their wisdom, or in anything 
 but Christ, and they will soon learn, that he who tries 
 to steal a ray from the glory of God takes a withering 
 curse inwardly into his own bosom. 
 
 Such, however, we find, is the goodness of God, that 
 before he strikes he warns. And therefore Daniel says, 
 " Moreover, king, let my counsel be acceptable before 
 thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thy 
 transgressions by shewing mercy to the poor." In the 
 Roman Catholic Bible, this verse is translated, " king, 
 redeem thy sins by righteousness : " and hence, it is a 
 favourite text, quoted very frequently by them in order 
 to show that good works have a propitiatory or atoning 
 virtue. But the translation that they have adopted is 
 obviously wrong. The word is, properly translated, 
 "break off;" and what Daniel says to the king is equi- 
 valent to saying, " Cease to do evil.; learn to do well; 
 reverse the course you have taken ; show your repentance 
 in the sight of God by your reformation in the sight of 
 man. Be what you have failed to be ; bring forth the 
 fruits that you have not brought forth ; pity the poor 
 you have trodden under foot ; abstain from the violence 
 which peradventure has stained you." But it would be 
 impossible for man, by any works of his own, to make 
 atonement for himself; for "by deeds of law," we are 
 told, " can no flesh be justified." If man could make 
 atonement for man's sins, why was it necessary that God 
 
PRTDE ABASED. 135 
 
 should become man, and should suffer and die, that his 
 sins might be atoned for ? But the idea is too absurd to 
 require me to spend time in refuting it. 
 
 Among the lessons we learn from this chapter, before 
 we enter immediately on the elucidation of the text, the 
 first is, that the end of all royal government is beauti- 
 fully set forth by the symbol of a tree, giving shelter to 
 some, a home to others, and protection to all. "What 
 should a nation's government be ? A government that 
 protects the weak and provides for the poor ; that gives 
 a shelter to the oppressed and diffuses the greatest pos- 
 sible amount of freedom and happiness among all. We 
 learn in the next place, from God's hearing Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, that God hears the whisper in the royal cabinet 
 as well as the groan of the oppressed in a miserable 
 cellar. It is here stated that the king was walking in his 
 palace, and he said within himself, " Is not this great 
 Babylon that I have built ?" God hears the thought of 
 the heart " Thou God seest me," may be said by every 
 individual here this evening. God's eye is just as closely 
 riveted upon the heart of that young man or that young 
 woman, as if that young man or young woman were the 
 only individual in the whole universe of God. There is 
 not a thought that flutters in our hearts there is not a 
 purpose in them formed for to-morrow there is not a 
 secret spring of wickedness arising in any bosom there 
 is not a design that is cherished in the secrecy of any 
 heart, that you can hide from God from that eye that 
 pierces the darkness from that ear that hears in silence 
 from that God who will bring every secret thing to 
 light, and judge according to the thoughts of the heart, 
 the words of the mouth, and the deeds done in the body, 
 whether they be good, or whether they be evil. What 
 a solemn consideration it is that those thoughts which 
 you would wish to conceal from that person who sits 
 beside you in the pew, are known to God : and your 
 schemes, plans, and imaginations that you would not 
 disclose to a mother, to a husband, to a wife, to a child, 
 to a friend, for the whole world, are known to him ! 
 You wrap your mantle round you, and you say, " How 
 
136 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 close and how secret can I keep my counsel !" God's 
 burning eye is fixed upon it all that eye which sees 
 and searches and penetrates all space, and reads clearly 
 and legibly our inmost thoughts. What an idea is this, 
 that, in the judgment-day, man's secret thoughts will be 
 set in the light of God's countenance ! What a fearful 
 spectacle for those that rise from the dead as lost souls, 
 when they behold that terrible light which has no shadow, 
 no relief, nothing to soften its intense brilliancy, shining 
 upon every thought in the past, every prospect in the 
 future, every feeling in the present a spectacle so fearful 
 that the lost souls shall cry to the everlasting hills to 
 hide them, and the great sea to shelter them from the 
 wrath of the Lamb. And blessed, blessed indeed is that 
 man's soul that can say, then and there, "I am guilty, 
 but Jesus is my Saviour ; I am a sinner, but that precious 
 blood is my plea ; I am lost in Adam, but retrieved in 
 Christ : and I know that he to whom I have committed 
 all will behold not me, for in me there is nothing worthy 
 of love, but behold my substitute, and me in him, that 
 died for me and became sin for me, that I might be made 
 the righteousness of God in him." 
 
 The king, we are told in thia passage, was driven from 
 his throne to wander with the beasts of the field, degraded 
 and deposed, as the appropriate penalty of his special sin. 
 What was the king's special sin ? Pride. What was 
 God's Providential punishment? Degradation. Generally 
 speaking, you may read your sin in the light of your 
 punishment. Not always, but generally speaking, the 
 punishment is just the rebound of the sin. And if you 
 will examine it very carefully in the light of God's 
 truth, in the punishment or chastisement which you are 
 now undergoing, you will probably be able to trace the 
 reason why God has inflicted it. God sends the punish 
 ment, not simply to wean you from the way that is evil, 
 but to reveal by the light of the furnace in which lie 
 places you, the sin that has seduced you, and drawn 
 down upon you, like the conductor, the lightning of 
 God's judgment. Was not this the case with the recent 
 pestilence that visited us ? In the punishment we saw 
 
PRIDE ABASED. 137 
 
 one sin, at least, that brought it down the neglect of 
 the poor the absence of all sanatory reform one of the 
 greatest social evils of the present day. We saw thus in 
 our punishment the sin which, as a people, we had in- 
 dulged. There were other sins, I dare say, many others ; 
 but this was one which the judgment directly pointed 
 out to us. And I trust we shall show that the punish- 
 ment lias been sanctitied to us, by every man in his place 
 discharging manfully the special duty to the poor that 
 clearly devolves upon him. 
 
 It is stated also, that the king acknowledged, after his 
 punishment, that " God doeth according to his will in 
 the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the 
 earth." God has not simply "prescience," but he has 
 " purpose." It is not true simply that God foreknows 
 what will come to pass ; but, if the Bible speaks truth, 
 as we know it does, he also purposes the event that is 
 to take place. Prophecy is holy men becoming the 
 amanuenses of God's truth ; history is holy and unholy 
 men becoming the amanuenses of God's Providence. God 
 writes the prophecy in Scripture, and God fulfils the 
 prophecy in history ; and yet, when he does so, God is 
 not the author of sin. God, though the author of all 
 that is good, is not the author of anything that is sinful : 
 nor is man a mere automaton impelled irresistibly in its 
 course ; but he is a rational, reflecting, responsible being, 
 deliberately choosing what he thinks to be best or most 
 expedient for him. 
 
 We learn another lesson from this history : that pros- 
 perity is a very dangerous position. It is not the man 
 .who has lost his property who is most likely to forget 
 God ; but the man who has obtained a fortune, or made 
 a most successful speculation, or had left to him a large 
 property. It is not the empty cup that we have any 
 difficulty in holding : it requires the utmost nicety to 
 balance the cup that is full to the brim. Adversity 
 may depress ; but prosperity elevates us to presumption. 
 And if, as I have often told you, you ought to intimate 
 that the prayers of the congregation are requested for 
 a member of this Church in deep affliction, you ought 
 
138 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 much oftcner to say that the prayers of the congregation 
 are requested for a member who has been visited with 
 great prosperity. Depend upon it that the latter needs 
 prayer just as much as the former. In the valleys, 
 where all is shadow, we can walk securely. On the 
 lofty pinnacle, where all is sunshine, we need a special 
 power to keep us, a special arm to sustain us. If we 
 take the experience of the church of Christ, we shall 
 find that the man that draws closest to God has generally 
 had the least of the blessings of his Providence. The 
 Scotch fir-tree is, to my mind, the best symbol of the 
 Christian. The least of earth is required for its roots ; 
 it finds nourishment in a dry soil and amid barren rocks, 
 and yet, green in winter as in summer, it towers the 
 highest of all the trees of the wood towards the sky, 
 and with least of earth makes the greatest approach to 
 heaven. So it is with the tree of God's planting : with 
 the least of earth about its roots it towers the nearest to 
 heaven ; deriving nourishment, not from the earth below, 
 but from the sunbeams that fall upon it, and the rain- 
 drops that sprinkle it, supported by that hidden nourish- 
 ment that comes from God. 
 
 We learn from Daniel's address to the king, that a 
 minister of the Gospel ought to be faithful. Daniel told 
 the king honestly the whole truth and was not afraid. 
 Truth needs not to be prefaced with apology. If what 
 the minister says be not true, no apology can palliate it ; 
 if it be true, an apology is not required. When the 
 minister speaks God's blessed word, he ought to know 
 but two classes those that are sinners by nature, and 
 those that are saved by grace. "Whatever be their rank, 
 their age, their wisdom, their renown, we have nothing 
 to do with these we have only to do with this, that 
 they belong to that great category which has had so 
 continuous a succession the category of sinners ; or to 
 that blessed one that shall never fail the company of 
 God's faithful, redeemed, and regenerated people. 
 
 We learn also from the experience of the monarch, 
 the blessings of affliction. Nebuchadnezzar said, after 
 his affliction, what he had never dreamed of submitting 
 
PEIDE ABASED. 139 
 
 to think of before ; and I have no doubt, he could say 
 as sincerely as David said, "It is good for me that I 
 have been afflicted." "When God hides the sun by day, 
 he reveals to us a thousand suns by night. It is in the 
 dark that we see a vision which the day refuses to present 
 to us. It is in afflictions that we learn lessons which 
 we never could have learned in prosperity. And you 
 know that on a sick-bed, in the moment of an expected 
 wreck, in the hour of bitter and sorrowful bereavement, 
 feelings were created, emotions felt, vows were uttered, 
 (and if they were uttered, do you hold to them still ?) 
 resolutions cherished, that made you say, If it be bitter 
 in experience to be afflicted, it is blessed in the result. 
 The storms of winter, the frosts and winds of autumn, 
 strip the tree of its foliage and clothe it with icicles ; 
 but it is while the tree is thus shaken and laid bare by 
 the tempest that it strikes its roots deeper into the earth, 
 seeking warmth and shelter below, as it loses warmth 
 and shelter above. And then, next spring, it comes forth 
 with greater energy, casts out its foliage with greater 
 beauty, and is prepared to meet and master succeeding 
 storms with far easier victory. So it is with the Chris- 
 tian : it is during the winter of affliction that he 
 strengthens himself. 
 
 But the great lesson we are to learn from this chapter, 
 and which is the les s son inculcated in my text, is the 
 last ; it is a lesson which is precious indeed, and one 
 which God has been inculcating ever since the world 
 began "Those which walk in pride, God is able to 
 abase." The whole history of God's dealings with man- 
 kind is a commentary on this text. Man once started 
 on the wings of pride : he tried in paradise to soar to 
 heaven : his frail wings were dissolved by the blaze of 
 that sun as he rose: he fell: the terrible retribution 
 came : and he learned, in the cold projected shadow of 
 the curse, that " them that exalt themselves, God is able 
 to abase." And after man thus fell, we have to see 
 whether he learned in his ruin the lesson he would not 
 learn in the time of his happiness, and in his state of 
 innocence. Cain rose before God, and raised a fratricidal 
 
140 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 hand against his brother in the exercise of that very 
 pride which had brought the curse into the world, and 
 death, "and all our woe:" and Cain went forth with 
 this inscription, legible to heaven, upon his scathed brow, 
 " Them that walk in pride, God is able to abase." 
 
 After Cain, we read that the daughters of the sons of 
 God united themselves with the sons of men; society 
 was dissolved ; profligacy overflowed ; they set their 
 faces against heaven, and cried, '' Who is Lord over us r" 
 And God saw that the pride and wickedness of men 
 were great ; the windows of the heaven and the foun- 
 tains of the earth were opened; the sky poured down 
 rain, and earth poured out floods ; and the ark, careering 
 with its favoured exceptions on the crests of the waves, 
 revealed the great truth Avhioh was here disclosed to 
 Nebuchadnezzar, "Them that walk in pride, God is 
 able to abase." 
 
 And even after this, while man had the remains of 
 wrecks, and the evidences of restoration before him, 
 instead of being humbled by the recollection of the past, 
 and trustful in the God who saves the meek, they began 
 to build a tower whose top should reach to the heaven, 
 standing upon which they might laugh at such judg- 
 ments, and defy the Almighty to his face. He breathed 
 upon them, and each tongue spake confusion ; no man 
 understood what his fellow-labourer said ; the work was 
 arrested, the attempt failed, and man was again taught 
 the truth he is so slow to learn, " Them that walk in 
 pride, God is able to abase." 
 
 A new period came in the histoiy of the world, and 
 God resolved to quell the pride that still oozed out, not 
 instantly crushing man by the direct expression of stu- 
 pendons power, but by the operation of the very sin of 
 pride preparing and promoting the destruction * of him 
 who is its victim. We find in the history of the world 
 great kingdoms beginning to emerge, splendid palaces 
 built, temples raised to Ashtaroth arid Haul, and shrines 
 to Isis and Osiris, throughout all the empires of the 
 world ; on which God makes the text actual, no longer 
 by the sudden stroke of almighty power, but by the sure. 
 
PEIDE ABASED. 141 
 
 though slow operation of those very principles that have 
 influenced the men themselves. For Nebuchadnezzar, 
 and Belshazzar, and Cyrus, and Alexander, and Cacsur, 
 all found, though they were not smitten down by the 
 thunderbolt because of their pride, yet that the higher 
 they soared, only the deeper and the more disastrously 
 did they fall : and never did nation succeed in writing 
 on the productions of its wisdom or on the expressions 
 of its power, " I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and 
 shall see no sorrow;" and, "I am the eternal city, and 
 of my kingdom there shall be no end ;" before another 
 hand shot through the cloud and inscribed below man's 
 inscription and prophecy of eternity for himself, God's 
 record of the doom he should suffer, " Mene, mene, tekel, 
 upharsin," "Thou art weighed in the balances, and 
 art found wanting." And ever as man said, " I will 
 ascend to heaven, and fix my throne amid the stars of 
 God," wherever that was said and the attempt made, 
 we see no longer the glorious procession of splendour, of 
 power, and of victory, but the funeral procession that 
 moves slowly and sadly to the tomb. And, in the history 
 of the world, as often as great systems have arisen, 
 which have thrust out God and put in man, the same 
 great result has invariably followed. What is Mahomet- 
 anism ? A compound of Christianity, Judaism, and 
 heathenism, all tending to glorify an ambitious impostor 
 and to dishonour God. The dried Euphrates, the waning 
 crescent, all are teaching, and will teach soon with tre- 
 mendous power, " Them that walk in pride, God is able 
 to abase." And what is Popery ? The magnifying of 
 the priest till he takes the place of God, and sits in the 
 temple of God, showing himself as if he were God, and 
 professing himself to be the Vicar of Christ. And what 
 is said of him ? " Whom the Lord will consume with 
 the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness 
 of his coming," that it may be seen that that Church 
 which boasts itself eternal is most temporary, and that 
 he who sits as if he were the Lord in the temple is but 
 an usurper of a throne that belongs not to him, and the 
 wearer of assumptions which are only blasphemy in him 
 
142 PU.OPI1ETIC STUDIES. 
 
 that assumes them. Let it be the autocrat on his throne, 
 or the mob in the dyopd ; let it be Nebuchadnezzar in his 
 palace, or antichrist in his temple, it is God's great law 
 sure as the heavens, lasting as his word, that " them 
 that walk in pride, God is able to abase." The loftiest 
 cedar of Lebanon shall be smitten down ; the highest 
 oaks of Bashan God is able to uproot. He has brought 
 down the mighty from their seats, and exalted the 
 humble and meek. 
 
 "VVe read what are some of the elements of human 
 pride in that beautiful passage in Jeremiah : " Let not 
 the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty 
 man glory in his might ; let not the rich man glory in 
 his riches." And wherever there is glorying in these 
 be it a church be it a nation be it a family be it 
 an individual, they will be sure to find themselves soon 
 abased. Man is not to be proud of his wisdom : but we 
 generally find that the man who has least wisdom is the 
 most proud of the little he possesses ; as if, conscious of 
 its emptiness, and feeling it would collapse, he hugs it 
 the closer, and makes the most of it. Is it not too true, 
 that many a man would rather be called a knave than be 
 thought a fool ? Power is another source of pride. Has 
 not philosophy its Nebuchadnezzar* as well as political 
 power ? Satan is very aptly described by Milton, as 
 saying, 
 
 " Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven ;" 
 
 and have we not met with many a one who had rather 
 be the head of the village than a subject in the metro- 
 polis ? Such is man's lust of power ; and wherever such 
 love of power is, there it will be brought down. Need I 
 tell you that man is proud of wealth ? Money is the 
 idol of the nineteenth century. The banker's pen is 
 more powerful now than the warrior's sword or the 
 statesman's policy. It is not cabinets, but banks, that 
 resolve the fixity and the downfal of kingdoms. It is 
 the stroke of the banker's pen, not the blow of the 
 general's sword, that determines who shall conquer. 
 Cainillus of old cast his sword into the scale when the 
 
PRIDE ABASED. 143 
 
 conflict was dubious : it is now the money-lender, who 
 casts his money-bngs into the scale, and determines 
 which nation shall be great. All the difference between 
 the mammon-worshipper of the present day and the 
 golden image- worshipper of Nebuchadnezzar consists in 
 this, that Nebuchadnezzar dug his gold from earth, 
 melted and moulded it into a golden image, and caused 
 the people, by the sound of music, to fall down and wor- 
 ship it ; and now man digs gold from the mine, stamps it 
 into coins, and, by appealing to the lusts and affections 
 of the human heart, making these the sweet music to 
 entice, he causes men to fall down and worship. But 
 whenever man thus puts wisdom, or wealth, or power, 
 in the room of God, or, believing in God, is proud of the 
 one or the other, he will learn by the terrible penalty 
 which, if he be an unconverted man, is purely penal, but 
 if he be a Christian, by a blessed chastisement that is 
 purely paternal, that " them that walk in pride, God is 
 able to abase." 
 
 ] might allude to other forms of pride that God can, 
 and will, surely abase. The careless sinner, who thinks 
 nothing of God, and cares nothing about his soul, walks 
 in perilous pride upon the brink of an awful precipice. 
 The self-righteous man, who thinks his own righteous- 
 ness good enough for God, and Christ's righteousness too 
 worthless to be accepted by him, walks in pride. The 
 worldly-minded man, whose living is the lust of the eyes, 
 the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life walks in 
 pride; and God will abase him. Pride is not the 
 monopoly of those that ride in chariots and wear crowns 
 and coronets. Pride grows in a cellar as well as in a 
 royal palace. It is an indigenous weed. It is not the 
 composition of the idol that makes the idolatry, but it is 
 the devotion that is given by the heart to that idol, 
 whether it be wood, or brass, or stone. There may be 
 pride where there is but a single sovereign, greater than 
 where there are a thousand. There may be pride in the 
 possession of a single acre, greater and more hateful to 
 God, than in the possession of a thousand acres. And 
 where it exists, we learn from our text, and from all 
 
144 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 experience, none can bring it down but one. All the 
 miracles of Moses failed to bring down the pride of 
 Pharaoh : all the preaching down and denouncing of 
 pride by the most eloquent preacher that ever spoke, will 
 fail to abase the pride of a single individual in his 
 audience. The wind may beat upon the icicle ; the storm 
 and the tempest may smite it ; the earthquake may split 
 it ; the avalanche may descend, and send it thundering 
 down into the valley below, but only the sunbeam can 
 thaw and melt it. Nothing can subdue the pride of man's 
 heart but God God, in the rays of the Gospel. Expe- 
 rience will never do it. How true is it, that, often as 
 we have found cistern upon cistern, that we have labo- 
 riously dug, to be empty, we look for other cisterns 
 still! How is it, that often as we find flower after 
 flower to fade and wither the instant that we touch it, 
 yet AVC seek after other flowers still : How is it, that 
 after joy on joy has been pursued, and has perished the 
 instant that we grasped it, we yet still seek after joys 
 that bloom not upon the tree of time, but only upon the 
 tree that is in the midst of the paradise of God ? It is 
 because we do not like to be indebted to another. Man 
 would like to save himself, justify himself, regenerate 
 himself, glorify himself, and sing songs of praise through- 
 out eternity "to me that loved myself, and washed 
 myself, and redeemed myself, and glorified myself; unto 
 me be glory and honour, and blessing and praise !" 
 What is all the Gospel but just God humbling the heart ? 
 "What is justification ? God laying your glory in the 
 dust, and placing the greatest philanthropist and the 
 greatest criminal on the same dead level of sin and con- 
 demnation ; that when they have learned where sin has 
 laid them, they may be clothed with and exalted by the 
 righteousness of Christ, and glory in His name all the 
 day long, and realise this blessed experience, that when 
 we begin to exalt God, God will begin to exalt us. 
 "What is regeneration, but God's Holy Spirit revealing to 
 man what is in his own real nature, and that bis flowers 
 are weeds, his gold is dim nay, worse than dim, worth- 
 less ; that his sins are his own, and they should humble 
 
PKIDE ABASED. 145 
 
 him ; that his graces are not his own, and they should 
 humble him also ; and that he can no more change his 
 own heart than he can, by any concentration of his 
 physical powers, or combined action of his muscles, lift 
 himself from the earth a single foot ? When God has 
 thus humbled man, and convinced him that he has no 
 holiness and no grace of himself, then he will exalt him. 
 The man whose heart has been renewed only by baptism, 
 will raise the priest ; but the man whose heart has been 
 renewed and regenerated by the Spirit of God will mag- 
 nify and praise the Lord alone, and from the first bud to 
 the next blossom, and the last fruit of a holy life, he 
 will give all the glory unto God. 
 
 Do I speak to any here that are proud ? This passion 
 is in us all : it is human nature ; it is the secret of many 
 of our miscarryings : it is the cause of most of our 
 failures. You say, you do not like to be humble : no- 
 body does like to be humble. Man does not like to be 
 humbled before a brother, but he likes much less to be 
 humbled before himself; the instinctive pride that is 
 in him rebelling against the humility that sweeps his 
 foundation of self- sufficiency from beneath him. But if 
 this pride be not abased in mercy, it will be abased in 
 judgment. Think of the goodness, the mercy, the for- 
 giveness of God, that, so thinking, you may be humble. 
 Think of what human nature is; that the greatest 
 criminal who commits the most enormous crime, and 
 perishes on the scaffold on account of it, is an alter ego, 
 another self, actuated by the same passions, only in their 
 full burst, flow, and development ; and that, except for 
 the grace of God, that criminal might have been myself. 
 Think of this, that you may be humble before God. But 
 if you wish to be humbled in the very dust, read those 
 thrilling words, " God so loved me, that he gave his only- 
 begotten Son to die for me!" See what my redemption 
 cost ! See what a penalty my sin demanded ! See what 
 my ruin is, by the height from which the Saviour came, 
 and the depth to which the Saviour sank ! and when 
 you have looked at that cross, and listened to that suffer- 
 ing cry, and beheld that completed sacrifice, and that 
 
 L 
 
146 PKOPHET1C STUDIES. 
 
 unbounded love, oh ! then, such grace such love such 
 mercy, will expel pride from the stubborn heart of man; 
 and it will do what judgment, what affliction, what 
 preaching, what experience has failed to do it will 
 cause you to abase yourself in the sight of the Lord, 
 that he may lift you up, and so you may be exalted in 
 due time. 
 
 Pray for that Holy Spirit which alone can melt the 
 proud heart ; and when it has changed and regenerated 
 that heart, then, in lowliness upon earth, you will bless 
 him, and on a throne of glory in heaven, you will 
 magnify him ; and thank God throughout all eternity 
 that you have learned in mercy, the truth which so 
 many have learned in judgment " Them that walk in 
 pride, God is able to abase." 
 
LECTURE XI. 
 
 THE SCEPTilE OF GOD. 
 
 " Thy kingdom shall le sure unto thee, after that thou 
 shalt have knoivn that the heavens do rule." DANIEL 
 iv. 26. 
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR " learned that the heavens do rule," 
 as we see in this acknowledgment made after he was 
 restored to his mind. The prediction was that the tree, 
 the symbol of his majesty, should be cut down ; and he 
 who was symbolised by that tree should be driven forth 
 to herd with the beasts of the field, and there to suffer 
 degradation and shame till he learned the lesson that he 
 had forgotten, that " God reigns," or, to use the language 
 of the text, " that the heavens do rule." And you will 
 perceive that after he was restored he says, in verse 3, 
 " How great are his signs ! and how mighty are his 
 wonders ! " and then here is what he had learned : " His 
 kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is 
 from generation to generation." He learned the lesson, 
 and he expressed it after he was restored to his mind, 
 that it was not his sceptre that controlled the worlds, 
 but the sceptre of him whose kingdom is an everlasting 
 kingdom, and whose dominion endureth from generation 
 to generation. The proposition I should wish to illus- 
 trate is, that " God reigns," " that the heavens do rule; " 
 and in endeavouring to do so, I will look first at some of 
 the difficulties that lie in the way of our acknowledg- 
 ment of this fact. There is nothing that man is more 
 prone to dispute than the living, ever present, ever 
 active supremacy of God. There is an universal belief 
 that God was, there is a very faint belief that God is : 
 
 L 2 
 
148 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 there is nn impression among some that God made the 
 world, and then left the machinery to go on after he 
 had wound it up; and that since he made it he has 
 retired from the world, and left it to the dominion of 
 what philosophers call second causes what infidels call 
 accidents. 
 
 Now then, let us look at some of the difficulties that 
 lie in our way, and I will try as I am able very briefly 
 to explain the n. 
 
 First, how can we reconcile the entrance of sin with 
 the existence, the supremacy, and the rule of God ? If 
 you ask men, Does God govern the world ? they answer, 
 " Yes." But how is it compatible with the government 
 of a wise, a merciful, an omnipotent God, that such an 
 intruder, such a foul disturber of the harmony of the 
 world as sin, should have been allowed to interpolate 
 itself, and occasion apostasy, rebellion, and discord in 
 his suffering, wide dominions ? The entrance of sin is 
 not the disclosure of revelation, but the disclosure of 
 history, of experience, and of fact. It is not the Chris- 
 tian alone who is called upon to explain why sin is come 
 into the world, but the sceptic himself. He admits the 
 existence and the reign of a God : he must admit the 
 fact of the presence, and the disturbing power of sin. 
 If there be a difficulty, it is a difficulty also at the door 
 of the sceptic, as broad and as palpable as that which 
 lies at the door of the Bible Christian. But we may 
 look at it in a light in which it may appear at least not 
 to have been God's fault, if I may reverently use the 
 expression, thtffc sin has entered the world. He made 
 man perfectly free and unfettered, with every bias to 
 good, and with no bias to evil ; with every inducement 
 to retain his allegiance, with every possible dissuasive 
 against the violation of that allegiance. He gave him 
 genius to originate a heart to love a conscience, 
 the realm of right and of wrong ; and, of necessity, 
 placed him under a law, because, if there be no law, 
 there can be no lawgiver, there can be no subject; 
 and, if no subject, of course no supreme governor. 
 By the very nature of the creature's constitution, the 
 
THE SCEPTRE OP GOD. 149 
 
 creature must be placed under law. Now when he 
 placed Adam, under law, God might by his omni- 
 potence have prevented him from stretching forth his 
 hand to touch the forbidden fruit. But it does not 
 follow that because he might have prevented him, there- 
 fore he ought to have prevented him. It may be nay, 
 we are sure it must be that more grand and mag- 
 nificent results will yet be evolved from the wrecks of 
 paradise than ever could have been reflected from it, if 
 it had retained its glory undismantled and unshorn, 
 even to the age in which we now live. And to show 
 how fallacious is the argument, that because God could 
 have prevented man, therefore he ought to have done 
 so, I may observe, man has it in his power to destroy 
 himself; he may throw himself over a precipice, or cast 
 himself into the sea: God might, by the exercise of 
 omnipotence, have rendered this impossible : but then 
 the very impossibility of it would have reflected deeper 
 discredit on the creature ; for the creature would not 
 have been a free and unshackled being, in which he 
 glories as his dignity, but an automaton a piece of 
 machinery, moved by extraneous impulses, without a 
 will to determine, a conscience to feel, or a judgment to 
 reflect. Or, to use another illustration, if a man goes to 
 put his hand into the fire, God tells that man, by the 
 experience of others, and by the exercise of his reason, 
 " If you put your hand into the fire you will burn it 
 and suffer pain." That is the plan he has adopted : he 
 might have taken the plan you propose, and by the fiat 
 of omnipotence have rendered it a physical impossibility 
 for the man to burn his hand. But he has not done so : 
 he has shown man that if he puts his hand in the fire it 
 is sure to be burned ; and man, knowing what the effect 
 of the act will be, is thus deterred from the commission 
 of it. Such was the case with Adam in paradise. God 
 did not draw back his arm by a physical restraint from 
 touching the forbidden fruit; but he told man, " If you 
 touch that fruit you bring death into the world and all 
 your woe ; it rests with you, as a free and responsible 
 being, to touch it and perish, or to abstain and live for . 
 
150 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 ever." Do we not then thus " vindicate the ways of 
 God to man," and show that hy psrmitting sin, not 
 sending it, he treated man as a rational and responsible 
 being, and that man could not have been placed, as far 
 as we can see, in circumstances more favourable to obe- 
 dience, compatibly with the dignity of his own nature, 
 or in circumstances more calculated to set forth the 
 wisdom, the beneficence, the love, the holiness, and the 
 justice of him who rules in the heavens, and constituted 
 man once his vicegerent upon earth ? 
 
 Another difficulty in recognising the truth contained 
 in my text, that God lives and reigns, consists in the 
 fact that the present generation is often found to suffer 
 for the sins of the past, and that the children of to-day 
 inherit the consequences of the sins of their fathers of 
 yesterday, and of former generations. If this be very 
 difficult to reconcile with the fact that God reigns, let 
 it be remembered it is not a text in the Bible only, but 
 it is a fact in the history of mankind ; it is not asserted 
 in the Bible only that it shall be so, but it is proved to 
 our senses, and is legible in the chronicles of every land, 
 that it actually is so. And therefore, if it be difficult 
 to reconcile it with the truth, that God reigns, it is a 
 difficulty that the sceptic must feel just as strongly as 
 the Christian ; but the Christian alone will try to show 
 that possibly there are in this fact that children suffer 
 for the father's sins lessons of the greatest possible 
 goodness and practical value. May it not be to teach 
 us that we have an interest in all that are around us, 
 and that the well-being of our child should be as pre- 
 cious to us as our own ? that man is to work not for 
 himself only, but for others ? that if a man sin, the 
 rebound of his sin will be felt, not only in himself, 
 but in his children and his children's children to the 
 third and fourth generations ? This great fact is fitted 
 to make men feel, by reasons the most pressing and 
 the most powerful, that it is their interest, and the 
 interest of their offspring, that they should live soberly, 
 righteously, and godly. And what seems to be a hard- 
 ship is really a mercy, fitted to arouse all man's feelings 
 
THE SCEPTRE OP GOD. 151 
 
 against sin, and to lead him by the deepest instincts 
 of his nature to guard against that which will not 
 only ruin himself, but transmit suffering, and pain, and 
 tribulation to the third and fourth generation of his 
 descendants. 
 
 Another fact that occurs in the government of God, 
 very difficult at first sight to reconcile with the fact of 
 that government, is the strange procedure which sends 
 one sinner to punish another, and one wrong-doer to 
 avenge the misconduct and the crimes of another. For 
 instance, Napoleon was employed or commissioned to 
 punish the sins of profligate Europe ; and at an earlier 
 epoch Cyrus, to execute judgment upon Babylon; and, 
 at a period later than the last, Titus and Vespasian and 
 the Roman sword, to punish the disobedience and the 
 gross trangressions of his people Israel. It is asked, 
 How can you reconcile this with the fact that God 
 reigns, when he might himself punish by the direct 
 interposition of his hand? Does it not seem incom- 
 patible with our conceptions of his holiness, that he 
 should employ men so profligate to execute his pur- 
 poses, which are in themselves so pure? That he 
 does so is not a declaration of Scripture only, but it 
 is a chapter in the history of every nation upon earth : 
 God says himself, " Assyrian, the rod of mine 
 anger ; I will send him against an hypocritical nation, 
 against the people of my wrath will I give him a 
 charge, to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to 
 tread them down as the mire in the streets." May it 
 not be to teach men this yet more effectually than if 
 God had interposed by a direct manifestation of his own 
 right hand, that when sinners have ceased to rely upon 
 God it is folly to rely upon one another ? May it not 
 be to teach mankind that no conspiracy of wicked men, 
 however great, and however secretly concocted, is with- 
 out an element of internal destruction, disorganisation, 
 and decay ? If all men in the world could form a con- 
 spiracy that would last, it would be a very formidable 
 thing ; but history shows us that if bad men combine, 
 there are elements of disorganisation and ruin in the 
 
153 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 combination, so real and so active, that before many 
 years have swept over the conspiracy, one will rise up 
 against the other, and that which was designed to 
 dethrone the Almighty will end in the destruction of 
 those that concocted it. 
 
 A very difficult thing to reconcile with the doctrine 
 that God reigns, is the fact that infants die. But this 
 fact is not only declared in the Bible, but it is proved 
 in every page of the chronicles of every family as well 
 as of every land. Infants do die though free from 
 actual transgression ; this is matter of fact ; and there 
 may be in that occurrence not what is inconsistent with 
 the reign of God, but what is eminently calculated to 
 make that reign more palpable to man's mind. The 
 babes die to teach us that original sin is an actual thing, 
 and to show that some terrible disaster has fallen upon 
 all mankind, which blights the flower that has just 
 budded and bloomed to-day, as well as the grey-haired 
 sire, on whose head the snows of threescore years and 
 ten have fallen. And if it be true that all babes who 
 die in infancy are without exception saved, as true I 
 believe it to be, then it is not cruelty to the babes, it 
 is making it a missionary to the parents, and teaching a 
 lesson which man would deny if only actual sinners 
 were cut off, and babes who have never sinned were 
 universally spared. 
 
 We see every day the fact, that parents are taken from 
 their children in the midst of their lives, and their off- 
 spring cast dependent on the wide world. This appears 
 to us a cruel thing, and we wonder how it is possible to 
 reconcile it with the Providential government of God. 
 Yet there may be lessons latent in it which we do not 
 see ; it may be to teach the parents to work while it is 
 called to-day, and discharge to their offspring the duties 
 that they owe, not knowing how long the opportunity 
 may be given them ; and thus to make parental instruc- 
 tion more earnest, and parental duties more faithfully 
 discharged, because there is ever present a deep sense of 
 the possibility of the severance of ties so beautiful and 
 livine, and the loss of the opportunity of giving those 
 
THE SCEPTBE OF GOD. 153 
 
 instructions, which shall be the happinessof the child upon 
 earth, and its yet grc ater and richer happiness in glory. 
 
 Another difficulty in receiving the truth that God 
 reigns, is the fact that vice and dishonesty are some- 
 times prosperous and triumphant, while piety and good- 
 ness are sometimes depressed. It is so ; the Bible says 
 that it will be so ; but it also explains the reason why. 
 This is not the dispensation of absolute justice. In 
 hell the wicked universally suffer ; in heaven the holy 
 are universally happy. In this world the two parties 
 are mingled, and we see sometimes bad men prosper 
 and sometimes good men suffer. But if all good men 
 prospered upon earth, then men would profess religion for 
 the sake of its temporal benefits ; if good men, on the 
 other hand, always suffered upon earth, men might be 
 deterred from joining the ranks of Christianity, because 
 it would be joining the ranks of martyrs. But, under 
 the Providence of God, good men sometimes suffer and 
 sometimes prosper, and we are thus taught to cleave to 
 the Gospel because it is the mind of God, and to accept 
 duty because it is duty, and not on account of the tem- 
 poral rewards to which it may conduct us, or the tem- 
 poral penalties from which it may possibly save us. The 
 tares and the wheat grow in the same field ; it is right 
 that they should thus grow together till the harvest, and 
 whenever the effort is made to separate them now, it 
 ends in the injury of the wheat, and not the rooting up 
 permanently of the tares. 
 
 Another great difficulty which occurs in receiving the 
 great truth that the heavens do rule, is the lengthened 
 lives of many bad men, and the short lives and prema- 
 ture deaths of really good and devoted men. For in- 
 stance, Yoltaire lived to upwards of eighty ; Paine to a 
 considerable age ; Napoleon passed the meridian of life : 
 if Voltaire, Paine, and Napoleon had perished in their 
 cradles, how much mischief would the world have es- 
 caped ! how much injury and suffering would mankind 
 have been spared ! and, on the other hand, we argue, 
 if sueh men as Cecil, and Howell, and Newton, and 
 Edward Bickersteth, and Chalmers had been spared to 
 
154 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 eighty, ninety, or one hundred years of age, what bless- 
 ings would the world have reaped thereby ! So wo 
 naturally infer ; but if we could lift the curtain and see 
 the reasons that are behind it, we should find that there 
 were good reasons why Yoltaire should be spared to 
 eighty, and Bickersteth should be cut off at sixty ; and 
 reasons, perhaps, that are more connected with the real 
 well-being of man, and with the glory of God, than we 
 are at first disposed to believe. One lesson taught us 
 by the fact that good men perish early is, that we must 
 be more active ; their mantles are bequeathed to us the 
 places they have vacated are for us to fill ; and it be- 
 comes us, therefore, ever as the good and the great fall 
 like fruits that are ripe from the tree of life, to take 
 their place and enter upon their duties, and try, how- 
 ever feebly, by the grace of that God who gives his 
 strength to the weak and his grace to all that ask it, to 
 supply to mankind the great loss they have sustained by 
 the departure of men so good, so beneficent, and so useful. 
 Besides, when we look at these things, we are apt to 
 think only of this world ; but when God called Bicker- 
 steth to himself, and said to him, " Come up hither," 
 it was because Bickersteth' s work in this world was 
 finished, and God had work for him to do in a higher, 
 a better, and a nobler world, whence he shall no more 
 be removed. We look at matters selfishly when we 
 think of this world only, and forget that there are other 
 worlds where there may be sublime missions to be dis- 
 charged still ; and that those men have not ceased to 
 labour, but have only laid aside the robe of the Levite 
 who ministers outside the vail, to put on the sacred 
 vestments of the priest, to minister before the altar 
 and in the Holy of Holies for ever and ever. 
 
 There is another thought too that occurs to us as a 
 difficulty in recognising the government of God the 
 afflictions of the people of God. "Why do we see them 
 suffer ? why do we see them bereaved, deprived of their 
 property, afflicted with disease, laid aside ? Why is this ? 
 There are good reasons for it ; and some of these the 
 Bible gives us. " It is good for me," says one, " that I 
 
THE SCEPTKE OF GOD. 155 
 
 was afflicted :" another says, " Our light affliction, which 
 is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more ex- 
 ceeding, and eternal weight of glory." Human nature, 
 like the sons of Zebedee, would like to sit on the right 
 hand and on the left hand of the Saviour, but we do not 
 want to drink of the Saviour's cup. Yet he fixes the dis- 
 pensation that suits us ; and God, who superintends the 
 action of the dispensation, will take care that our afflic- 
 tions shall not be too great, nor too many, nor too heavy, 
 nor too long, as Satan would like them ; nor too light, 
 nor too few, nor too short, as we should like them ; but 
 that they shall be just what is most expedient for us, 
 conducive to our good, and illustrative of his glory. 
 
 It is thus that I have pointed out some of the diffi- 
 culties that lie in the way of 'our accepting the truth 
 contained in the text, that " the heavens do rule." And 
 I have tried to show, or rather to suggest, that there 
 may be good reasons, though we cannot see them all, 
 why all that man supposes to be irreconcilable with the 
 sceptre and supremacy of God, may not only be recon- 
 cilable with it, but ma}' be also calculated to cast greater 
 glory upon his name, and to diffuse more extensive bless- 
 ings among all the children of God scattered through- 
 out the world. Let us then, in looking at the fact that 
 " God rules," remember that he has designs of ultimate 
 good to us and of ultimate glory to himself, which it 
 may be most important for us to see worked out in the 
 world. For instance, God suffers sin to develop itself 
 upon earth into crimes and horrible calamities. He may 
 be doing so, not because he hates us, for that he does not, 
 nor because he would punish the guilty criminal that 
 will be a very minor reason but because this earth on 
 which we live is the great lesson-book of the universe ; 
 and it may be that the inhabitants of sister orbs and of 
 sister stars may be grouped in gazing clusters around 
 this distant spot in the universe, and may be looking 
 down and seeing, beyond the reach of its contagion, 
 what terrible issues are treasured up in that terrible 
 thing sin, and what it would do if all the restrictions 
 were withdrawn, and it were left to create on earth and 
 
156 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 to work out that hell, which it has wrought out in soma 
 sequestered place in the world, where the worm never 
 dies, and the fire is not quenched. 
 
 It may be we are apt to form conclusions that certain 
 things are irreconcilable with the government of God, 
 from our only seeing a portion of their action. If you 
 see only the foundation of a house, you ought not thence 
 to judge what will be the splendour of its superstructure: 
 if you read the title-page of a book, you ought not, as 
 many do, to say, the book is a false book, or a bad book, 
 because you have only read the title-page : and if you 
 see but some of the outside and less significant machinery 
 of Providence, and cannot see the inner machinery which 
 is with himself, the spring, and the issue, it is not right 
 to judge of what things are, by the partial and defective 
 view that we are able to obtain of them. Take, for in- 
 stance, the history of Joseph ; when you saw Joseph 
 cast into the pit, sold to the merchants, accused of an 
 offence by the wife of Potiphar, thrown into a dungeon ; 
 one would have said, if you had stopped there and seen 
 no further, ' ' What an unfortunate lad is that ! excellent 
 in his character, he seems to be the most unfortunate in 
 life." But if you could have lived to see him at the 
 right hand of Pharaoh if you could have lived to see 
 him save his nation from destruction, and ultimately 
 triumph over all his trials, you would have said, How 
 wonderful in working is that God who overrules the 
 passions of man, restrains his wrath, and makes the 
 remainder of it to praise him ! and how rashly do we 
 often judge ! 
 
 Again, when we reflect on such scenes as the French 
 Revolution of 1782, to take the most dreadful one, you 
 cannot understand how it could be that, if there be a 
 God that ruleth in heaven, men should have been so left 
 to themselves by that God, and within his dominions, as 
 to perpetrate the crimes which can barely be mentioned, 
 and the murders and atrocities which the historian is 
 scarcely able to enumerate. But now that we have seen 
 what it was, and have learned what lessons were to be 
 deduced from it, we can show that it was first to punish 
 
THE SCEPTRE OF GOD. 157 
 
 the profligacy of an eminently profligate people ; and, 
 secondly, it was to prove what a people can do and will 
 do, that has cast off God ; and it was next to teach us 
 that the experiment has been tried, and in every case has 
 turned out not merely a failure, but absolute destruction 
 to them that made it, that the world cannot be carried 
 on without religion ; and that society cannot cohere 
 without God ; in the words of Robespierre, the sangui- 
 nary despot of that terrible era, " If there be not a God, 
 we must make one, in order to make society hold 
 together." The atheist in his blasphemy proclaimed 
 God almost as distinctly as the Christian who says, " God 
 reigns, and the heavens do rule." 
 
 In the next place, we have to learn too, in looking at 
 all these difficulties, that God, in dealing with mankind, 
 and in ruling over them, does not contemplate in his 
 dealings one generation, but successive generations. We 
 see one whole generation suffer, and we think it incom- 
 patible with the goodness of God : but if we look to the 
 next generation we shall discover that the sufferings of 
 the first were preparing the soil for seeds to be cast into 
 it, which were designed to grow up and ripen into pre- 
 cious harvests of happiness and peace to future ones. In 
 order therefore to judge of God's designs, and of the 
 wisdom and goodness of his government, you must look, 
 not at one particular generation, but at all the genera- 
 tions of mankind, and be content to discover that your 
 sufferings in the present may grow up and burst into 
 blessings lasting as the stars, for generations that are yet 
 to follow you. 
 
 And in the next place, we must view all that God does 
 in this world in connexion with another world, llecol- 
 lect that this Avorld is but the pilgrimage through which 
 we are passing, and the next world is the home to which 
 we are going; and what seems irreconcilable with God's 
 government, when beheld in the light of this world, 
 may be seen to be not only reconcilable with it, but 
 richly illustrating its beneficence and wisdom, when 
 viewed in the light of that future world for which God 
 is preparing his people, and toward which they are jour- 
 
158 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 neying as strangers and pilgrims through this present 
 world. This world is but a nook a little tiny nook 
 in the vast domains over which God's sceptre stretches. 
 If it were possible to conceive of a fly being endowed 
 with the faculty of reason for a moment and if that fly 
 were crawling about the cornice of one of the pillars of 
 St. Peter's cathedral, it might perhaps say, " What a 
 paltry contemptible place this is ! these cornices seem to 
 be doing no good ; what is the use of them ? what a 
 mean little place it is, and how unworthy of the architect 
 who planned it?" We should say, if we heard its 
 reasoning, it was the smallness of the insect, and the 
 limited nature of the horizon of its vision, which made 
 it think what it saw to be so small and insignificant, and 
 its not understanding that the cornice of the pillar could 
 no more be dispensed with than the dome or the roof of 
 the cathedral, being part and parcel of one great design, 
 and in harmony with all that was about it. We are just 
 like that fly in this respect, perched upon some little 
 pinnacle in some little nook of this little world, where 
 we venture to pronounce upon the whole from our very 
 limited experience of a part, forgetting that our igno- 
 rance should make us humble, and our knowledge that 
 God reigns should make us trust that all will be wisely, 
 beneficently, and graciously arranged. 
 
 I have thus then looked at some of the objections to 
 this truth ; let me now notice some positive facts tending 
 to prove that the heavens do rule ; and that while God 
 does thus rule, there is every reason to believe, both from 
 Scripture and experience, that his rule is wise, and good, 
 and merciful, and gracious. 
 
 In the first place, God is infinitely wise : we are quite 
 certain, therefore, that what he does must be the result 
 of infinite wisdom. Admit the fact that God reigns in 
 the atom as well as in the fixed star that God moves 
 with the current of the tiny stream as much as he rides 
 upon the whirlwind and sails upon the waves of the 
 desert sea : admit that God is in all the windings of in- 
 dividual private life, as well as in the cataracts and 
 floods and storms of public and of social life and then, 
 
X11E SCEPTKE OF GOD. 15*J 
 
 recollect that the God who thus controls all, is infinitely 
 wise, and you may be satisfied that there is no risk of a 
 blunder, there is no possibility of a mistake, there is 
 nothing done by God that will need to be undone, that in 
 short there is no dispensation, from Adam to the present 
 hour, that is not associated with and superintended by a 
 wisdom that cannot err. 
 
 Recollect, in the next place, that God is infinitely 
 good. That goodness is dimly shadowed forth in nature ; 
 it is clearly expressed in the Gospel " God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only-begotten Son." The gift of 
 Christ is the measure of God's goodness. Let us pause 
 at that text : it is not said, " God so loved the world, that 
 lie permitted his Son to come and die for the world :" that 
 would have been great love; but " God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his Son." Christ is the donative of 
 God, the expression and the measure of God's infinite 
 love ; the truth is, not that " God loves us because Christ 
 died for us ;'' but it is " that God so loved us that Christ 
 died for us :" Christ is not the cause of God's love to us, 
 but he is the expression of God's love to us. And this is 
 a beautiful thought which seems to me so precious, that 
 the death of my Saviour is not only a channel through 
 which God's love can reach me consistently with his 
 justice ; but it is also evidence to me, that God loved me 
 from everlasting, and will love me to the end ; and it is 
 the proof to me that when I am admitted into heaven, I 
 shall not be admitted there simply as the convict who 
 has been pardoned, and to be treated and tolerated in 
 heaven as such, but it is the evidence to me that I shall 
 be welcomed into heaven as the reconciled and accepted 
 son, amid the hosannas and acclamations of angels and of 
 archangels, and that I shall be there as a son in the pre- 
 sence of a father, not as a forgiven criminal in the 
 presence of a judge who barely tolerates him there. 
 " God so loved us that he gave his Son." If this be so, 
 then, not only is there infinite wisdom, but there is infi- 
 nite love ; and therefore the nature of God's government 
 in the world is not only so wise as to prevent all possibi- 
 lity of mistake or error, but it is so good that it precludes 
 
160 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 the interposition of ill-will, revenge, or enmity, of any 
 sort or of any degree. 
 
 In the next place, God, who governs the world, is 
 " omnipotent." "We may therefore be sure, that what- 
 ever his wisdom devises, or his love inspires, his power 
 will execute. We are sure, therefore, that what the 
 Psalmist says, when he thus describes the power of God, 
 is borne out by history : " Lord of hosts, who is a 
 strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round 
 about thee ? Thou rulest the raging of the sea ; when 
 the waves thereof arise thou stillest them. Justice and 
 judgment are the habitation of thy throne : mercy and 
 truth shall go before thy face." He is, in the language 
 of the Apostle, " able to keep us from falling, and to 
 present us faultless before the presence of his glory with 
 exceeding joy." 
 
 And, in the last place, the God who rules the world 
 in wisdom and in love, and with omnipotent power, is 
 described to be an unchangeable God. If God were a 
 changeable being, we could have no confidence in his 
 government at all ; if God were a changeable God, who 
 would retract to-day what he said yesterday, the Bible 
 would be the most worthless of all the books upon earth, 
 because how could I know that he would adhere to the 
 promises he has made, or how could I know that the 
 truth he had stated he will not reverse ? And there- 
 fore the immutability of God is the crowning point ; for 
 his wisdom, his love, his power, his faithfulness, his 
 truth, are fixed as the heavens, and immutable for ever. 
 And so it is in creation. The very facts that men quote 
 as the evidences that God does not reign, are just the 
 very facts that I would quote as the evidence that God 
 does reign. For instance, the fact is, that water shall 
 run down hill : men say, that is the law of water, and 
 therefore it can do so without God. It is the fact, for 
 instance, that fire burns ; and they say that is the com- 
 bination of the oxygen of the atmosphere with carbon, 
 whereby flame is produced; that is the law ; and there- 
 fore we need not admit a God to explain the phenomenon. 
 The continuity of the fact may give it the name of a 
 
THE SCEPTKE OF GOD. 161 
 
 law, but it does not the less prove it is the action of 
 Deity. If these tilings were not always so, we could 
 have no confidence in creation. What man would build 
 a ship to carry his goods to the ends of the world across 
 the desert sea, if that sea were accidentally sometimes 
 liquid and sometimes solid'? What man could have any 
 confidence in the safety of his house, or in the security 
 of his person, if the fire sometimes burned and some- 
 times did not, or sometimes spread its flames a hundred 
 feet and sometimes only a few inches ? The very fixity 
 of the laws of nature is evidence not of God's retreat 
 from his world, but of the immutability of the God that 
 made them, and one of the grounds of my confidence in 
 his governments ; and of my firm conviction that the 
 heavens do rule, precious in this world, and infinitely 
 comforting in the prospect of that which is to come. 
 
 God reigns ; and the evidence of it is this, that he 
 is showing year after year, and age after age, that all 
 the wiles of Satan, and all the power of men, cannot 
 permanently build up a falsehood, and that all the 
 combinations of them both together cannot uproot tho 
 truth that he has given to us. Is there no evidence 
 of the present action and government of God in this 
 fact, that every false religion is proved by history to 
 be a blunder, and that every atom of divine truth is 
 proved by experience to be immortal and permanent. 
 Is it not evidence that the heavens do rule, when we 
 see all men, of all pursuits, in all acts, and under all 
 circumstances, consciously or unconsciously, designedly, 
 or undesignedl)-, contributing to the spread and adding 
 to the splendour of the claims and glory of the Chris- 
 tian faith ? Is it no evidence that the heavens do rule, 
 when we see proofs of the truth of the Bible dug from 
 the lava of Herculaneum and Pompeii, excavated from 
 the grave of Nineveh by Layard, brought forth by 
 Young and Champollion from the mummies hidden 
 thousands of years in the pyramids? Is there not 
 evidence that there is a God watching over that blessed 
 book called the Bible, and guarding that divine treasure 
 tailed the Gospel, in the fact that he is bringing forth 
 
 M 
 
162 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 elucidations of its truth and proofs of its authority from 
 the grave of Nineveh the pyramids of the Pharaohs 
 the crash of cities the wreck of nations till at last 
 the most sceptic minds are constrained to own that the 
 religion of the despised Nazarene is the religion of the 
 great God, and to predict that it will last, and nourish, 
 and reign for ever and ever ? Is it no evidence that 
 God reigns, or that the heavens do rule, when we see all 
 things working together for good to the people of God ; 
 and their light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
 issuing in their eternal glory ; and all the facts of his- 
 tory, and all the phenomena of science, and all the 
 phases of national experience, helping, and in no respect 
 retarding or obstructing, the cause of Christ ? Is it not 
 an evidence that God reigns, when we see the Church 
 and the University flourish together religion and 
 science, like sisters, walk arm-in-arm, the one casting 
 its glory upon the other, and both arrayed in priestly 
 robes, witnessing to him who gave them their commis- 
 sion, and ministering to the wants and necessities of 
 mankind ? And is not all this tending to accelerate the 
 advent of that blessed day when science shall come forth 
 from her cells, and students from their colleges, and 
 philosophers from their studies, and historians from 
 their labours, and all men from all places in the world, 
 and all things in their maturity and ripeness, to com- 
 bine with one heart and with one mind, and with one 
 mouth, in saying, "The heavens do rule," and "Jesus 
 is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
 world?" 
 
LECTURE XII. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. 
 DANIEL v. 
 
 BEING unable to select a verse on which to construct 
 an epitome of this sublime and interesting chapter, I 
 have taken as the subject of comment the whole chapter. 
 The main facts in it, as far as these relate to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar the grandfather, and Belshazzar the king his 
 grandson, we have considered in the successive exposi- 
 tions of various passages in the preceding chapters : we 
 have now the account of Belshazzar' s reign, his sensual 
 life, the departure of his kingdom, his own slaughter in 
 the midst of his revels, the victorious army of the Medes 
 in the midst of Babylon, and the first or the golden 
 empire passed over to the second or the silver one. 
 
 There was no sin in the feast over which Belshazzar 
 presided. I mean, it was not necessarily sinful. It was 
 an annual festival, commemorative of a great event. The 
 sin was not in the eating, or in the drinking, if both 
 were in moderation, but in the spirit which actuated the 
 eaters and the drinkers, and the excess to which they 
 went in both, and the defiance they showed toward 
 God. 
 
 It was during this festival that Babylon was taken. 
 The Mede knew beforehand its date, its nature, and its 
 accomplishments, marched his troops into the midst of 
 Babylon, took possession of its palaces, its halls, and all 
 its glory, and instituted that second empire, the history 
 of which we ha^e briefly sketched in a previous discourse. 
 It is well known that the siege of Babylon had already 
 lasted two years and a half; all the besieger's stratagems 
 
 M2 
 
164 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 had failed, and he was on the point of retiring from 
 Babylon as a city impregnable, and fitted by its great 
 strength to defy all human aggressive power ; but on 
 this night, one clay's Bacchanalian excess did for Baby- 
 lon \vhat all the siege and stratagems of two years under 
 the Mede had been utterly unable to accomplish. And 
 it seems from this, as from kindred instances in the 
 history of nations, that when God has pronounced the 
 hour of a nation's doom, the inhabitants of that nation 
 seem to IOSP the caution, the skill, the energy they had 
 exhibited before, and precipitate the very result they 
 themselves are anxious to avert. Nations rarely fall 
 before a foreign aggressor ; their ruin or their glory is, 
 under God, within themselves. Nations die suicides ; 
 they are seldom or never destroyed by any force from 
 without. let a nation be true to God, loyal to its laws 
 let purity and piety and true religion irradiate its palaces, 
 and cast their softening influence over all its lanes, its 
 alleys, and its hovels, and that nation has within it the 
 grounds, as it has over it the promises, of immortality. 
 But let a nation be corrupt in its lower classes, profligate 
 and sensual in its higher classes let there be education 
 without religion let there be profession without prin- 
 ciple let there be a name and a form without the sub- 
 stance, and it needs no prophet to predict that nation's 
 doom, and no long or deep calculation to count the years 
 that are sure to precede it. 
 
 The great sin which seemed to characterise the feast 
 celebrated on this occasion was, Belshazzar's impious 
 mockery in taking the sacred vessels which his father, 
 as he is here called, or, strictly, and as it might be ren- 
 dered, his grandfather, had carried from Jerusalem and 
 brought into the midst of Babylon, and in making use 
 of those vessels for the loose and licentious purposes of 
 an impious festival, as if he could hurl defiance at the 
 God of Abraham, and despise and defy the power of him 
 by whom kings reign and princes decree justice. There 
 was in this act needless insult to the captive Jews, and 
 impious blasphemy against the God whom they wor- 
 shipped. If the vessels were taken by superior power, 
 
BELSHAZZ All's FEAST. 165 
 
 and in just judgment for the sins of the people, it became 
 him in the presence of that people to lay them aside and 
 shut them up from their reach, but not to insult them 
 by profaning them, 'vie have no warrant to insult the 
 humblest rite of another's faith. Let it be Hindooism, 
 let it be Mahommedanism, which we come into contact 
 with ; convince, convert, enlighten, explain, but never 
 think that } T ou can put down a sentiment that is sacred 
 by mere ridicule, or that you can exalt a dogma that is 
 divine by a needless reproaching of the creed and rites 
 of the victims of a superstitious faith. No misfortune 
 is so great as to have become the worshipper of a false 
 God ; no man is so deeply to be pitied as he that has 
 lost his way to heaven : to insult him is inhuman ; to 
 turn his rites into ridicule is unchristian ; to try to en- 
 lighten, convince, and bring him into the more excellent 
 way, is at once worthy of our highest efforts and our 
 greatest sacrifices, most likely to succeed because, owned, 
 and blessed, and recognised by him without whose bless- 
 ing nothing can prosper, nothing is wise, nothing is holy, 
 and whose blessing nothing sinful ever inherits. J 
 
 The sin then, I have shown, was the desecration of 
 that which was holy, or the application to profane and 
 licentious purposes of the vessels that were outwardly 
 dedicated to the God of Israel. ("Is it possible that we, 
 "on whom the ends of the world are come," can in any 
 respect be guilty of a similar offence : It is possible, and 
 in many waj's. Where religion is dragged from its lofty 
 and controlling sphere, and made to gild the claims of a 
 party or to enforce the peculiar principles and power of 
 a sect, it is a holy thing desecrated to an unholy purpose. 
 When the sacrament is taken, not to commemorate the 
 death of Christ, but to obtain a passport to an office and 
 a qualification for a political or civil sphere, we see a 
 sacred vessel desecrated to an unholy end. When the 
 facts and the expressions of the Bible, its sublime, its 
 pure, and its holy truths, are used, as they not un fre- 
 quently are, to point a pun, add edge to a jest, or keen- 
 ness to a sarcasm, to excite a laugh or to provoke a 
 sneer, you have God's vessels desecrated to unhallowed 
 
1 66 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and profane ends.y Never try to construct jests from the 
 Bible. The jest that is based upon a text of Scripture 
 will come across you like a dark horrid spectre when the 
 most solemn appeals are made from the pulpit and the 
 most holy lessons are being read from the Bible. I know 
 not a more reckless act, or a more offensive sin, than 
 that of taking divine truths and making puns on them, 
 or using them as double-entendres, or for other purposes 
 of a like nature. Such deeds reflect little credit on the 
 piety, and still less, let me add, on the good taste of 
 those that so use them. 
 
 f^ I think we desecrate holy things when the sublime 
 descriptions of the judgment to come are turned into a 
 mere musical festival. No one more admires sacred 
 music than I do. No one is more deeply impressed and 
 thrilled by its magnificent and glorious conceptions. 
 But, when the awful agonies of Calvary, the deep and 
 sorrowful experience of the suffering Son of man, are 
 used merely to create the most delightful emotions, or 
 the semi-sensuous, semi- spiritual feelings of the crowd 
 that listen, I do think it is the nearest approach to Bel- 
 shazzar's feast, when the sacred things of God are made 
 to subserve to the sensuous tastes of man. I do not 
 mean that there is to be no patronage of good music. I 
 do not say that an oratorio is in itself inherently and 
 inseparably sinful ; but I do say the music should be 
 used to impress the sentiment, not the sentiment to 
 make the music only the more grateful. We are not to 
 use God's truth to improve our music, but we are to use 
 our noblest music to unfold the attributes and make 
 more vivid and glorious the grandeur and the excellency 
 of God's truth. And when the opposite course is adopted, 
 and man takes holy and thrilling truths, the agonies of 
 the cross, the triumphs of Tabor, the prospects of glory, 
 the apocalyptic visions, and uses them for an unthinking 
 crowd to shout ENCORE ! and demand a repetition, and 
 to applaud as a splendid exhibition or a glorious treat 
 that they have listened to ; then I think it is all but a 
 repetition of Belshazzar's festival. I should like to hear 
 those noble productions of Handel as acts of solemn 
 
.BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. 167 
 
 worship. And when I do hear them I feel for myself 
 that it is the unfolding and developing of the deepest and 
 holiest emotions of my heart. But when men who have 
 no sympathy with God or with religion no love to the 
 Saviour or to his word, but merely a strong and enthu- 
 siastic sympathy with the grand and touching in musical 
 creations, go to such festivals and use sacred words 
 merely to help them to feel sublime emotions and praise 
 the musician while pleased themselves, I do think that 
 there is in such circumstances a profanation of that 
 which is holy, and a desecration of that which is conse- 
 crated to God.y 
 
 There seems to me to be a desecration of the holy 
 vessels when the Sabbath is used for purposes of trade 
 when transactions of a political nature are carried on 
 upon it when the assembly, or the cabinet, or the con- 
 gress, or the parliament, or chambers, or whatever these 
 legislative bodies may be called, venture to meet on it. 
 The Sabbath is the most sacred thing, next to the Bible, 
 if not equal to the Bible, that God has given us.X The 
 desecration of a holy thing to a profane and an unholy 
 purpose, occurs when the place appointed for the worship 
 of God for whether it be church or chapel, whether 
 consecrated by a form or opened by a prayer, is to my 
 mind of no great moment, for it is, in the one case or in 
 the other, a place in which holy hearts are to beat, 
 humble spirits are to bow, reverential prayer and praise 
 are to be uttered is employed for vestry meetings, for 
 political disputes, for noisy and tumultuous assemblages, 
 for shouting applause with the tongue, and beating ap- 
 plause with the feet.y In this there seems to me to be an 
 approximation to the profanation exemplified at the feast 
 of Belshazzar, where sacred things were desecrated to 
 unholy purposes. Let us then recollect that it is possible 
 to be guilty of Belshazzar' s sin in other than in Bel- 
 shazzar' s circumstances. Still more are we guilty of 
 desecration when the heart that was made for God is 
 made the throne of Mammon when the affections that 
 were destined to cluster around him are made to cling to 
 that which is earthly when God is superseded by the 
 
168 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 world, and things divine by things that are human; 
 then that "which was once the image of God, and is 
 meant to be restored and be so again, is desecrated to 
 unhallowed purposes, God is dishonoured, and we are 
 thereby ruined. 
 
 But I pass from the feast itself to notice the circum- 
 stances by which it was specially accompanied. It was 
 a feast plainly of no ordinary splendour. All the lustre 
 that rank and beauty and renown could shed upon it 
 was there. There were toasts, I doubt not, of enthu- 
 siastic patriotism there were songs of boundless loyalty 
 there was the loud defiance of every foe without, and 
 there was the expressed and reiterated security against 
 all disloyalty or treachery from within. But it was just 
 when the feast had reached its highest splendour, and 
 when all hearts were bounding and all spirits were 
 joyous, that a thrill of terror rushed through every soul 
 that the cup fell from the king's hand and, in the 
 language of the Spirit of God, " his countenance was 
 changed, and his thoughts troubled him ; the joints of 
 his loins were loosed, and his knees smote the one against 
 the other." A mysterious writing appeared upon the 
 plaster : no eye seemed to guide it, no visible hand 
 seemed to inscribe it, and mysterious fingers, belonging 
 none knew to whom, recorded with the speed and with 
 the vivid impression of the lightning, the unintelligible, 
 but to this ungodly prince, because unintelligible, the 
 awful inscription, " Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin." One 
 may ask, as the king and his lords did not understand 
 it, why were they thus afraid ? To a man -\vho lives in 
 sin, the unknown is always the terrible. Why? Because 
 we always interpret the events that we cannot understand 
 in the light of our own consciences, which we cannot but 
 feel. The man that is at peace with God sees all events 
 approaching him as a joyous procession of friends and 
 benefactors, and helpers to immortality. The man who 
 is not at peace with God, but who live; in sin, reads all 
 events in the light of his conscience, and amid the fore- 
 thrown terrors of a judgment-day to which that con- 
 science points. Suspicion, fear, alarm, are in such 
 
BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. 169 
 
 circumstances always the first feelings of the guilty. It 
 is when unknown, mysterious, and supernatural things 
 occur, that the conscience recollects a thousand crimes, 
 accuses of many wrongs, and reasons of righteousness, 
 temperance, and judgment to come. What an instance 
 have we of this in the case of Adam and Eve ! Before 
 they sinned they loved to hear the footsteps of their ap- 
 proaching Father, as sounds that were far more musical 
 to their ears than songs in the groves of Paradise. But 
 the instant that they sinned, all was changed ! they ran 
 from God. Why? God merely said, " Adam, where art 
 thcu?" the words that he had utterred often before : 
 but on this occasion, the instant they heard them, Adam 
 and Eve ran and hid themselves. Why this change? 
 Because before the fall, their innocent hearts had con- 
 strued the footsteps of God as footsteps significant of 
 ncaring beneficence and love ; but after they had sinned, 
 their unholy hearts construed God's footsteps in the light 
 of their sins, and they felt or feared, because they were 
 guilty, that it was an avenger coming to destroy them. 
 In the case of Felix, we are told that when Paul reasoned 
 before him he trembled. Take the case of Herod, when 
 he heard of the progress of Jesus ne was alarmed. What 
 had Herod done ? He had beheaded John the Baptist, a 
 preacher whom Herod for a time "heard gladly;" who 
 was to Herod and to Herod's court the most popular 
 preacher that ever ascended a pulpit, until he touched 
 on the sin that Herod loved, and pointed out the offence 
 that necessitated either Herod's reformation or his fall. 
 He took the alternative suggested to him by the infamous 
 courtiers that were about him, and murdered the preacher 
 in order that he might silence the preacher's testimony. 
 Hence, when news were brought to Herod that Jesus 
 was come, and that great miracles were wrought by him, 
 Herod said, " This is John the Baptist, that is risen 
 from the dead." See here the force of Herod's con- 
 science : he was a Sadducee, who did not believe in the 
 doctrine of the resurrection ; yet so strong was his con- 
 science, that it overpowered his convictions, and suggested 
 to him that John was indeed risen from the dead, from 
 
170 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 which, he once thought that no one could arise, and had 
 come to punish him for the crimes of which he had been 
 guilty. Take the case of any of those mentioned in the 
 word of God in similar circumstances, and you will call to 
 mind what the poet has expressed in different words : 
 
 Thus conscience does make cowards of us all." 
 
 But Belshazzar, who was so awed by this vision, was 
 one who had had great opportunities of knowing and of 
 doing the will of God. He had seen his grandfather 
 banished from the society of men, and made the com- 
 panion of the herds of the field and the fact which 
 ought to have been a lesson to him he disregarded as if 
 it had never occurrrd, and indulged in the sins and com- 
 mitted the crimes which had brought down such signal 
 judgments upon Nebuchadnezzar. "What he was con- 
 demned for by Daniel was not that he himself was 
 wrong, but that he had not availed himself of the oppor- 
 tunities he had of being right. Our condemnation at the 
 judgment-day will not be, that conscientiously we have 
 believed a lie; but it will be, that we neglected the 
 opportunities of acquiring and making ourselves ac- 
 quainted with the truth. I do not believe that the Deist 
 will be condemned for his Deism, but for his neglect of 
 the means of making himself a Christian. I do not be- 
 lieve that the creed we have come to most conscientiously, 
 as many a sceptic does, will be the great damning fact 
 at the judgment-day, but that we devoted more time to 
 the examination of a pebble, more attention to the study 
 of a butterfly, more of genius to the enriching of our- 
 selves and the filling of our coffers, than we ever spared 
 for the solution of this great question, What must I do 
 to be saved ? or for solemn preparation for death and 
 judgment and eternity, which the Bible suggests and 
 implies in every page. It may be that the very Sabbath 
 which you resolved to spend in dissipation at home might 
 have been that on which you would have heard the truth 
 which would have turned j'ou from darkness unto light, 
 and from the power of Satan unto God. It may be that 
 the very sermon which you neglected or excused yourself 
 
BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. 171 
 
 for neglecting by a head-ache which would never have 
 kept you from(the Exchange, or from) the appointed hour 
 and place of business, might have been the very sermon 
 which, under the blessing of the Spirit of God, would 
 have proved to you a savour of life unto life. Never lose 
 an opportunity of hearing the truth if you can possibly 
 avoid it. There are proper excuses, beyond all dispute, 
 but they ought to be grave, weighty, and worthy of the 
 subject, to justify you in once omitting to listen to that 
 glorious Gospel, in the preaching of which some single 
 word dropped in season may be to you the turning point 
 of your everlasting acceptance before God. 
 
 "When the king saw this mysterious hand-writing, he 
 sent for the astrologers, and asked them to explain the 
 meaning of the inscription on the wall. It has been a 
 puzzling question to commentators why the wise men 
 were unable to translate it. The words are plain, trans- 
 latable Chaldee ; and a Chaldean scholar of the present 
 day, if called upon to read them when inscribed upon 
 an) r thing, would be able instantly to do so. There have 
 been two or three reasons assigned for this inability on 
 the part of the wise men. One is, that they were written 
 in the ancient Hebrew characters, the knowledge of which 
 they had lost, and not in the modern Hebrew character, 
 which differs little or nothing from the Chaldean. The 
 character in which the Old Testament is commonly 
 written is not the ancient Hebrew character, and the 
 square form of the letters now used is not the primitive 
 form. It has therefore been supposed that the inscription 
 was in their ancient characters, and that therefore the 
 Chaldeans were unable to read it. The difference be- 
 tween the two forms may be as great as between our 
 English letters and the German, or perhaps between the 
 modern English letters and the ancient Saxon or old 
 English character. Others think that the words were 
 inscribed in some dark mysterious hieroglyphic, to the 
 signification of which there was no key in the possession 
 of the astrologers. Others, that it was the divine truth 
 written by a divine hand, and that, like the Bible itself, 
 it was intelligible only in the light in which it was 
 
172 PROrHETIC STUDIES 
 
 written that it was unmeaning and unintelligible to 
 the astrologers, and luminous only to him whom the 
 Spirit of God had taught. These are the reasons which 
 have been assigned, and any and all of them are sufficient 
 to explain why the Chaldean astrologers were unable to 
 interpret the writing. When they failed to do so, all 
 was blank terror and alarm in the minds of the king and 
 his courtiers ; but in the crisis, when all seemed to be 
 agitated and to have lost their self-possession, one woman 
 appeared nobler than them all, and spoke with a calm- 
 ness, a self-possession, and a dignity which kindled hope 
 where all before was utter despair. This woman here 
 called the queen was not the wife of Belshazzar, but 
 the wife of his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar ; and there- 
 fore I venture to call her the queen dowager. She 
 instantly stepped in and suggested the person who could 
 solve the difficulty ; and, in so doing, she presented a 
 striking contrast to the conduct, feelings, and condition 
 of those that were around her. It is almost invariably 
 the fact, that woman, who is easily agitated by trifles, 
 when some great crisis overtakes her which calls forth 
 all the latent energies of her soul, is found to display a 
 calmness, a magnanimity, a self-possession, that makes 
 the magnanimity of the other sex sink into insignificance 
 beside it ! A woman is made for a great crisis; and it is 
 in such that she shines like an angel, and indicates power 
 which man does not give her credit for ; and in this case, 
 where those powers were illuminated, inspired, and 
 sanctified by piety, she presented a contrast the most 
 complete to all who were present at that dissipated fes- 
 tival, smitten as they were with fear, shuddering with 
 alarm, and looking for the heavens to rend and the thun- 
 derbolts of God to overwhelm them. And is not the 
 whole history of Christianity a comment on whnt I have 
 said ? Who was last at the cross ? Woman. Who was 
 first at the tomb on the resurrection morn ? Woman. 
 Amid all the voices of scorn, insult, and reproach that 
 were lifted up against the blessed Jesus on the streets 
 of Jerusalem, there is not one record of the voice of a 
 \V9man being heard offering insult or using the language 
 
BELSHAZZAR'S SEAST. 173 
 
 of scorn or reproach. If she was first in the transgres- 
 sion, she was first in the scenes of the recovery and the 
 resurrection also. It is time that man should not mention 
 the first, but rejoice in her altered aspect and bearing in 
 the last. And who does not know that the vigils of the 
 dead, the beds of the sick, and the chambers of the dying, 
 have never been without her presence ? And who does 
 not know that just where woman is placed in her proper 
 position, there society culminates in its loftiest grandeur ? 
 teaching us that the ordinance of God is not that woman 
 should be, as she is made in some countries, the slave 
 and the serf of man, but the ornament, the companion, 
 the friend, ard in some respects the instructor of man. 
 
 The queen, thus exhibiting such magnanimity, ap- 
 peared in the midst of the scene, and suggested Daniel as 
 the solver of doubts, the explainer of perplexities, gifted 
 by God with miraculous and inspired understanding. 
 There is just one fact which I will now dwell upon, 
 preserving for another lecture the inscription on the wall} 
 and that is, that it is stated by the queen that Daniel 
 was the head of the astrologers and the wise men and 
 the magicians of the kingdom, " whom thy father made 
 master of the astrologers, the wise men, the magicians, 
 and the soothsayers." This has been objected to, be- 
 cause it is expressly stated in Deuteronomy that the 
 children of Israel were to have no sympathy or commu- 
 nion with diviners and soothsayers ; for instance, 
 " There shall not be found among you any one that 
 maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, 
 or that useth divination, or an observer of the times, or 
 an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter 
 with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer." 
 (Deut. xviii. 10.) 
 
 It has been asked, why did Daniel consent, according 
 to the statement of the queen, to be the chief or the head 
 of the astrologers, soothsayers, and magicians of the king 
 of Babylon ? The answer is, that our apprehension, i.e. 
 the popular apprehension of the character of these astro- 
 logers is a very erroneous one. They were not enchanters 
 who held communion with evil spirits j they were not 
 
174 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 diviners. They were men who studied the signs and 
 phenomena of astronomy, and, having no written reve- 
 lations, they believed that God had written the present, 
 the past, and also some presentiments of the future, in 
 the sky; that the stars were the letters of that revela- 
 tion ; and that by studying them they might interpret 
 events, present, past, and to come. If they had been 
 soothsayers or diviners in the same sense as those to 
 whom Moses alludes, for Daniel to have allowed himself 
 to be placed at the head of them would have been the 
 sacrifice of his principles and the surrender of his faith. 
 This he did not and would not, do. They were magi, not 
 magicians. They were philosophers, not sorcerers. They 
 held communion with God's outward world, not with 
 evil spirits, as the sorcerers and diviners of old. When 
 Daniel therefore consented to become their head, he be- 
 came the patron of science, the principal of a university, 
 the president of a royal society, and in no respect did he 
 sympathise, by thus consenting, with sorcerers, magi- 
 cians, or men that held communion with evil spirits. 
 And no doubt more science than we generally give them 
 credit for was known to these men. I doubt not that a 
 perfect acquaintance with the stars of the sky, the 
 flowers of the earth, all bright things above, and all 
 beautiful things below, was more frequently the posses- 
 sion of these ancient philosophers, than modern ones, 
 with their loftier discernment, are disposed generally to 
 admit. Thus we may see that if we had no written 
 book reflecting God's mind, the next book, though far 
 inferior to it, is God's book of Nature : we can see his 
 smiles in the sunbeams, his mercy in Providence, his 
 glory in the expanse that is above us his foot-print in 
 the depths that are beneath us ; and blind, blind indeed 
 must that man be, who does not see that God is in the 
 height, and in the depth, having a centre that is every- 
 where, and a circumference that is nowhere. These as- 
 trologers were not to be blamed if, without a Bible such 
 as we have, they took the next Bible, the book of the 
 outer world, and there sought to understand the mind, 
 the purposes, and the will of God. 
 
BELSIIAZZ AII'S FEAST. 175 
 
 Daniel then, as the president of this royal society a 
 student of science the principal of this learned univer- 
 sity is introduced into the feast amid its fading splen- 
 dour, its departing joys, its miserable, degraded, and 
 degrading remains ; and the king speaks to him as re- 
 cognising him only by name, but not knowing him in 
 person. Daniel was banished from that court : he was 
 too honest spoken a prophet to be very popular there. 
 The king therefore tells him, " I have heard that thou 
 canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts that the 
 spirit of the Gods is in thee, and that light and under- 
 standing and excellent wisdom is found in thee." Daniel, 
 without being discomposed by the cold reception of the 
 monarch, and without being the least awed by the 
 dangers he would have incurred through faithfulness, or 
 in the least seduced by the honours and emoluments 
 which would have fallen to his lot had he prophesied 
 smooth things, addresses the monarch, seeing him dis- 
 robed of all the pomp and splendour of a throne, and only 
 trembling like a guilty criminal in the presence of a holy 
 and a heart- searching God. Daniel reminds him of his 
 sins tells him of his crimes shows him how lessons he 
 might have learned he had lost how events that were 
 significant he had neglected how the history of his 
 grandfather he had read backward how he had incurred 
 all the responsibilities of knowing the truth, and lost the 
 benefit of all its precious and practical lessons ; and then 
 informs him that, because of these things, the kingdom 
 had passed from him, and, in the high purposes of him 
 who setteth up one and pulleth down others, had been 
 given to another, n f 
 
 Lessons that are neglected become awful judgments. 
 The sermons which you hear, which are fitted to instruct, 
 but from which you draw no practical instruction what- 
 ever, shall reverberate in crashes of thunder at the Judg- 
 ment Day ; and you will learn, when it is too late, that 
 it would have been more tolerable if you had never 
 appeared within the walls of the sanctuary, or read the 
 sacred page, or listened to a preached Gospel, than to 
 have done all and despised all, and perished amid the 
 
176 PEOPHETTC STUDIES. 
 
 offers of love, the sounds of reconciliation, and the hopes 
 of glory. 
 
 Turn to practical account every lesson that you hear : 
 when the preacher has done, your duties only commence. 
 What I speak is to instruct you, and that instruction is 
 meant to save you. Go forth, and (show on the lloyal 
 Exchange in the cabinet, in the congress, in the parlia- 
 ment^-flihow in all places that are high and in all that 
 are lowly in the high roads of public life, and in the 
 by-paths and isolated lanes of private life show in 
 every relationship and position in society, that Chris- 
 tianity has made you holier, happier, nobler than the rest 
 of mankind, and that it is not in vain that you have 
 heard that a God has suffered that mankind might be 
 redeemed. 
 
LECTURE XHL 
 
 WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. 
 
 " Then was the part of the hand sent from him ; and this 
 writing was written. And this is the writing that 
 was written, Mene } Mene, Telcel, Upharsin" DANIEL 
 v. 24, 25. 
 
 I NOTICED, in ray previous addresses, the circumstances 
 that preceded the interpretation of this mysterious in- 
 scription on the plaster of the royal palace : I now beg 
 your attention to the significance of each word of that 
 inscription, but especially to one which seems most 
 capable of affording improvement tons, namely, " tekel." 
 The word " rnene" is twice repeated, simply to give em- 
 phasis to the word: "mene, mene;" literally, "there is 
 number," " thy kingdom is numbered," or, " God hath 
 numbered thy kingdom and finished it." It is repeated 
 merely to give emphasis, just as the words are repeated, 
 " thou shalt surely die;" literally, "dying, thou shalt 
 die." " Tekel, again, means simply, " he hath weighed ;" 
 it is applied to the act of a goldsmith, who weighs the 
 gold, and ascertains the amount of sAloy, that he may sepa- 
 rate it from the pure metal. The word "upharsin" is the 
 plural number of the same word which is repeated in the 
 28th verse, "peres;" and, Chough it reads so differently 
 to us, it is really one word, differing only in number, and 
 the meaning of it is, simply and literally, " is divided ;" 
 and Daniel the prophet adds, in the prophetic spirit, the 
 words or the commentary, -< and is given to the Medes 
 and Persians." The word " upharsin," or " peres," has 
 nothing to do with the word "Persian," or the word 
 " Mede ;" this last is the explanation given by the pro- 
 phot ; and the inscription, literally translated, would be 
 " numbered, weighed (and, probably r found wanting), 
 
178 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and divided :" andJDaniel thus explains the mysterious 
 enigma, by saying, " thy kingdom is numbered," or the 
 years of its existence are now completed; " thyself art 
 weighed in the scales of the so.;icMiary, and found want- 
 ing ; and your kingdom now is about, to be divided among 
 the Medes and Persians, your bitterest enemies." Such 
 is the meaning of the words. 
 
 God is represented as weighing all men ; all their 
 motives, their ends, their characters. It is a common 
 scriptural expression, which indicates that it is meant 
 by God that we should feel and realise this fact. Tor 
 instance, Hannah said, "The Lord is a God of know- 
 ledge, and by him. actions are weighed : T David says, 
 " Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree 
 are a lie ; to be laid in the balance they are altogether 
 wanting." ; Again, Isaiah says, " Thou most upright 
 dost weigh the path of the just;" and Solomon writes, 
 " All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes ; but 
 the Lord weigheth the spirit." From these passages we 
 learn that the idea contained in this inscription is one 
 frequently found in Scripture, as applicable to all. It 
 suggests to us many precious and important lessons. 
 
 Let us realise this one fact, that there is not a motive 
 in one single heart in this assembly that the eye of God 
 does not now see as clearly as if that motive were the 
 only thing in the whole universe, and that God does not 
 weigh with an exactness as complete as if the destinies 
 of the universe depended upon this one result. Let 
 every-maa^ in. this assembly only realise this. It is 
 important that I should ask you to do so : for I believe 
 it is not increase of light that you need from the pulpit, 
 so much as increase of power in the pew, that will make 
 the light which you feel to become life, and the lessons 
 that you know to be impressed with effect. Let us then 
 try to realise this solemn truth ; and if there be a God 
 in heaven it is true, that there is not a motive in the 
 depths of our hearts, there is not a design the most in- 
 tricate, the most secret within us, there is not a crooked 
 path you intend to pursue to-morrow, nor a crooked 
 practice in which you intend to indulge next week, that 
 
WEIGHED AND POUND WANTING. 179 
 
 God does not now completely comprehend and unravel, 
 the estimate of which God does not now form, and the 
 doom of Avhich is not denounced at a tribunal from which 
 there can be no appeal^/ Psalm cxxxix. ought to be the 
 expression of our feelings now. " Lord, thou hast 
 searched me, and known me ; thou art acquainted with 
 all my ways ; thou knowest my thoughts afar off." I 
 have often been struck with that single clause in 
 Psalm cxxxix., God " knows our thoughts afar off." 
 "While the thought looms in the distant horizon, before 
 we have clearly conceived it ourselves in all the length 
 and breadth of its dimensions, God sees it, knows it, and 
 thoroughly appreciates it. By him all thoughts are 
 estimated, all actions are weighed, and all desires are 
 known. This is not the case with one individual more 
 than another, or one degree or rank more than another. 
 The Psalmist, in the passage I have already quoted, says, 
 " Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree 
 are a lie ; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether 
 lighter than vanity;" let the thought be in the heart of 
 a monarch or a beggar, let it be the appropriated dis- 
 honesty of a penny, or the seizing violently of a kingdom 
 God sees it and notes it : and every deed that is done 
 upon the earth, unrepented of and unforgiven, shall be 
 heard in reverberating crashes throughout eternity ; the 
 crime containing in its bosom its punishments, and all 
 eternity attesting that it is so. 
 
 But let me look at the words I have selected, and 
 specially at the word "tekel," " weighed in the balance 
 and found wanting," because it is to each individually 
 and personally instructive. God weighs every man, we 
 are told, in the scales of the sanctuary. He weighs them 
 at the judgment -seat, and in reference to their everlast- 
 ing state of happiness or of sorrow. There is placed, if 
 you will allow me to prosecute the figure without ex- 
 hausting it, or extracting more from it than it is meant 
 to convey, in one scale, God's holy, everlasting, immu- 
 table law that law which is, " thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
 and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and 
 
 N 2 
 
180 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 thy neighbour as thyself." He will not subtract one 
 atom : it is not " thou shalt love with much of thine 
 heart ;" but, " thou shalt love with all thine heart." It 
 is not, " thou shalt love with a large share of thy mind," 
 but " with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself." 
 This is placed in one scale : every man's character is 
 placed in the opposite scale, and by its preponderance or 
 its lightness every man's doom is fixed and decided 
 accordingly. What have we to place against it ? Years 
 without thought, and days and nights without a sense of 
 responsibility to God. Years of selfishness, and sin, and 
 rebellion, and suspicion, and hatred, is all that man, the 
 best amongst us, can place in the scale that is weighed 
 against this. And needs it any logic of mine to demon- 
 strate that when in the one scale there is a perfect 
 unchanging law, demanding perfect, continuous, un- 
 swerving obedience, and in the other are sin and folly 
 and shame, the inscription must appear upon the very 
 scales that belong to the balance, "By deeds of law no 
 man living can be justified?" " Tekcl, thou art weighed 
 in the balance, and art found wanting." 
 
 But suppose, in the next place, I keep still in the one 
 scale, this holy, perfect laAv, demanding perfect love for 
 God, and perfect love for 3'our neighbour ; and suppose I 
 select the most accomplished, the most honourable, the 
 most just, the most generous of mankind, (and all these 
 traits are beautiful, because originally divine) and sup- 
 pose I place this man, who has paid every debt, who 
 owes no man anything, who is characterised by every 
 social, national, personal, and domestic excellence and 
 all these things are most precious and most excellent ; 
 and I only wish that Christians were more and more 
 adorned with them than they are suppose I put suvh 
 an one in the scale opposite to that which contains the 
 holy and the unchanging law of God. What would be 
 the result ? That this scale must inevitably kick the 
 beam. For, when the experiment is made, we must say 
 to him, " Most justly have you done to man, but how 
 stand you with reference to God ? most generously have 
 you acted in society, but how have you acted towards 
 
WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. 181 
 
 God ? you have kept the last six commandments of the 
 law, I will assume, perfectly, but what have you done 
 with the four first ? you have loved your neighbour, I 
 will admit, with all your heart ; but have you loved God 
 with all your heart, and mind, and strength? It is 
 utterly impossible that a half-obedience can meet the re- 
 quirements of a law, which demands whole obedience to 
 every commandment and every section of it. You are 
 not wanting if you are weighed against the last six com- 
 mandments of the law ; but you are " tekel" altogether 
 wanting, if weighed against the whole ten command- 
 ments of the law. It will be no justification in the sight 
 of God that you have been blameless towards man, if you 
 have not been what God requires you to be towards him 
 that made you, and gave his Son to redeem you. 
 
 But I will adduce another character, and weigh him. 
 I will take the man w r ho is not only just, and generous, 
 and good in all the relationships of social life and such 
 men there are, bearing mark of man's original beauty 
 and perfection which sin and Satan have not altogether 
 effaced but who, in addition, is most strict in his at- 
 tention to what are popularly called " all his religious 
 duties;" who is never absent from the Church; who 
 belongs to the strictest and the most rigid sect in that 
 Church; who is a punctilious observer of every ceremony; 
 who never made a genuflexion too few or too many ; 
 who never was absent from matins in the morning or 
 from vespers at night ; never failed to bow at the name 
 of Jesus ; wore black on Good Friday, and dressed in 
 white upon Easter Sunday ; one who fasted while others 
 feasted is such a one who has been thus exact, thus 
 punctilious, thus obedient to every ecclesiastical require- 
 ment, who has been thus baptised, thus confirmed, thus 
 consecrated, thus dedicated, thus absolved is he to be 
 classed with the multitude of mankind ? is he, when 
 weighed in the scales, to be pronounced " altogether 
 wanting?" The answer is, God's law is not satisfied 
 with ceremonies. You cannot pay your debts to God in 
 rubrics. The sound will still thunder in your ears, "Who 
 has required this at your hand ? God's law is, " Thou 
 
182 mOPHETIC STTJDIES. 
 
 shalt love;" your response has been, "I have per- 
 formed." The decision must be, that with all your 
 ecclesiastical ceremonies, and with all your social excel- 
 lences, the first ecclesiastically perfect, the last morally 
 exact, when weighed against the holy, unchangeable, un- 
 swerving law of God, you are " altogether wanting." 
 
 But I will add one feature more, and will assume this 
 character to be perfected by another ; that he is in all not 
 only perfectly sincere, but an earnest inquirer after truth, 
 anxious in all respects to know and do his duty. Surely 
 such a one, when weighed in the balance, though he has 
 erred and come short in some things, will be forgiven, 
 in that he was sincere in the pursuit of all things. I 
 answer, sincerity added to a sin does not make it virtue; 
 sincerity added to a heresy does not make it orthodoxy. 
 "When one is sincere, we respect the man because he is 
 so ; but if he is in error, we do not the less condemn the 
 error, because he is sincere that holds it. The sincerity 
 with which he holds it makes us no less heartily de- 
 nounce the error that ruins his soul. I have not a doubt 
 that there are sincere Jews, sincere and enthusiastic 
 Bomanists, sincere Socinians and sceptics I have no 
 doubt of it. Their sincerity must make me treat them 
 with respect, their error remains to be judged by him in 
 whose word it is clearly and unequivocally denounced. 
 Saul of Tarsus said, " I verily thought that I ought to 
 do many things contrary to the name of Jesus." He 
 was perfectly sincere; but he adds, in the retrospect of 
 his sincerity, " Those things which were gain to me, 
 those I counted loss for Christ ; and I count all things 
 but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus 
 Christ." The sincerest ecclesiastic, and the sincerest 
 moralist, if unjustified by a righteousness without them, 
 and unwashed in the Redeemer's blood, when weighed 
 in the scales of the sanctuary, must be found " altogether 
 wanting." There is not, in one word, a saint upon 
 earth, the most excellent that ever breathed, who is not 
 compelled at every moment to say, " If we say that we 
 have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not 
 in us;" and there is not an enlightened and a Christian 
 
WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. 183 
 
 heart that docs not breathe, in the prospect of a judg- 
 ment-seat, " Enter not into judgment with thy servant, 
 
 Lord, for in thy sight can no man living be justified." 
 There is not a Christian in this assembly who knows 
 what sin is, and what his own heart is, and how pure, 
 how perfect, how infinite in its exactions is the holy 
 law of God, who does not feel, " If thou, Lord, shouldst 
 mark iniquity, Lord, who could stand?" Therefore 
 there is not a Christian who, as he thinks of this dread 
 balance, and of that most perfect law, and of his own 
 deep and conscious defects, does not cry, and cry with 
 unfeigned lips, " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
 
 How then can we meet this law ? how can we escape 
 the inscription " tekel," weighed and found wanting? 
 Against the law is weighed for us the magnifier of that 
 law. Against the law with its infinite demands, is 
 weighed the infinite righteousness of him that made it 
 honourable. Against the breach of that law is placed 
 that precious blood which cleanseth from all sin. When 
 we look at that law, the inscription impressed upon 
 every soul is, " weighed and found wanting." But when 
 we look at Christ, who is our representative in the pros 
 pect of the decisions of that law, then the inscription 
 " tekel," weighed and found wanting, is washed away 
 in his precious blood, and the glorious and illuminated 
 characters are inscribed in their stead, " complete in 
 Christ, without spot or blemish or any such thing." 
 
 I have looked then at man as weighed against God's 
 holy law; and we have seen that by deeds of law no 
 flesh can be justified" that " weighed and found want- 
 ing" is our inscription by nature ; and that justified, and 
 complete, and accepted is only our inheritance by grace. 
 
 1 now take the expression " weighed and found wanting" 
 in reference to Christian character. I put in the one 
 scale not God's holy law, but I put in it true, though it 
 may be not perfe<*t, Christian character ; and I wish you 
 to look at various characters, as weighed against it, and 
 see if we are among those who, thus weighed, are 
 " found wanting." 
 
 In the first place, they are weighed and found wanting 
 
184 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 who are not converted, or born again, or changed in 
 heart and spirit. We are told in Scripture that the 
 carnal mind is "enmity against God," and the uncon- 
 verted man, however outwardly decorous, is the child of 
 the wicked one. Now understand what I mean by re- 
 generation. I do not mean baptism ; I do not mean a 
 decent outward change ; but total transformation of 
 character a transition from a state of darkness, of dis- 
 tance, and of sin, to a state of light, of nearness to God, 
 of holiness, and of happiness. I mean by it, not a mere 
 ecclesiastical change, but life from the dead, or as it is 
 called by the Apostle, " a new creature." It is not, as 
 some persons call it, thoughtfulness. That is not con- 
 version. It is not seriousness, but regeneration : it is 
 not becoming thoughtful, but it is being converted. It 
 is not outward conformity to any requirement, but a 
 thorough, inner, radical revolution of mind, of prefer- 
 ence, of wishes, of hopes. It is not religious excitement ; 
 it is i.ot ecclesiastical zeal ; it is not an inappreciable and 
 minute change, but it is as complete in the soul as the 
 symbol that indicates it, " being born again." Do not 
 deceive yourselves in this matter : depend upon it, it is 
 far easier to know if we are so than many persons are 
 disposed to admit. Many get rid of the responsibility of 
 ascertaining if they are so, by pronouncing it very diffi- 
 cult and very delicate. Certainly, to pronounce upon 
 others is a very doubtful and delicate point ; but to pro- 
 nounce upon ourselves is not so difficult a thing as our 
 own passions and prejudices lead us to suppose. I ask 
 you, can the sun rise to his meridian at noon and shine 
 upon the earth, and w r e be unconscious of it ? Can the 
 dead step forth from their tombs, and themselves not be 
 aware of the change ? Can the spring burst upon the 
 earth, and make it break forth into blossom, verdure, and 
 beauty, and we not know it : Can the slave be made free 
 the maniac be made rational, and neither of them be con- 
 scious that a great change has overtaken them r And yet 
 all these changes are not greater, but very much less than 
 that change which must pass upon every man before he 
 can see the kingdom of heaven; for it is written, "Ex- 
 
WEIGHED AND FOUND "WANTING. 185 
 
 cept, " and until "ye be born again, ye cannot see the 
 kingdom of God." And therefore, my dear friends, 
 whatever excellencies you may have outwardly and I 
 do not wish to depreciate them whatever external 
 accomplishments you may have and I do not wish to 
 deny them if they were weighed, the brightest of them 
 all, against the definition of Christian character, as given 
 by the Spirit of God, will be found utterly " wanting." 
 Then, if this be so, is there a question we can ask which 
 more vitally concerns us than this, Are we born again ? 
 are we shams or realities ? are we Christians or world- 
 lings ? are we transformed by the Spirit of God, or are 
 we still " dead in trespasses and sins r" If I have over- 
 stated the doctrine, then you may despise it; but if I 
 have understated it, which is what I have done, then, my 
 dear friends, carry home with you this night this deep, 
 personal, individual impression, that whatever you may 
 be, whatever you may have given, whatever you have 
 suffered, whatever you have sacrificed, however you may 
 have been baptised, at whatever church or chapel you 
 may worship, " except you be born again, you cannot 
 see the kingdom of God." 
 
 Let me, in the next place, state this, men are 
 "weighed and found wanting" when they are living, 
 constantly living at this moment in the practice of any 
 known, deliberate, and voluntary sin. It is true of 
 every man at every moment, " if we say we have no sin 
 we deceive ourselves;" but it is as true of the Christian 
 at every moment, that he wars against all transgressions, 
 and becomes every day, like the shining light, more and 
 more victorious. Do not in this matter deceive your- 
 selves. If you harbour deliberately pride, vain-glory, 
 avarice, ambition, murmuring, discontent, bitterness, 
 evil-speaking, lying, and slandering, if these sins you 
 knowingly indulge in, then, my dear friends, you give 
 evidence in so far, that you are not born again that you 
 have not the Christian character that will stand that 
 you are in the category and condition of those who, 
 when weighed in the scales in order to ascertain if they 
 are fit for the kingdom of heaven, have in them that 
 
186 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 amount of alloy which destroys all the value of the gold : 
 they have not reached the standard they cannot be 
 stamped with the impress of divine approval they must 
 be rejected as reprobate and worthless gold. 
 
 They, too, in the next place, are " weighed and found 
 wanting," who do not exhibit in their character the dis- 
 tinctive and peculiar features of the Gospel of Christ. 
 Many men are constitutionally moral, and the man who 
 is addicted to one sin from his constitutional tempera- 
 ment, is generally found the most eloquent denouncer of 
 him who lives in the sin to which he is not naturally 
 prone. There may be very moral men who nevertheless 
 are not Christians. If I understand the object of the 
 Gospel, it is not simply to make us moral, but to make 
 us more than moral " a holy nation, a peculiar people 
 a chosen generation, zealous of good works." Surely 
 Christ did not die surely Pentecost did not dawn, in 
 order that we might be just like the rest of mankind, in 
 order that it might be very difficult to distinguish 
 whether we are Christians or not. The little space 
 between us and the world is proof. I fear the world has 
 not made a nearer approach to us, but that we have made 
 a nearer descent towards the world. If I read the Scrip- 
 tures aright and it is so clear in these cases that he that 
 reads it may run while he reads it Christians are a 
 people distinguished and separate from the rest of the 
 world ; they belong to an empire of glory and of beauty, 
 so impressive, that the world's enmity is provoked by the 
 contrast. I ask you if you are the subjects of this em- 
 pire ? if you, not separating myself from you, are cha- 
 racterised by the features of them who are heirs of God 
 who arc followers of the Lamb who are witnesses for 
 Christ who let their light so shine before men that 
 others, seeing their good works might glorify their Father 
 in heaven ? 
 
 All these, I would notice, are " weighed and found 
 wanting" wanting in their fitness for heaven, which is 
 just as necessary as their title to heaven, of which I have 
 already spoken. Never forget this great truth, that we 
 need two things in order to reach heaven ; we need as 
 
WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. 187 
 
 much the work of the Spirit of God within us to fit us 
 for heaven, as we need the work and the righteousness of 
 Christ without us to entitle us to heaven ; and the man 
 whose heart has not been changed by the Spirit's power, 
 may depend upon it that he is destitute of anything like 
 a title that will admit him to the presence of God and of 
 the Lamb. 
 
 I have looked at man then as "weighed and defec- 
 tive " in his title ; I am looking at him now as " weighed 
 and defective " in his fitness for the kingdom of heaven : 
 and I observe, that they are " weighed and found want- 
 ing," who take deeper interest in the affairs of the world 
 than they take in those of Christ. One of the charac- 
 teristics of earthly minds given by the Apostle is, " who 
 mind earthly things." One of the characteristics of the 
 people of God is, " whose conversation, i.e. their conduct, 
 their sympathies, their feelings, are all in heaven. I ask 
 you, what is the predominating tone in your mind, what 
 is the great direction in which you are impelled ? where 
 runs, and to what runs the main current of all your 
 sympathies, your affections, your hopes, and your de- 
 sires ? We are not, my dear friends, borne to heaven 
 accidentally : no man goes to heaven but he that sets his 
 heart thitherward. Ask yourselves then, Do you mind 
 earthly things, or heavenly things ? what is the aim, the 
 object, the predominating desire of your mind ? where is 
 your heart ? what is your treasure ? for whom do you. 
 chiefly live ? These are weighty questions ; they are 
 scriptural ones ; your response to them will determine 
 whether you are or are not wanting in fitness for heaven, 
 and in real Christian character. 
 
 In the next place, they are wanting when weighed 
 in the scales of the sanctuary, who do not aid the cause 
 of Christ and its extension through the world by their 
 
 ?rayers, their efforts, their means, and their exertions, 
 f you be a Christian, you must be a missionary. I 
 doubt if it be possible to be a Christian oneself and 
 not to be consumed by an absorbing desire to make all 
 the world Christians too. I ask, then, if, when you 
 hear that there are minds unenlightened by the glorious 
 
188 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Gospel that there are children uninstructed in the 
 things that belong to their present and their everlasting 
 peace that there are Bibles needed, that there are 
 missionaries to be sent, in order that the blessings of 
 Christianity may be advanced, however poor your means 
 may be, however inadequate to the demands and exi- 
 gences of the case, can it then be said of you, as was 
 said of the woman in the Gospel, " She hath done what 
 she could?" If you were poor, or hungry, or thirsty, 
 or naked, would you call him a friend who refused to 
 give you food, and water, and raiment ? But Christ 
 identifies himself with all the needy upon earth, when 
 he says, " Inasmuch as ye did it unto them ye did it 
 unto me." There cannot be the supreme love of Christ 
 within you unless there is corresponding sympathy with 
 God's people without you. It is thus, then, that I 
 have asked you to weigh your own condition against 
 what seem to be the characteristics of a Christian, and 
 to ascertain if, in the sight of God, you are those who 
 are " made meet for the inheritance of the saints in 
 light," or among those who give obvious evidence that 
 they have no lot or part in this matter. I may apply 
 the same great truth to official personages. Let me 
 apply it to a minister of the Gospel. Such an one may 
 be gifted, eloquent, versed in theology, outwardly moral, 
 laborious in all pastoral duties ; and yet, weighed in the 
 scales of the sanctuary, he may be " altogether wanting." 
 Gifts need not be graces of the Spirit of God. There 
 may be the eloquence of the gifted tongue, without the 
 unction of the consecrated heart. There may be the 
 ordination of the bishop or the presbytery, but not the 
 consecration which God's Holy Spirit alone can give. 
 He may have all gifts, all eloquence, all theological 
 knowledge, all polite learning yet, if wanting in single- 
 ness of eye, unity of purpose, earnest devotedness to the 
 true end of his office, the conversion of souls, and the 
 glory of God, however he may be applauded by the 
 tongues of men, weighed in the scales of the sanctuary, 
 he, too, is " altogether wanting." 
 
 So I may apply thece words to a church. It may 
 
WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. 189 
 
 have all that Caesar can give able ministers, a splendid 
 literature, the rich and the great in its audience, and 
 yet it may be wanting in all that constitutes the Church 
 of Christ. The architect can build a glorious cathedral ; 
 Christ's presence alone can make it a Church. The 
 builder may raise a magnificent edifice, the Queen's 
 presence alone can make it a palace. The orator may 
 preach so that the crowd may be thrilled with his 
 oratory, impressed with his reasoning, riveted by his 
 appeals ; but he may not be a minister, and that crowd 
 may not be a church : " Where two or three are 
 gathered together in my name," that is the essential 
 " there am I in the midst of them." No presence can 
 compensate for the absence of this. No patronage can 
 be a substitute for this. Laodicea said, " I am rich and 
 increased with goods, and have need of nothing;" and 
 at the very moment when she was saying so, Christ was 
 weighing her in the scales of the t-anctuary, and he 
 pronounced of her, "tekel;" thou art weighed in the 
 balances; "thou knowest not that thou art wretched 
 and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." 
 
 In the same manner I may apply these words to a 
 nation. It was applied in the passage on which I am 
 now commenting to a nation namely, to that great 
 kingdom over which Belshazzar reigned. A nation 
 may have brave soldiers, hardy sailors, gifted legislators, 
 eloquent senators, prosperous trade, thriving agriculture, 
 all the splendour and power, all the material strength of 
 Imperial Rome, all the glory and the literary fame of 
 Athens, and yet that nation, when weighed in the scales, 
 may be altogether " wanting." Its aim may be terri- 
 torial aggrandisement its sole passion may be ambition 
 its eloquence, its efforts, its arms may all be exerted 
 in favour of conquest and aggression it may not be 
 seeking the glory of its God, but the supremacy and 
 the immortality of itself. Never forget that a nation's 
 sinews are its Christians ; its battlements are its prin- 
 ciples ; its guide is, or ought to be, the word of God. 
 Heal principle running through a land, pervading every 
 institution, giving its tone to all its varied national crys- 
 
190 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 tallisation not expediency, is power, and strength, 
 and immortality. A nation has not done its duty wheu 
 it builds gaols ; it has not done all it ought to do, when 
 it pays a police. There is something higher, nobler, 
 more precious than all this ; and if it fail here, when 
 weighed in the scales it will be found to be "tekel;" 
 and its doom is written, " Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin ;" 
 its years are numbered ; it is weighed in the balances, 
 and found wanting. 
 
 Such then, are some of the practical thoughts arising 
 out of the words I have now read. Let me ask you now, 
 in closing my remarks, to examine yourselves. Is there 
 anything wanting in your title anything deficient in 
 your fitness for heaven ? Forget not, my dear friends, 
 that it is possible to be " almost a Christian," and not 
 to be saved. It is possible to reach nine points of 
 Christian character, and to perish because you have not 
 the tenth. To be almost saved, is only to be con- 
 demned with a more terrible judgment. The very 
 height from which you fall renders that fall the more 
 disastrous. 
 
 And, in the next place, let there be, after the ex- 
 amination of our hearts, deep humility. All that is in 
 us is fitted to humble us; and the man that knows 
 himself best will feel most humbled in the sight of 
 God. All present will have some share in the com- 
 mon inscription upon the greatest and the lowest, 
 " tekel ; Thou art weighed in the balance and found 
 wanting." 
 
 And let us recollect, in the next place, that if, under 
 a deep sense of the pressure of that perilous condition, 
 we cry with our whole heart unto God, that he will 
 save us if conscious that we have not a farthing to pay 
 we ask him frankly to forgive us all if conscious that, 
 when weighed against his law, we must kick the 
 beam, and be found altogether wanting, lest us fly to 
 that righteousness which alone can justify us, let us 
 seek shelter in that City of Kefuge in which alone we 
 can be saved let us appeal to that cleansing blood 
 which alone can wash away the inscription " tekel." 
 
WEIGHED A.ND FOUND WANTING. 191 
 
 and that righteousness which alone can constitute our 
 title as " accepted and beloved." Each minute as it 
 passes carries us nearer to the burial-place of the dead, 
 and to the judgment- seat of the living. A few more 
 years, and those faces that are now looking, I trust, with 
 anxious thoughts, will be numbered with the dead, and 
 our souls, those live sparks that never can be quenched 
 those great and sacred " bundles of responsibilities" 
 which can never die, will have to stand at the judgment- 
 seat of God, either shivering and looking into that un- 
 known, unfathomed abyss of woe, or rejoicing, clothed 
 in the righteousness of Christ, and anticipating that joy, 
 that inheritance, that blessedness which is incorruptible 
 and fadeth not away. My dear friends, deal honestly 
 with yourselves ; have done with church, with cere- 
 mony, with sign, with sacrament, till you have settled 
 this question, Am I a child of God, or am I not ? I 
 believe that nine-tenths of the controversies of the day 
 are the devil's delusions to prevent men from settling 
 God's great controversy, " Are we the children of God, 
 or (lie children of the wicked one ?" 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE PRIME MINISTEE. 
 
 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred 
 and twenty princes, which should be over the whole 
 kingdom; and over these three presidents, of whom 
 Daniel was first : that the princes might give accounts 
 unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then 
 this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and 
 princes, because an excellent spirit icas in him ; and the 
 king thought to set him over the ichole realm. Then the 
 presidents and princes sought to find occasion against 
 Daniil concerning the kingdom ; lut they could find none 
 occasion nor fault ; forasmuch as he u 'as faithful, neither 
 icas there any error or fault found in him. Then said 
 these men, We shall not find any occasion against this 
 Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law 
 of his God. Then these presidents and princes assembled 
 together to the king, and said thus unto him, King 
 Darius, live for ever. All the presidents of the king- 
 dom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and 
 the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal 
 statute, and to make a firm decree, that ivhosoever shall 
 ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of 
 thee, Oking, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, 
 king, establish the decree, and sign the 'writing, that 
 it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and 
 Persians, ivhich altercth not. Wherefore king Darius 
 signed the writing and the decree. Now when Daniel 
 knew that the ivriting icas signed, he went into his 
 house : and his windows being open in his chamber to- 
 ward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a 
 day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as hi 
 did aforetime" DANIEL vi. 1 10. 
 
WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. 193 
 
 WE read in the previous chapters that great Babylon, 
 the excellency of the Chaldees, had passed away, and 
 that on the very night when the mysterious lingers 
 wrote the long inexplicable inscription on the plaster, 
 Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain, and 
 Darius, the king of the Medo-Persian empire, mounted 
 its forsaken throne and received the reigns of govern- 
 ment. It was after this, and on the crumbling ruins of 
 Babylon, that the Medo-Persian empire rose to splen- 
 dour, and occupied its brief space in the history of the 
 world. Darius, who was appointed to be king, was, of 
 course, a heathen ; but, heathen as he was, he saw 
 something in the character and general conduct of 
 Daniel, which led him to believe that there was no one 
 more worthy of a dignified place, a place of power and 
 responsibility, than Daniel; the Christian, as we may 
 truly call him, the Jew, as he nationally was. He had 
 witnessed his skill in solving a mysterious inscription, a 
 skill which indicated communion with the fountain of 
 wisdom : he saw strongly developed prudence, integrity, 
 talent, steadfastness, and even success in all he undertook; 
 and, amid his own gross superstition, his eyes could not 
 fail to distinguish so remarkable a subject, nor his own 
 sense of propriety and advantage fail to see in that 
 captive Jew a meetncss for service as rare as valuable. 
 They who do not understand a Christian's creed, will and 
 do appreciate a Christian's walk. Heathens understand 
 a pure and noble life, even if they do not comprehend 
 an orthodox creed. We learn from the impression pro- 
 duced upon Darius by the conduct of Daniel a conduct 
 which there is abundant evidence to show was unobtru- 
 sive and retiring, that real Christianity cannot be hid. 
 If you are not a Christian it is of no use for you to call 
 yourself one, or to pretend to be one, for the eye even 
 of the most casual observer will be able to penetrate 
 the veil of hypocrisy, and detect the shame and preten- 
 sion that are beneath ; and if you are a Christian, you 
 need not proclaim the fact in the market-place. Depend 
 upon it, wherever real Christianity reigns in the heart, it 
 Will press outward and outward and unite its name and 
 
 o 
 
194 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 impress its influence upon the place you occupy the 
 duties of the office entrusted to you upon the family 
 the nation upon all over whom, in the Providence of 
 God, you are placed. If there be health in the heart 
 it will bloom on the cheek ; if there be vigour in the 
 muscles it will show itself in your walk. If there be 
 salt in the earth it will spread ; if there be light, it will 
 shine ; if the city be set upon a hill, it cannot be hid ; 
 if the epistle be written by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle 
 tells us it will be seen and read of all men. Or, in the 
 words of another sacred penman, all that see them 
 " shall take knowledge of them that they have been 
 with Jesus." The man who walks with God, we are 
 told by the Psalmist the man who shrinks from the 
 scorner's chair, whose delight is in the law of the Lord, 
 will not be hid, but he Avill be " like a tree planted by 
 the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his 
 season ; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever 
 he doeth it shall prosper." 
 
 Trials and afflictions do not hide, but rather bring out 
 only the more the Christian's character; instead of dark- 
 ening they brighten it ; and many a one whom you have 
 suspected to be a stranger to the Gospel, when placed in 
 the i'urnace, displays the most beautiful and impressive 
 sense of a long tried and deep union and communion 
 with God. It is in affliction that the Christian shines : 
 it is in the furnace that the dross is consumed, and the 
 pure virgin gold glows in all its lustre and beauty : it is 
 under circumstances of affliction and distress that divine 
 graces are implanted in the heart by the power and pre- 
 sence of the Holy Spirit, which will rise to the surface 
 and prove to all men, what they cannot fail to notice in 
 the character and conduct of real believers, " that they 
 have been with Jesus." And this irrepressible nature 
 of real Christianity is matter of the deepest gratitude 
 and joy. Are you not thankful that it is so? would it 
 not be a pity that one truth in the Gospel should be 
 capable of being concealed ? what article in your creed 
 would a Christian wish to hide r what fruit in that 
 cluster of " fruits of the Spirit," of which we read in the 
 
THE PRIME MINISTER. 195 
 
 fifth chapter of the epistle addressed to the Galatians, 
 would you wish to conceal ? Let the miser hide his gold 
 let the admired of all conceal her beauty let rank be 
 ashamed of its honours let the infidel conceal his scep- 
 ticism, but let not the Christian be ashamed of that which 
 is the ornament of the earth, the beauty of heaven, which 
 gives weight to the lightest, and dignity at once to the 
 greatest and the meanest of mankind. Thank God, then, 
 that Christianity cannot be hid ; and that where it is, 
 there it will be felt and seen, and men will own that 
 it is so. 
 
 I may state, too, that it is this silent but continuous and 
 irrepressible power of Christian principle, which really 
 tells upon the world around us. It is not a mere 
 syllogism that will convert a sceptic. It is not a power- 
 fully constructed argument that will alone convert a 
 Roman Catholic : it is not such specimens of Christianity 
 as church and chapel often furnish, which will make 
 men feel that Christianity is the ambassadress of God 
 and the benefactress of mankind. It is when the world 
 sees Christianity softening all, sweetening, subduing, 
 sanctifying, inspiring, directing all giving its tone, 
 shape, and colour, and freshness to all ; it is when the 
 world sees Christianity in self-sacrifice in submitting 
 our own temper and our own inclinations to those of 
 others in giving way and suffering, rather than appear- 
 ing to dictate and presume it is in the quiet by-paths 
 of human life, that Christianity acts with the greatest 
 force, and in which, if detected by the sceptic, he 
 owns there is there the finger of God, the evidence of 
 a power greater and holier than human. So Darius saw 
 Daniel's Christianity : he understood not his sublime 
 creed, but he appreciated his honesty, his integrity, his 
 truthfulness, his faithfulness. The world itself, if it do 
 not practise, yet appreciates faithfulness and integrity. 
 The merchant on the Exchange understands character, 
 when he neither studies nor subscribes a creed. Hence 
 the pulpit is not the only place for preaching. 
 
 Darius saw that integrity of conduct was an admirable 
 qualification for a prime minister's office, that the man 
 
 o 2 
 
196 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 who prayed to his God was not the least likely to be use- 
 ful to his king. Even the heathen Darius saw that the 
 most admirable elements of political efficiency were, not 
 party -zeal and partizan enthusiasm, but faithfulness, in- 
 tegrity, honour all that constitute these moral charac- 
 teristics, which are the creations of Christianity in their 
 greatest brightness; and have been often, but less dis- 
 tinctly, illustrated even by the heathens in their deepest 
 degradation. Darius unquestionably was right : the 
 true Christian is ever the greatest patriot. The men 
 who are restless, discontented, fond of change for change's 
 sake, are not generally those who have family worship 
 and well-read Bibles, and who are seen oftenest in the 
 sanctuary ; and on the other hand, the men who are 
 most loyal to their sovereign most attached to their 
 country most devoted to its best interests most cou- 
 rageous on the field, most steadfast on the deck most 
 dutiful in all things, generally are actuated by motives 
 inspired by the truth of God, and distinguished by actions 
 influenced by the continual recollection of this great 
 truth, " Thou God seest me." 
 
 It is no argument against all this, that there are hypo- 
 crites who make their pretensions to religion a passport 
 to distinguished notice, or to political power. Whatever 
 is excellent has been imitated ever since the world was. 
 Never yet was there a coin current in a realm that was 
 not forged : never yet was there a good bank-note that 
 was not imitated. You do not say the thing itself is 
 bad, because there is a mockery of it. You do not reject 
 the good bank-note because there are bad ones in the 
 market. It is one thing to be a Christian, it is another 
 and a very different thing only to pretend to be so. And 
 because there are some men who pretend to be Christians 
 and are not, you are not therefore to suspect that every 
 man who seems to be a Christian is not so. In your own 
 conduct, rather be suspected not to be a Christian than 
 sound a trumpet to proclaim that you are so. Let your 
 Christianity be an inference that the world might draw 
 in the exercise of its reason, rather than a proclamation 
 in the market-place. 
 
THE PEIME MINISTER. 197 
 
 Daniel did not proclaim his religion. He did not 
 thrust himself into the palace of Eelshazzar, and because 
 he was faithful to his God he did not therefore act dis- 
 courteously towards his king. But the instant he was 
 sent for he appeared, and he acted as a Christian ever will. 
 He did not use his religion in order to obtain political 
 power : he did not make his communion to be a passport 
 to political office ; but he lived as a Christian, and left 
 the world to notice him or not, as the world pleased. 
 
 Daniel was promoted to be prime minister in one of 
 the greatest empires on which the sun shone. But, like 
 many prime ministers of every country and of every age, 
 the elevation to which his virtues raised him created 
 envy, calumny, and suspicion. I doubt whether eleva- 
 tion in this world is so desirable a thing as man's igno- 
 rant ambition makes him think. He that is placed upon 
 the loftiest pinnacle, " the observed of all observers," is 
 sure to create, or at least see projected around him, a 
 dark, long-drawn shadow of envy, jealousy, suspicion, 
 and all uncharitablencss ; not because he acts incon- 
 consistently, but because self-seeking and dishonest 
 spirits, ever enmity to truth and integrity, the highest 
 beauty, hate the man in proportion as he is the persona- 
 tion of them all. They disliked Daniel, and they could 
 not say why : they could not veto him, because he was 
 a royal appointment ; they could not dismiss him, for 
 they had not the power ; and Daniel occupied, therefore, 
 the most painful and perplexing of all positions, an 
 honest prime minister presiding over a dishonest, an anti- 
 christian, and an unmanageable cabinet They could 
 find, however, no fault or cause of complaint against 
 him, so they determined, in their envy and malignity, to 
 create one. They endeavoured to find out that his policy 
 was bad that he had been open to bribery that he was 
 unfaithful, but they did not, and could not, succeed ; 
 they could find none occasion or fault, inasmuch as he 
 was faithful in all things. He was a perfect phenomenon 
 in an Eastern court, where bribery ever has been, and is, 
 to this day, universal, and where a bribe can blind the 
 eye of justice, or shut the mouth of truth, or promote or 
 
198 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 put down, just as the man in power thinks most expe- 
 dient, or most conducive to his own interests, They 
 found that Daniel, however, was faithful, neither was 
 there any error or fault found in him. Why, then, did 
 they so dislike him ? why hate this good man ? Plato 
 asserted, that if Truth were to come down from heaven, 
 and display itself in all its glory upon earth, all men 
 would instantly fall down and worship it. What Plato 
 stated as an hypothesis, inspired history records to have 
 been a lamentable miscalculation on his part. Truth 
 came down from the skies appeared upon the world in 
 untainted glory, beauty, and perfection ; neither hell nor 
 earth was able to detect a flaw in it ; but so false proved 
 the prophecy of the learned and accomplished philos^o- 
 pher, that the world rose up against it, and shouted in a 
 voice of thunder, " Away with him, away with him ! 
 crucify him, crucify him ! Not this Man, but Barabbas." 
 If Plato had known what the child in our Sunday-school 
 or ragged- school is now being taught, that " the heart of 
 man is enmity against God/' he would not have uttered 
 any such prediction. 
 
 What was the fault his cabinet urged against the 
 detested Daniel ? First, he was a comparatively young 
 man, while many of these princes and counsellors were 
 probably aged men : he was a junior promoted over the 
 heads of his seniors ; this was an old offence, and an 
 offence that is felt in every profession. But when the 
 junior displays intellect, genius, talent, discretion, pru- 
 dence, heroism, devotedness, such as his seniors do not 
 display, all will soon learn to forget that he is young, 
 and to feel that it is not years, but excellence, that con- 
 stitutes the requisite to command the veneration of man- 
 kind. Probably they also hated and envied him because 
 he was a Jew. Eeligious prejudices are not extinct even 
 amid the light of the nineteenth century. We do not 
 like to see one promoted who is not of our sect ; we are 
 offended if one of a rival party is advanced to power. 
 And these men were worshippers of Bel : they assembled 
 in the temple of Bel for worship ; and they were indig- 
 nant that a worshipper of Jehovah, the God of the cap- 
 
THE miME MINISTEE. 199 
 
 live and detested Jew, should be advanced to the highest 
 post of honour and authority in that great empire. And 
 partly, perhaps, they hated and envied him, because he 
 was a stranger and a captive. Daniel was one of the 
 spoils of war, a slave ; and though of royal family, he 
 was held as a captive in the midst of Babylon ; and the 
 haughty princes of that mighty monarch could not 
 endure the insult of a Hebrew slave being nuiJc chief 
 ruler over all of them. But the grand reason, in which 
 they all concurred, no doubt was, that Daniel's integrity 
 stood in the way of their enrichment. He would not 
 take the bribes which they were accustomed to receive ; 
 he did not approve of cheating, which they thought was 
 canonical, and had made almost legal ; they loved the 
 wages of unrighteousness, while he hated them ; and, 
 like bold, bad men, they detested him, and determined 
 on his destruction. The great difficulty was, where to 
 obtain a pretext for getting rid of him. They could find 
 none whatever in his management of the kingdom : he 
 dispensed his patronage with perfect justice ; he redressed 
 the wrongs that were submitted to him with the greatest 
 impartiality ; he gave such good counsel to his gracious 
 sovereign, that all that that sovereign did prospered. 
 They could find nothing against the character of Daniel 
 as touching the kingdom over which he presided with 
 such dignity and justice, and with so remarkable suc- 
 cess. But they saw that he had a different religion ; 
 and if they could not impeach him as a prime minister, 
 they might assail him through the dogmas of his creed 
 as a Jew. They proceeded with great skill and artifice, 
 and formed the scheme recorded in verses 6 9. " The 
 presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the 
 princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted 
 to establish a royal statute, arid to make a firm decree, 
 that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man 
 for thirty days, save of thee, king, he shall be cast into 
 the den of lions. Now, king, establish the decree, and 
 sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the 
 law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. 
 Wherefore kingDarius signed the writing and the decree." 
 
200 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Tlie quiet self-possession of Daniel on this occasion 
 was complete. "Now, when Daniel knew that the 
 writing was signed, he went into his house ; and his 
 windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, 
 he kneeled upon his knees three times a-day, and prayed, 
 and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." 
 "We are not to be the slaves of circumstance, but circum- 
 stances are to be slaves to us. I am not to do wrong 
 because circumstances urge me to do so; but I am to do 
 right in the face of all danger, and in spite of all threats. 
 We have continually, in the army and in the navy, 
 instances of military self-possession the most remarkable, 
 showing how even the natural man may be drilled into 
 a state of discipline, subordination, and obedience to a 
 human leader, that will make him fearless amid all the 
 elements of terror and of death. I recollect reading, 
 that when Marshal Masscna was marching at the head 
 of a body of Napoleon's victorious troops, through the 
 gorge of the Cardinell, in the Alps, a vast avalanche 
 descended from the heights above, and swept into the 
 valley below some hundreds of his soldiers; and on the 
 very ridge of the snow that was swept into the ravine 
 beneath, was a. drummer-boy, who, undisturbed amid 
 the peril, continued beating the march he had com- 
 menced before the avalanche fell, until every soldier had 
 passed through the gorge; this was his own funeral 
 march : he then sank down to die, an instance of the 
 effective discipline which then prevailed in the French 
 army. One of Napoleon's greatest marshals never felt 
 himself perfectly calm and self-possessed till the dead 
 fell in thousands round him, and the tide of battle 
 seemed rolling against him; showing how human 
 nature, in circumstances of great trial, may feel great 
 calmness, and do its duty with unshaken and unflinching 
 nerve. But if discipline can do this, Christianity can 
 do more. It could make Daniel calm in the prospect of 
 certain death ; it could make Polycarp regard the flames 
 only as a chariot that wafted him to glory ; it could 
 make the Apostles feel bonds, imprisonment, and death, 
 to be not calamities, but blessings, because they took 
 
THE PEIME MINISTEB. 201 
 
 them from scenes of suffering, and conveyed them to tht* 
 realms of glory. A Christian has ever felt, and in 
 proportion to the depth and force of his Christianity he 
 ever will feel, that " the '\vork of righteousness shall be 
 peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and 
 assurance for ever." " Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
 peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." And I believe 
 that, if our Christian principle were what it should be, 
 and what we are responsible for its being, though the 
 mountains were cast into the midst of the sea, and 
 though the earth should shake and vibrate w T ith the 
 swelling thereof, though all things should seem to 
 prognosticate the return of chaos, ruin, and destruction, 
 a Christian would hear and accep f , sounding from his 
 Father's lips, those beautiful and soothing accents, " Be 
 still, and know that I am God." So Daniel learned 
 and felt. 
 
 "Would that our confidence in God were deeper than 
 it is ! we should not then be in the depths to-day and in 
 the heights to-morrow; we should not be so often sur- 
 prised, alarmed at this, and afraid of that. Do not 
 think, my dear friends, that you and I are indispensable 
 to the government of God. God governs ; he controls 
 the universe and all its movements ; and he is working 
 out his own bright and beneficent designs sometimes 
 with us, as often without us, and occasionally in spite of 
 us. Have confidence in God, confidence in our Father's 
 love, confidence in his wisdom, a deep and indestruc- 
 tible persuasion that " all things work together for good 
 to them that love God, and are the called according to 
 his purpose." 
 
 But in looking at the manner in which Daniel dis- 
 charged his duty, there seems at first sight to be in it 
 something like ostentation, or something, at least, rather 
 inexplicable as to its absolute necessity, in the attitude 
 which he assumed. It is stated, that his 'windows Icing 
 open, he kneeled upon his knees, in his chamber, towards 
 Jerusalem, and prayed in that direction. What was 
 meant by his thus " praying toward* Jerusalem?" We 
 have it explained in the prayer of Solomon, at the dedi- 
 
202 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 cation of the temple, in which he says, " If they," thy 
 people " sin against thee (for there is no man that 
 sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver 
 them to the enemy, so that the)*- carry them away cap- 
 tives unto the land of the enemy far or near : yet if 
 they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they 
 were carried captives, and repent, and make supplica- 
 tion unto thee in the land of them that carried them 
 captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done per- 
 versely, we have committed wickedness ; and so return 
 unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, 
 in the land of their enemies, which led them away 
 captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which 
 thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou 
 hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy 
 name : then hear thou their prayer and their suppli- 
 cation in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their 
 cause." 
 
 Hence every pious Jew, when he prayed, " kneeled 
 upon his knees," or stood, the other attitude of prayer, 
 according to the custom of the Jews ; and, wherever he 
 was, directed his face invariably towards Jerusalem. 
 The reason why the Jew did so, was, that the temple 
 and the furniture within it constituted the only type 
 that he had of Jesus, the great Mediator between 
 heaven and earth. He rested his eye upon the signifi- 
 cant sign of the only Mediator every time he prayed, 
 and did in that dispensation by a figure, what we in 
 this dispensation do in fact prayed in the name, leaning 
 on the intercession, trusting to the mediation of Jesus. 
 But if you were to argue, as certain very superstitious 
 persons do argue, that because the Jews did so in the 
 days of Levi or Solomon, therefore we, too, when we pray, 
 ought to turn our faces towards the east ; or, if you 
 were to contend that when we build churches we should 
 build them with their chancels, or what some ignorantly 
 term their altars, towards the east, you would be just 
 doing precisely what the Galatians did ; letting go the 
 liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free : there 
 would be in that fact a reflux to Judaism. You are 
 
THE PRIM*. MINISTER. 203 
 
 thereby displacing Christ, the only Mediator, and sub- 
 stituting an exhausted type, a shrivelled symbol, in the 
 room of him who is its substance, its reality, and its 
 end. The law of the worship of the Jew was, "Pray 
 with the face towards Jerusalem;" the great law of the 
 worship of the Christian is, " Pray in the name of 
 Jesus." What constituted the Church with the Jew 
 was, his having that very temple, those very stones, 
 that grand altar, those overshadowing cherubim, those 
 bright beams of the ineffable glory; but what constitutes 
 our Church is, not dead stones, but living ones ; not the 
 glory that is visible and palpable, but that bright glory 
 which consists of the mingling beams of mercy and 
 truth that have met together righteousness and peace 
 that have kissed each other. And hence there is a 
 Christian Church, and a true and acceptable worship, 
 wherever, on the sea-shore or on the mountain-side ; on 
 the tesselated pavement or in the public highway ; 
 within the communion rail, in the pulpit, or in the pew ; 
 on the deck, in the city, in the Held ; in the deepest 
 mine to which the miner can descend, and on the loftiest 
 pinnacle to which the Alpine herdsman can climb ; 
 wherever there are two or three met in the name of 
 Jesus, there is a temple more glorious than that of 
 Jerusalem; there is a temple of the Holy Ghost, in 
 which God dwells, and where all his glory is manifested 
 in another way than that in which he manifests it to the 
 world. 
 
 We see then the reason why Daniel prayed, looking 
 toward the east. But it certainly does, at first sight, 
 appear somewhat difficult to reconcile his conduct, in 
 having his window open, with the idea that there was 
 nothing in what Daniel did resembling pride, ostenta- 
 tion, or the needless thrusting forward of his custom in 
 the face of the heathen nation among whom he dwelt. 
 It is best explained by the fact, that the Jews' houses 
 were built with flat roofs, and on the top of each flat- 
 roofed house there was what is called in the Acts of the 
 Apostles " an upper room," not corresponding to our 
 garret, but a sort of chamber built upon the flat roof, in 
 
204 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 which the pious Jew sequestered himself from the world ; 
 read the law, prayed and held communion with God. 
 And in the Septuagint translation of this very book 
 i.e. the translation from the Hebrew into Greek, exe- 
 cuted by the Alexandrian Jews three hundred years 
 prior to the birth of Christ the word that is used for 
 "his chamber" means, literally, "he retired v rote 
 Vwtpwois" the very word that is used in the Acts of 
 the Apostles to denote the place in which the Chris- 
 tians met at Pentecost, and where they were accustomed 
 to worship God. And from the Acts of the Apostles 
 it is evident that the upper room was the ordinary 
 place, the most sacred and the most sequestered of all 
 the rooms in the house, whither the Jew betook him- 
 self for prayer. And when Daniel therefore retired to 
 his upper room, with the windows open towards Jeru- 
 salem, it was not for the purpose of displaying his 
 religious firmness, or for the purpose of defying those 
 whom he knew to have conspired against his life, but 
 he did that which he had always been accustomed to 
 do, prayed with his face toward Jerusalem, and seek- 
 ing the blessing and the presence of his God. It is thus 
 in this simple fact then, and in this beautiful habit, that 
 you have a chapter of the inner life of Daniel, the prime 
 minister of Darius the king of Persia. His inner life 
 was fed by prayer ; his outer life was characterised by 
 integrity, faithfulness, and justice. It was his home 
 habits that made his court habits so beautiful, and just, 
 and true ; it was his private nearness to God that sus- 
 tained and elevated his public consistency before men. 
 I hope there are such statesmen still who preface their 
 policy by their communion with God. Would it not 
 be the loftiest dignity, were the highest in the land to 
 prostrate themselves before the King of kings, the 
 Prince of the kings of the earth, and not seek to devise, 
 to meditate, to plan, till first there had been implored 
 an abundant blessing from Him, without whom nothing 
 is strong, nothing is wise, nothing is holy, and nothing 
 can prosper. An hour in " the upper room," in com- 
 munion with God, before spending many hours in the 
 
THE PRIME MINISTER. 205 
 
 House of Lords or in the House of Commons in trans- 
 acting the business of the empire, is a recommendation 
 worth all the political qualifications that a man can 
 have. Depend upon it, that God will not bless in poli- 
 ticians what he does not bless in private men, the 
 habit of trying to work the world without God. Depend 
 upon it, he will not prosper measures in the high places 
 of the earth which he will not prosper in the humble 
 places of the earth, when those measures are concerted 
 and attempted without recognising him. It should be 
 written on the heads of princes, on palaces, and cabinets, 
 " By me kings reign arid princes decree justice." 
 
 And is it not a privilege, as well as a duty, to have 
 prayer ? I need not dwell upon the nature of prayer ; 
 for I trust there is not a Christian in this assembly who 
 knows not what it is. It is not a thing to be taught : 
 it is the deepest instinct of humanity. It is, in my 
 judgment, just as natural to pray as it is to breathe. 
 And what the Spirit teaches without whose teaching 
 prayer will not be the incense that rises to heaven is 
 to pray for things that are truly good, in the name of 
 him through whom those things are given ; and in every 
 Christian's heart such prayer is an irrepressible instinct. 
 He cannot live without it, he cannot move without it. 
 He feels that a prayerless man is a graceless man ; and 
 that the enterprise he commences without asking God 
 to bless it, is one in which he can expect no great suc- 
 cess. God asks the tribute of your acknowledgment of 
 him, and he will give you all the blessings of success ; 
 "for whatsoever such an one doeth shall prosper." 
 Pray in your closets ; pray in the house of business ; 
 pray when you are walking upon the highway. Shut 
 your doors ; sound not the trumpet ; make no display ; 
 but lift the heart daily three times a-day if you like 
 at stated hours, and in stated places, if you like, for 
 these remind you of the habit ; but " pray." Pray that 
 God would give you grace for each day, (for there is 
 only promise for the day,) that he will give you bread 
 for each day: that he will give you "forgiveness of 
 your sins, and an inheritance among all them that are 
 
206 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 sanctified." Great soldiers of our country, the great 
 Washington of America, prayed upon the field of battle ; 
 prayed under that stern and terrible necessity of na- 
 tions where men made in the image of God take part in 
 the dire shock of battle, prayed, at such a crisis, that 
 the God of justice would decide the conflict. Let us 
 pray, in approaching a communion-table, in approach- 
 ing the judgment-seat at which we must appear; know- 
 ing, that whatsoever we shall ask in the name of Jesus 
 believing, he will give it us. Pray, and you will prosper 
 upon earth ; pray, and you will find your prayers on 
 earth lost in the praises of eternity, through Jesus 
 Christ, 
 
LECTUBE XV. 
 
 DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. 
 
 " Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and 
 cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and 
 said unto Daniel, Thy God ichom thou servest continu- 
 ally, he will deliver thee" DANIEL vi. 16. 
 
 LOOKING at the whole treatment and experience of 
 Daniel, one cannot but feel how truly our Lord spoke, 
 when he said, " In the world ye shall have tribulation." 
 It needs but a very limited acquaintance with the history 
 of the people of God, to see that the most illustrious and 
 and the most distinguished of them have been the victims 
 of the most continuous and unmerited suffering. They 
 have been stoned, they have been sawn asunder, they have 
 been tempted, they have been slain with the sword : 
 they have wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, in dens 
 and caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted, tor- 
 mented, although the world was not worthy of them. 
 And yet through that faith which overcame the world, 
 " they stopped the mouths of lions," says the Apostle, 
 alluding to the case of Daniel, "and quenched the vio- 
 lence of fire," alluding to the case of Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego. When the world sees Christians, like 
 Daniel, thus condemned, set apart for punishment and 
 inevitable death, it exclaims, " God hath forgotten him : 
 he trusted in God that he would deliver him, let him 
 deliver him, seeing he hath pleasure in him." Bat amid 
 all the taunts of the world, and the revilings of the 
 worldly-wise, the child of God can hear, notwithstand- 
 ing the clamour of a thousand tongues, the still small 
 voice, the voice of his Father in the skies, sounding in 
 his heart, unspent by the distance through which it 
 
208 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 passes in its transit, and saying, "I will never leave 
 thee. I will never forsake thee. A mother may forget 
 her infant, that she should not have compassion on the 
 son of her womb, yet will not I forget thee." And 
 thus, in spite of the world's clamour, and because he 
 hears his Father's voice, the Christian enjoys in the 
 world peace, quietness, and assurance for ever ; and 
 when he is placed in the lions' den with Daniel, or walks 
 amid the flames of the burning fiery furnace with 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; whether he is 
 crucified with Peter, or cast to the wild beasts with Paul, 
 he can begin, in the agonies of death, the psean of a noble 
 victory, "I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor 
 any other creature, shall be able to separate me from the 
 love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord." 
 
 I need not say that when Daniel was thus condemned 
 by the king, and condemned by the king who was 
 ensnared by the subtlety and wiles of these wicked men, 
 he expected death, and that death a very terrible one. 
 Death is not a natural thing : it is the most horrible 
 and unnatural of all things. Man was never made to 
 die : it was never God's design that he should die ; he 
 was made instinct with all the yearnings, and arrayed 
 with all the powers of endless life. And when man 
 shrinks from death, there is nothing unchristian in it. 
 Paul did not desire death for its own sake, when he said, 
 "I desire to be unclothed," or, "I desire to depart," 
 but he was willing to meet the foe for the sake of the 
 victory ; he was willing to pass through the swelling of 
 a dark and stormy sea because of the land of beauty and 
 of blessedness that stretched beyond it. Nature shrinks 
 from death ; but Christian nature, even in its agonies 
 can exclaim, " death, where is thy sting ? grave, 
 where is thy victory ? Thanks be unto God that giveth 
 us the victory through Jesus Christ." But when the 
 Christian dies, it is not the Christian himself, but death 
 that dies. When the Christian dies, he does not cease 
 to be. When the loved, the near, and the dear have 
 
DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. 209 
 
 ceased to communicate with us when the eye that 
 looked upon us, and the lips that breathed her name, are 
 closed, he has not ceased to be. He has only begun to 
 be as he never was before. Death to the Christian is 
 not even a momentary suspension of the continuity of 
 life : it is only the removal of the restrictions and the 
 trammels of this life : it is the Levite laying aside the 
 coarse garment in which he ministered as a Levite in the 
 outer temple, and putting on the sacerdotal and coronation 
 robes in which he shall minister as a priest and a king 
 in the inner temple of God his Father. And in such 
 a case, in the case of Daniel, if he had died when 
 placed amid the ravenous wild beasts, death would have 
 been but the precursor of truly living; the lions' den 
 would have become, in this case, only the vestibule of 
 glory ; the flame that consumes the martyr's flesh is the 
 chariot that wafts his soul to immortality and joy; and 
 the evening twilight of this world does not close upon 
 the eye of that happy spirit till the morning twilight of 
 yon world bursts upon it with a brightness of eternal 
 day. Thus we like not to leave the old house, every 
 nook and cranny of which is dear to us ; but if we could 
 only fix our hearts more upon the house not made with 
 hands, if we could think less of all that is seen, and 
 feel more of the magnificence and glory of the unseen 
 that awaits us, we should rather long to depart, than 
 desire to remain, that we might be with Christ, which 
 is far better. 
 
 The language here addressed by Darius to Daniel, is 
 language which proves, I think, when taken in con- 
 nexion with other expressions of the same monarch, that 
 king Darius was an altered man, that something trans- 
 pired in the life, and was heard in the language of 
 Daniel, which led the sovereign to think, and, by the 
 blessing of God, to think savingly. He sought to save 
 Daniel, and he could not. We must not imagine that 
 kings, because they may be called absolute, are really 
 practically so. Nay, it is the monarch of all who is often 
 the greatest servant of all; and he who occupies the 
 loftiest position, and seems to us to have only to speak 
 
210 VEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and it shall be done, is often the man who is least abl* 
 to do what he pleases to those that are beneath him. 
 Darius was unable to reverse his sentence ; but he said 
 to Daniel, and said it plainly, not in scorn, not in bitter- 
 ness, but as a prophecy, partly a prophecy, partly a 
 prayer, " The God whom thou servest continually, he 
 he will deliver thce." It is plain, from this, that the 
 king had been brought to the knowledge of the true 
 God. And, connected with the last verse of this chapter, 
 which contains so remarkable a decree, it is a plain proof 
 that he had learned and felt the truth which he here 
 speaks, not in scorn, but in solemn and painful earnest- 
 ness. And what must have been the cause, next to the 
 grace of God, of the conversion of the monarch ? I have 
 no doubt it was the meekness, the magnanimity, the 
 gentleness, the patience, the submission of Daniel, a 
 prisoner chained and sentenced to a terrible death, con- 
 nected and associated with the lessons that Daniel spoke, 
 and the prayers that Daniel offered, and the religion of 
 which Daniel was the consistent exponent and the living 
 illustration. And what does this teach us, my dear 
 friends ? That the means of conversion to others are not 
 only the truths that Christians speak, but the lives that 
 Christians lead, and the death that Christians die. Sick- 
 beds have exceeded pulpits in persuasive eloquence, and 
 dying martjTs have made conversions that living minis- 
 ters have never been honoured with. No Christian 
 lives to himself, no Christian dies to himself; and wher- 
 ever a Christian is, there is an element of power wielded 
 for God. In the silent prison, and in the Inquisitor's 
 dungeon, and in the Papal fires, the sufferers have all 
 emitted testimony for God, and proved to history and to 
 mankind that God does not cease to reign when his chil- 
 dren are persecuted, and that the truth does not die with 
 her martyrs ; rather that Christianity has received a 
 greater impulse, and has made greater progress by the 
 opposition of her foes, than by the eloquence and advo- 
 cacy of her friends. 
 
 But the words are not only expressive of the pity of 
 the man, but they are, if I may use the expression, an 
 
DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. 211 
 
 unconscious prophecy. God has often made use of men 
 who were not Christians, as well as of those who were, 
 to predict truths of which they themselves knew not the 
 glory. Thus we read in the Gospel of John, that Caia- 
 phas, being high-priest that year, " gave counsel to the 
 Jews, that it was expedient that some one should die 
 for the people." Thus God made Caiaphas the trumpet 
 of a glorious prophecy, just as before he made Cyrus the 
 battle-axe by which he chastised the enemies of his 
 people. God thus teaches man (for man needs to know 
 what a very little creature he is in his sight), and he 
 teaches Christians, what Christians more and more feel, 
 that all things are under the power and control of him 
 who holds the reins and sways the sceptre of the 
 universe. 
 
 We read that Daniel was dropped into the lions' den, 
 as a pebble is dropped into the silent sea, apparently to 
 be forgotten for ever, and the world seemed to have its 
 way, and the persecutors of the prophet to have had their 
 will. But man's thoughts are not God's thoughts, nor 
 God's ways man's ways. The persecutors of Daniel, 
 when they placed him in that den, and put that heavy 
 stone over him, and sealed it down, believed that no 
 voice could rise from its depths to excite sympathy, and 
 that no cry could come from the martyred prophet to 
 arouse the popular indignation, and still more that no 
 trace of the foul murder they had endeavoured to perpe- 
 trate, could remain to witness against them. 
 
 They returned to their homos; and never did they 
 drink so freely, or sing so merrily, as when they recol- 
 lected how successful they had been in putting out of 
 their way a man who would not connive at dishonesty : 
 that feared God, and rather than compromise his alle- 
 giance to his God, was willing to live poor, and to die a 
 martyr. They rejoiced, and congratulated each other that 
 the witness who prophesied against them was at last 
 disposed of. 
 
 As for the poor king, he went home, still giving evi- 
 dence that his heart had undergone a change, filled with 
 remorse for having signed the fatal decree, and not 
 
 p 2 
 
212 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 knowing how to retrieve or to retrace his steps. ("When 
 conscience echoes in the depths of the heart, it will cause 
 the loins of the lord of Christendom to tremble. It is 
 not nerve that is bravest, it is a conscience full of the 
 peace of God which passeth understanding. But when 
 conscience is vexed with a sense of sin, there can be no 
 heroism, there can be no presence of mind, there can be 
 no peace. All the opiates that physicians can prescribe 
 will not give sleep unless God is pleased by a conscience 
 cleansed in the blood of Jesus to give his beloved sleep. 
 And when there is sin in the conscience, what awful, 
 what mysterious power it has ! It will pierce the 
 armed battalion, it will enter within the thickest walls 
 of the palace, it will invade the secret chambers of 
 royalty, it will defy all opiates, it will hush all music ; 
 and though all sounds should be suppressed outside, and 
 all books be shut, and all testimonies be silenced, that 
 conscience grieved, wronged, offended, acting as the echo 
 and the oracle of God, w r ill reason, even in the royal 
 bosom, of " righteousness and temperance and judgment 
 to come," and make the possessor of it tremble, and his 
 knees smite against each other, and be ill at ease. ) 
 
 Early next morning the sleepless monarch rushes with 
 the first rays of the rising sun to the den, and, as he then 
 thought, the grave of the murdered prophet ; and half 
 hoping, half despairing, rather as the expression of his 
 deep commiseration than as the expression of any hope, 
 he looked into the den and asked if the prophet was 
 alive ; and Daniel, with that calmness which a con- 
 science at peace can alone impart, with that supreme 
 self-possession which Christian principle can alone create, 
 with that loyalty to his king which Christians ever have 
 expressed, called out, "God save the king." And his 
 second accents are giving glory to him who had sent his 
 angel to shut the lions' mouths and save him from so 
 terrible and cruel a death. God is every where. You 
 cannot banish a saint from God. You may banish him 
 from his home, or from his country , you may bury him 
 in the cave, you may seal him in the lions' den ; you may 
 cast him into the depths of the sullen and unsounded 
 
DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. 213 
 
 sea ; but you cannot banish him from his God. On the 
 top of ancient Ararat, when it was surrounded by its 
 first rainbow coronal, God saw, pitied, and blessed his 
 people. In the depths of the lions' den, and among the 
 beasts ravenous with hunger, God was present, and heard 
 his praying prophet. In the silent catacombs of Home ; 
 amid the sands of the untrodden desert, or on the waves 
 of the great and silent sea; on the heights, wherever 
 man has soared ; in the depths, wherever man has des- 
 cended; there, if there be a Christian heart, will be 
 found a present help, a Christian's God. / How blessed 
 is this thought ! the poor Roman Catholic cannot have 
 his God unless he has his consecrated altar ; he cannot 
 obtain absolution unless he has access to his priest ; he 
 cannot have his sacrifice for forgiveness unless he has his 
 priest, altar, and wafer. But the Christian let him be 
 the miner in the depths of the dark mines of $ orthum- 
 berland, has there his priest, his altar, and his sacrifice, 
 even Jesus ; or let him be placed on the loftiest pinnacle 
 to which Alpine herdsman can climb, there he finds a 
 temple, a sacrifice, and an altar, even Jesus. If he 
 ascend into heaven, he is there ; if he descend into the 
 grave, he is there ; if he take the wings of the morning 
 and go down into the depths of the sea, even there is his 
 Lord and Saviour too. God's eye can pierce all darkness ; 
 God's heart can pity his captive anywhere, and God's 
 hand can help him in spite of all obstacles. So Daniel 
 felt, and so thousands of God's saints have felt it too. 
 
 "When the king found the captive alive, he commanded 
 the den to be opened, and Daniel to be taken out ; and, 
 as eastern monarch s often did in the exercise of a rash 
 and passionate revenge, sinful, improper, and unworthy 
 of him as a Christian, and injurious to him as a monarch, 
 ordered men who certainly deserved it, but to whom 
 showing mercy would have been a brighter jewel in the 
 regal crown, he commanded those men, their wives, 
 and their children, to be cast into the lion's den as a 
 punishment for their cruelty and perfidy. Do not say, 
 11 This book is not from God," because it states this. It 
 does not describe the cruel conduct of Darius as right ; 
 
214 TBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 it simply narrates the fact. It does not say the king did 
 what was merciful and good ; it simply states his deeds. 
 These men were most guilty : whether their punishment 
 exceeded their crime, it is not for me to pronounce but 
 this certainly they found, that he which made a pit and 
 digged it, is fallen into the snare which he laid. Jose- 
 phus, the Jewish historian, recording this fact, mentions 
 the following circumstance : he says that when Daniel 
 thus wonderfully escaped the lions' den, the princes said 
 that the lions had been previously surfeited with food, 
 and on that account it was that they refused to touch 
 Daniel. The king, out of abhorrence to their wickedness, 
 ordered that a great deal of flesh should be thrown to 
 the lions, and when the beasts had filled themselves with 
 the flesh, he gave further orders that Daniel's enemies 
 should be cast into the den, when they were all 
 destroyed. 
 
 This is the statement of an uninspired historian, and 
 of course must be taken for what it is worth ; but these 
 Persian princes were plainly very much like some of our 
 modern philosophers, who account for every phenomenon 
 without admitting the element of God. If pestilence 
 comes, it was the want of ozone, or volcanic action that 
 occasioned it. If pestilence is removed, it was the cold 
 weather that removed it. The thermometer becomes 
 their God, and weather-phenomena the other idols they 
 worship. So these princes said, It was not God that 
 saved Daniel : no doubt the lions had been well fed, and 
 therefore they spared Daniel. The experiment, accord- 
 ing to Josephus, was tried ; and the result proved that 
 God delivered Daniel, while the lions devoured his 
 enemies; not because their flesh was sweeter to their 
 taste. 
 
 We see, in his preserving Daniel from the lions, the 
 evidence of a great fact, namely, God's power over 
 the beasts of the earth : he is able to stay their fierce 
 propensities, when, and TV here, and under what circum- 
 stances he pleases. When Adam was created, there is 
 no doubt that the beasts were at peace with him, and at 
 peace with one another. There is no evidence that 
 
DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. 215 
 
 what are now called carnivorous animals ate flesh before 
 Adam fell. I know well the difficulties of the case. I 
 know there are traces of death among the great Saurian 
 tribes long before Adam was created ; as geologists have 
 clearly shown. I am perfectly satisfied that this orb is 
 probably hundreds of thousands of years old ; Genesis 
 records merely the present collocation of its surface, the 
 creation of man, and all that relates to man : and there 
 is no doubt that fossil remains have been excavated from 
 the bowels of the earth, among which one animal has 
 been discovered petrified in the jaws of another ; showing 
 that, prior to the creation of man, this earth has existed 
 in a chaotic or inferior state, in which there was death 
 and mutual destruction among the lower animals ; and 
 some of the best and ablest of our scientific men have 
 doubted whether animals were originally made to live 
 for ever, arguing, that if animals had never died, the 
 earth, according to our present notions, would have 
 been over-filled and over- stocked with them : and that 
 death among the lower animals is no part of the curse 
 pronounced upon man, "In the day that thou eatest 
 thereof, thou shalt surely die." I know there are great 
 difficulties in the subject : at some future time I hope 
 to look more minutely at them ; but of this I am quite 
 persuaded, that when man was created, and the animals 
 were brought to him to receive their names, they were 
 at peace with him, and at peace with one another. 
 And I am as persuaded of this, that what are now 
 caUed the carnivorous animals did not then feed on 
 flesh. I know the medical men and physiologists in 
 this congregation will smile at what they will consider 
 my ignorance, because we know that the structure and 
 physical economj r of the animal that feeds on grass is 
 quite different from that of the animal that feeds on 
 flesh. Their respective viscera differ greatly. No 
 doubt of it. I do not say that there is no difficulty in 
 the point ; but I am stating this fact, on the authority 
 of God, that when God created man, he said, " Behold, 
 I have given thee every herb bearing seed, which is 
 upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which 
 
216 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall ba 
 for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to 
 every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth 
 upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given 
 every herb for meat : and it was so." Man, in inno- 
 cence, did not eat animal flesh. We have no evidence 
 that the permission was given him till after the flood ; 
 and what do we, therefore, gather from this fact ? 
 That animals were not glain in order to supply man's 
 wants till the deluge. It is plain, too, from the passage 
 I have read, that the stronger carnivorous animals did 
 not originally feed upon the flesh of the weaker ani- 
 mals ; and the presumptive inference, therefore, is, that 
 all animals, the lion and the lamb, the wolf and the 
 sheep, were at perfect peace with each other ; and that 
 when they were so, they presented only a dim fore- 
 shadow of that better paradise, when, as I believe, it 
 will literally come to pass, that " the lion shall eat 
 straw like the ox, and a little child shall lead them." 
 I know some will ask, How can you understand that 
 prediction literally? You may recollect what I told 
 you in a previous lecture, the prophecy of Zechariah 
 was, that Christ shall come, " riding upon an ass, and on 
 a colt, the foal of an ass." Our spiritual and figurative 
 interpreters would say this does not mean that the 
 Messiah will come literally seated upon an ass, but that 
 he will come in very great humility. But when you turn 
 to history, you find the minutest particular fulfilled, 
 that Jesus so came, so riding upon an ass, and on a colt, 
 the foal of an ass. And in the same manner I under- 
 stand those glowing descriptions of the millennial day, 
 when all things shall be renewed, when the High Priest 
 who is now in the holy place shall come forth, and pro- 
 nounce, as creation's High Priest, creation's grand 
 benediction, a benediction which shall ascend to the 
 heights, and descend to the depths, of all created things ; 
 I believe, upon the testimony and authority of God, 
 that all creatures shall again recognise man as their 
 lord ; and that lion and tiger, and fish of the sea and 
 bird of the air, shall all do him homage ag creation's 
 
DANIEL IN TILE DEN OP LIONS. 217 
 
 king, God's vicar upon earth. God gave token of this, 
 when he showed, as I explained to you in discoursing 
 on the miracles of our Lord, that though man has lost 
 the reins, God still holds them. And hence there are 
 scattered throughout the Bible instances of a similar 
 kind, where the ravens bring food to the prophet; 
 where the dumb ass, at God's bidding, preached a ser- 
 mon to the disobedient prophet ; and where the fierce 
 lions, as in the example before us, revered the flesh of 
 the sainted man, and dared not touch him. God has 
 but to speak, and the curse shall be withdrawn; sin 
 shall be obliterated, and all things become beautiful, 
 harmonious and happy, and the world blossom into 
 paradise. 
 
 Looking at Daniel's miraculous escape, let us never 
 cease to have confidence, under all circumstances, in 
 God. Do not look at things, but look at the Lord of 
 things. Do not calculate what shall be by what you 
 see, but calculate " how safe is that mother's child," to 
 use the language of Hooker, " whose trust is in the 
 Rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ." If God be your 
 foe, or rather, if you be his, all creation shall bristle 
 with enmity and hostility to you ; but if you be God's 
 friend, and God your friend, the winds shall make 
 music to you, the waves shall joyfully bear you, as 
 their ornament, not their load, and all things shall work 
 together for good to them that love God, and are the 
 called according to his purpose. 
 
 The monarch, thus impressed with the truth of 
 Daniel's faith, and struck with the interposition of 
 Daniel's God, issues a decree, a decree which certainly 
 shows his profound and solemn conviction, enacting 
 that the God of Daniel should be worshipped and 
 adored, and accepted throughout the whole earth. 
 "''There was much in this decree that did credit to the 
 monarch; there was much in it that displayed his 
 thorough ignorance. The king issued a decree, com- 
 manding men to lay aside the creeds that they loved, 
 however wrong they were, and to adopt a creed that 
 was new and strange to them, however good. The 
 
218 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 king forgot that the despotic monarch of the East might 
 lay his hand upon the property, or his sword upon the 
 life of his subjects ; but that there is a holy place of 
 humanity, the conscience, into which even a royal hand 
 is riot permitted to enter. And when kings suppose 
 that they can dictate creeds to their subjects, they 
 assume a power that does not belong to them, and a 
 power it becomes lawful instantly to resist. Intellectual 
 convictions and conscientious impressions are created 
 by truth, and they never can be coerced by force. I 
 will tell you what I think the king should have done : 
 instead of trying to persecute his subjects into the true 
 religion, it would have been better if he had called 
 every Christian throughout the land of Chaldea, all the 
 friends and fellow-sufferers of Daniel, and sent them 
 out, two and two, throughout all Chaldea, telling them 
 to go and proclaim to all people, to all his subjects, of 
 all tongues, and of all tribes, that Jehovah is the living 
 God; that his dominion, to use his own words, is an 
 everlasting dominion, and that Daniel's creed is the 
 creed of truth. But his decree that men should become 
 Christians might create uniformity in subscription to a 
 creed, but it could not produce unity of conviction, or 
 heartfelt adoption of the truth that he thus forced 
 upon his unwilling subjects. Never, my dear friends, 
 let us believe that truth can be aided by force, or that 
 a lie can be burned out by the fire. If the sword 
 is to be unsheathed, let it be unsheathed not by the 
 friends, but by the foes of the Gospel of Jesus. The 
 weapons of our warfare are mighty; and mighty just 
 because they are not carnal. But while the king's 
 decree was wrong, inasmuch as he tried to force convic- 
 tion where truth alone could create it, j*et the truths 
 which he embodied in his decree were grand and beau- 
 tiful. He said, God is the living God. Jupiter is a dead 
 god. Bel is a dead god. Mars is a dead God. But 
 Jehovah is " the living God." And he spoke truly when 
 he said, " and his kingdom shall not be destroyed." 
 Why, what is the history of the world? Dynasties 
 have changed, and thrones have tottered, and crowns 
 
DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. 219 
 
 have been tossed as baubles, and sceptres have been 
 snapt as infants' toys ; vicissitude, and change, and 
 decay have seized upon and made sport of the brightest 
 and the noblest of created things ; but there is one 
 kingdom that emerges more beautiful from wrecks, the 
 kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity still 
 holds on her upward and her onward career. Persecu- 
 tion has tried to destroy her power, or crush her influ- 
 ence ; but all history attests what the Bible confirms, 
 that no power of man can permanently build up a lie, 
 arid that no hatred of man can permanently injure the 
 truth of God. " He," says the monarch in his decree, 
 "maketh signs and wonders;" and he does so still. 
 The flower that germinates, the bud that bursts from 
 the stem, the spring of the year, which if it came only 
 once in a hundred years, would be the wonder and the 
 admiration of the world, these are all evidences just as 
 decisive of the signs and wonders of his presence and his 
 power, as the miracles he wrought in Palestine. There is 
 just as much of God's signs and wonders, and mighty 
 power, in making my living heart continue to beat, as there 
 was in making Lazarus's dead heart begin to beat again. 
 What philosophers call phenomena, the Bible calls the 
 signs, and wonders, and the tokens of the living God. 
 He guides still by his hand the orbs that Newton dis- 
 covered : he mingled those beauteous colours that Newton 
 was the first to untwine. He buried the Saurian tribes 
 before man was created. He knows all the discoveries 
 that science will make, all the creeds that theorists will 
 form, and all the projects that diplomatists will propose. 
 He makes, by his almighty power, the wrath of man to 
 praise him. He causes obstructions to aid the progress 
 of the Gospel, and all things to work together for good 
 to them that love him, arid are the called according to 
 his purpose. 
 
 Thus, then, we have seen Daniel in the den, Daniel 
 delivered, and the monarch praising, and acknowledging, 
 and thanking God. 
 
 concluding my remarks, and especially in pleading 
 the claims of my schools, which I do in this lecture, let 
 
220 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 me remind you that all the excellence and the Christian 
 heroism that Daniel exhibited, was, as we are told at 
 the beginning of the book, mainly the result of early 
 religious education. Daniel as a youth was educated in 
 the Gospel, and therefore Daniel as a man lived accord- 
 ing to the Gospel. And how did he show his Christian 
 principle : Just as I wish, and as you would wish, 
 your babes to show it. When ho was told that if he 
 prayed he would be put to death, that if he confessed 
 his religion he would bring down upon himself the 
 shame and the disapprobation of others, he cared not 
 what man might say ; he only thought of what God 
 would think. And therefore, my dear friends, we are 
 to teach our children, when they are entering upon any 
 duties in the world, not to submit to public opinion, 
 but only to defer it ; not to fear the censure of the 
 sinful, or the thoughtless, but to do right because it is 
 right, and to cleave to duty just because it is duty. Let 
 our children be taught to bow circumstances to duty, 
 never to bow duty to circumstances. We have nothing 
 to do with circumstances but to conquer them : ours is 
 duty, God's the issue. 
 
 A second feature in Daniel was self-sacrifice, another 
 result of his early education. He was ready to give up 
 his honours, his profits, his life, but never, never to give 
 up his confidence in God, his belief in the Gospel of 
 Jesus. Accustom your children to self-sacrifice. Ac- 
 custom them to be ready to give up their money, their 
 plans, their play, when the requirement of a higher duty 
 demands that they should do so. Accustom them to 
 give to the claims of humanity, to the cause of God. 
 A boy parting his only apple with his schoolfellow, 
 looks to many as a mere childish act : it is a sublime 
 and significant fact. Daniel had parted his apple with 
 his schoolfellow before he grew up to part with his 
 life, if needs were, at the bidding of his Father and his 
 God. 
 
 Teach your children, like Daniel, to shrink from 
 everything like recrimination. When Daniel was 
 accused, how meekly he bore it ! when unjustly sen- 
 
DANIEL IX THE DEIST OF LION'S. 221 
 
 tenced, how gently he took the sentence ! not one 
 word of acrimony or retaliation fell from his lips. But 
 what do many of you sometimes teach your children ? 
 You tell your boy, when he is struck by another boy, 
 " Show a little spirit; retaliate." Nay, I have seen 
 the nurse in the nursery doing a most mischievous 
 thing, by teaching the little child that had accidentally 
 struck its head against a table or a chair, to beat and 
 scold the table or the chair by which the accident hap- 
 pened, thus instilling into its mind the principle of 
 revenge even with its mother's milk. It is a lesson 
 too soon and too readily learned. How much better to 
 teach your child the lesson we read in our Saviour's 
 sermon on the mount : " Love your enemies, bless them 
 that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use 
 you and persecute you!" Daniel had better teachers 
 and better schooling, and therefore retaliation "an 
 eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" was no dogma in 
 Daniel's creed. 
 
 Daniel was plainly a child trained to prayer. Teach 
 your children not only the words, the sentiment of 
 prayer, but teach the habit of prayer. Teach them 
 by a form, but tell them also to lift that little beating 
 heart when the tongue must be dumb and give no ex- 
 pression to its feelings, and to think of our Father, who 
 so loved us and gave Christ to die for us. Teach them 
 to pray, and to seek a new heart from the Spirit of God, 
 who alone can give that new heart. (Tray that you may 
 see them made Christians first ; they will be churchmen 
 or dissenters soon enough. See that they be Christians ; 
 leave all the rest. Teach them, as Daniel had been 
 taught, Christian courtesy. But draw courtesy for your 
 children not from Chesterfield, but from the Apostle 
 Paul. There is a great deal in refinement. I like to 
 see children good, but I like to see them self-sacrificing. 
 "What is the highest Christianity ? Giving way to your 
 neighbour in all that can please him, without any 
 sacrifice of principle or duty on your part. "What is 
 the highest mark of courtesy, the great evidence of a 
 true gentleman ? It is yielding to the convenience, the 
 
222 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 comfort, and happiness of another. Teach your children 
 so to act^/ Teach them at your own table : don't say, 
 "It is only home," it is only your own dining or 
 drawing-room, and therefore the child may do as it 
 likes. Teach them to do at home as you wish them to 
 do abroad, and then they will do abroad without re- 
 straint that to which they are accustomed on the 
 principle on which that issue is sustained. 
 
 Thus then Daniel showed in his grown-up life the 
 graces which he learned in his earlier years. Those 
 great reforms which are to revolutionise the Avorld must 
 begin in the nursery. From the first moment that the 
 child leaves its cradle, to the last moment that he spends 
 at the university, there must be Christian instruction 
 bestowed upon him. Education of the head without 
 education of the heart is worse than no education at 
 all, it is not worthy of the name of education. 
 
LECTURE XVI. 
 
 THE PAPACY. 
 
 ' I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked 
 him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me 
 know the interpretation of the things. These great 
 beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise 
 out of the earth. J3ut the saints of the most High shall 
 take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even 
 for ever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the 
 fourth beast, ichich ivas diverse from all the others, ex- 
 ceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails 
 of brass ; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped 
 the residue with his feet ; and of the ten ho/ns that ivere 
 in his head, and of the other which came up, and before 
 whom three fell ; even of that horn that had eyes, and a 
 mouth that spake very great things, ivhose look was more 
 stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn 
 made war with the saints, and prevailed against them ; 
 until the Ancient of days came, and judgment ivas given 
 to the saints of the most High ; and the time came that 
 the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The 
 fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, 
 which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall 
 devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and 
 break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this king- 
 dom are ten kings that shall arise : and another shall 
 arise after them ; and Tie shall be diverse from the first, 
 and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak 
 great ivords against the most High, and shall wear out 
 the saints of the most High, and think to change times 
 and laws : and they shall be given into his hand until a 
 time and times and the dividing of time. But 
 
224 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 ment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to 
 consume and to destroy it unto the end. *And the king- 
 dom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom 
 under the whole heaven, shall he given to the people of 
 the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an ever- 
 lasting kingdom, and n,H dowwiow shall serve and obey 
 him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, 
 Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my coun- 
 tenance changed in me : but I kept the matter in my 
 heart." DANIEL rii. 16 28. 
 
 THE four chapters on which I have discoursed on suc- 
 cessive Sunday evenings have been evidences of the 
 power of real religion, when the upholder and advocate 
 of that religion was persecuted and oppressed. The 
 sixth chapter, on the last verse of which I addressed 
 you last Sunday evening, closed the personal biography, 
 if I may so call it, of the prophet Daniel, presenting to 
 us a specimen of Christianity in ancient times, as beau- 
 tiful as it was rare, and showing us that if Daniel, amid 
 such circumstances a captive, persecuted, oppressed, 
 misrepresented, cast to the wild beasts, denounced to his 
 king exhibited under such circumstances, and amid the 
 darkness of an age on which the Sun of righteousness had 
 not fully risen, such constancy, such attachment to his 
 principles, such hatred of everything like compromise or 
 concession of the truth, such devotedncss to God, such a 
 martyr's spirit amid more than a martyr's sufferings, 
 "How shall we escape if," amid intenser light and with 
 greated privileges, "we neglect so great a salvation?" 
 
 Before proceeding to expound the passage I have 
 selected, I should like to read to you a sketch which 
 has been drawn of the prophet Daniel by an ancient 
 writer, which I hold in my hand. 
 
 " It was this love of God which made his greatly be- 
 loved Daniel prosperous in adversity, that gave him 
 freedom in captivity, friendship among enemies, safety 
 among infidels, victory over his conquerors, and all the 
 privileges of a native in strange countries : it was the 
 love of God that gave his greatly beloved * knowledge 
 
THE PAPACY. 225 
 
 and skill in all learning and dreams.' It was this love 
 of God that delivered him in danger from the con- 
 spiracy and malice of the Median princes ; from the fury 
 of the lions ; that sent one angel in the den to stop their 
 mouths, and another angel at another time to bring a 
 prophet on purpose to feed him ; that signally avenged 
 him of his enemies, and did by a miracle vindicate his 
 integrity. It was the love of God that sent the angel 
 Gabriel to visit him to be his interpreter to strengthen, 
 to comfort, to encourage him ; to reveal secrets to him, 
 and to assure him that his prayers were heard. It was 
 the love of God which gave him the spirit of prophecy 
 that excellent spirit, that spirit of the holy gods (as the 
 Babylonians styled it), by which he foretold the rise and 
 period of the four monarchies, the return of the captivity, 
 and wrote long beforehand the history of future ages. 
 But beyond all this, it was the love of God that presented 
 him with a clearer landscape of the Gospel than any 
 other prophet ever had ; he was the beloved prophet 
 under the old dispensation, as John was the beloved dis- 
 ciple under the new, and both being animated by the 
 same divine love, there was a wonderful harmony be- 
 tween them ; both of them had miraculous preservations 
 one from the lions, the other from the burning caldron ; 
 both engaged young in the service of God, and consecrated 
 their lives by an early piety ; and both lived to a great 
 and equal age to about an hundred years : both had 
 the like intimacy with God the like admittance into 
 the most adorable mysteries and the like abundance of 
 heavenly visions : both had the like lofty flights and 
 ecstatic revelations," 
 
 Such is the sketch of the prophet given by an ancient 
 writer, as comprehensive as it is beautiful and true. I 
 spoke last Lord's day evening of the safety of Daniel 
 when cast among the furious wild beasts, because of his 
 attachment to his God and his devotedness to his religion. 
 I cannot but read here also a beautiful passage from the 
 justly -called judicious Hooker, which is founded upon 
 this incident, Daniel's preservation in the den of lions. 
 
 " It was not the meaning of our Lord and Saviour, in 
 
226 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 saying, ' Father, keep them in thy name,' that we 
 should be careless to keep ourselves. To our own 
 safety our own sedulity is required; and then, blessed 
 for ever be that mother's child, whose faith hath made 
 him the child of God. The earth may shake, the 
 pillars of the world may tremble under us, the counte- 
 nance of the heaven may be appalled, the sun may lose 
 his light, the moon her beauty, the stars their glory ; 
 but concerning the man that trusteth in God, if the 
 fire once proclaimed itself unable to singe a hair of his 
 head if lions, beasts ravenous by nature and keen 
 with hunger, being set to devour, have, as it were, 
 religiously adored the flesh of the faithful man, what 
 is there in the world that will change his heart, over- 
 throw his faith, alter his affection towards God, or the 
 affection of God to him? If I be of this note, who 
 shall make a separation between me and my God ? 
 ' Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, 
 or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? ' I am persuaded that 
 neither tribulation, nor anguish, nor persecution, nor 
 famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, nor death, 
 nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
 things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
 nor any other creature/ shall ever prevail so far over me. 
 I know in whom I have believed ; I am not ignorant 
 whose precious blood hath been shed for me ; I have a 
 Shepherd full of kindness, full of care, and full of 
 
 Eower ; unto him I commit myself : his own finger 
 ath engraven this sentence on the tables of my heart : 
 ' Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat, but I have 
 prayed that thy faith fail not ; ' therefore the assurance 
 of my hope I will labour to keep as a jewel unto the 
 end ; and by labour, through the gracious mediation of 
 his prayer, I shall keep it." 
 
 Such is first a sketch of the life such is a grand 
 exhibition of the safety enjoyed by Daniel, and not only 
 by Daniel, but all who have like faith, like love, and a 
 like God to serve, to glorify, and to honour. 
 
 I now enter upon that passage which is in some 
 degree a repetition of what has been sketched before. 
 
THE PAPAC1 227 
 
 You recollect that a great image appeared to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, having a head of gold, the breast and arms of 
 silver, the belly and the thighs of brass, and the feet 
 of iron, and these feet divided into ten toes, partly clay 
 and partly iron, which, apparently cohering together 
 by the great law of attraction, were never made perma- 
 mancntly to do so. And I explained, in expounding 
 that passage, that the vision related by the prophet 
 was a description of the doom of Babylon ; the second, 
 the Medo- Persian empire ; the third, the Macedonian, 
 under Alexander, the brass-coated Greeks ; the fourth, 
 the Eoman, or the iron empire divided ultimately at 
 the breaking up of the empire into ten kingdoms. 
 These ten kingdoms preserved in every century more 
 or less distinctness, and although Charlemagne made 
 the effort in one century and Napoleon in a subsequent 
 century, to extinguish the ten kingdoms, and to erect 
 the fifth empire composed of all the empires of the 
 world, God's Word was found to be stronger than the 
 sword of Charlemagne, or the iron crown of Napoleon, 
 and the ten kingdoms still remain, and God's prediction 
 still stands true. You have now the very same histori- 
 cal facts and this will prevent the necessity of again 
 dwelling upon them sketched in this chapter, under 
 the symbol of beasts. The first was revealed to a 
 heathen king ; the second is disclosed to a holy prophet ; 
 and while it is perfectly true that God sometimes uses 
 his enemies to be the exponents of his truth, it is 
 generally true that " holy men of old spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 But the very repetition of this passage shows that 
 there must be importance in it. Surely God does not 
 reiterate trifles. I ask you, Do those men treat the 
 Scripture with that reverence which is its due, or God 
 with truly responsive gratitude, who tell us that we 
 ought to pass over such passages as these, as if our duty 
 were not to pray and labour to be able to explain, and, 
 if possible, to understand whatever God has written for 
 our learning ? And yet I have heard ministers of the 
 Gospel speak as if it were to their credit, that they 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 were so dazzled by the glories of Palestine, that they 
 could not spare one glance at what they think the 
 humbler and the more misty beauties of Patmos. It 
 does seem to me that " all Scripture is given by inspira- 
 tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, 
 and for instruction in righteousness;" and if God saw 
 it to be for his glory to write it, surely the least 
 response that we can give is, to make it our study to 
 understand it. Of course it becomes us never so to 
 dwell upon one part as to give a disproportionate atten- 
 tion to the rest. These historic and prophetic pictures 
 are the few and the far between ; and we are only to 
 discourse upon them on Sabbaths that are few and far 
 between. The great, saving, vital truths of the Gospel 
 are to be the woof and the w r arp of every sermon ; the 
 sum, the substance, the core, the life, of every appeal. 
 But when such passages as these historical, it is true ; 
 prophetic, it is also true come before us, in the ordi- 
 nary course of our ordinary reading, it becomes us to 
 look at them, and pray for light to understand them, 
 and to gather from the tree that God has planted leaves 
 that shall be for healing, and fruit that shall be for food 
 to the people. 
 
 These four kingdoms, then, are now depicted under a 
 new symbol. The first symbol was the image composed 
 of different metals ; the second class of symbols are 
 four wild beasts ; the first, a lion with wings ; a hiero- 
 glyph in one respect; because this composite animal 
 alone could express what w r as the mind of God, and 
 denote the strength and courage that combined with 
 them the speed and progress of the Babylonian empire. 
 The second symbol, or type, was the bear, the symbol 
 of Persia, and expressive of its cruel and savage nature. 
 The third was the leopard, the Macedonian leopard, 
 with four wings, to give a greater idea of the rapidity 
 of its conquests ; and with four heads, into which the 
 empire of Alexander was divided after his death, and 
 the dominion that was given to them. And then the 
 last, an animal, not named, but described, " dreadful 
 and terrible, and strong exceedingly, stamping the 
 
THE PAPACY. 229 
 
 residue with the feet of it, and diverse from all the 
 other beasts," plainly the Roman empire, represented 
 by the iron feet and toes of the great image. It had 
 also ten horns. The horn is always used in Scripture 
 to represent power : it denotes, in prophetic language, a 
 dynasty, a political empire. This last wild beast, of 
 terrific power and strength, and irresistible victories, 
 was to have upon his head, as the hieroglyph expresses 
 it, " ten horns." These were the ten kingdoms, sym- 
 bolised in the former image by the ten toes, into which 
 the Roman empire was to be divided ; these ten king- 
 doms I have enumerated in their order, in the course 
 of my remarks upon the great image ; and I therefore 
 forbear to repeat them now. These ten horns, or king- 
 doms, have existed in every age since the empire came 
 into being, and are in existence at the present moment. 
 Then there was to spring up in the midst of the ten 
 horns, a "little horn," politically and physically small, 
 but from its pretensions and its assumptions, terrible 
 and influential. This little horn was to pull down three 
 of the ten horns. Now, is there any one fact in history 
 by which this is borne out, and which shows how truly 
 this prediction has been fulfilled ? This I will look at 
 by-and-bye ; but, in the meantime, let me call upon 
 you to notice that these four wild beasts arose from the 
 ocean, or the great sea, convulsed and agitated by the 
 four winds that swept it ; teaching us that these govern- 
 ments were to arise from social chaos, or, if I may so 
 express myself, that society, torn and convulsed to its 
 centre by the antagonistic passions of those that com- 
 pose it, should be driven to have recourse to rule, 
 government, and authority, in order to preserve it from 
 utter extinction ; to consolidate its powers, and main- 
 tain harmony within ; to defend itself from the aggres- 
 sions of enemies without. But these governments that 
 were to arise are here called "wild beasts;" denoting 
 what, after all, has been the character of those great 
 empires, and of every empire that has not the Gospel of 
 peace to perfect, to sanctify, and to cement it. What 
 has been the history of nations in the past ? they have 
 
230 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 raised themselves to ascendancy by force or by fraud ; 
 and they have maintained that ascendancy generally by 
 force or by fraud also. War has been the pride and the 
 glory of nations in the past. Coercion has been the 
 language of the most illustrious emperors ; and the 
 sword cast into the scale, as in the case of Camillus of 
 old, has been the justice which nations have meted out, 
 and kings and great kingdoms have called in. A wild 
 beast is the true symbol of a nation, a dynasty, or a 
 kingdom that knows not, and coheres not by, the 
 cementing influence of the Gospel of Jesus. And when 
 we know that this is the character of nations, how fer- 
 vently should we pray for the advent of that blessed 
 period, when the spear shall be turned into the prun- 
 ing-hook, and the sword shall be beaten into the plough- 
 share ; when the kingdoms of this world shall become 
 the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and the 
 only sceptre that shall sway the nations from sea to 
 sea, shall be the sceptre of the Prince of peace, the 
 righteousness, the love, the mercy, of the Son of God. 
 
 I have noticed that this last wild beast, the fiercest, 
 or the most powerful of all, had ten horns; or, as I 
 explained to you, was divided into ten separate and 
 independent dynasties. Of these I have already given 
 you a list, as they exist at the present moment, with 
 the slightest shade of differences, in the modern Euro- 
 pean nations. In the midst of all these, there was to 
 arise a little horn ; plainly a political dynasty, like the 
 rest, but with very great moral, personal, and distinc- 
 tive peculiarities. This little horn was not Mahomet, 
 or Bramah, or Confucius, because it was to appear in 
 the midst of the other ten horns. It spread from the 
 head of the wild beast, amid the ten horns, or king- 
 doms, which first arose ; and it was, like the other 
 horns, a political dynasty ; but it differed from the rest 
 in this respect, that it had eyes for seeing, and a mouth 
 for speaking. We are, therefore, taught that this power 
 should be a combination of the power of the seer and 
 the speaker, the 7riWo7ro, and the priest, and the 
 political speaker. It should be "a horn," having poli- 
 
231 THE PAPACY. 
 
 tical power ; but should have eyes ; the origin of the 
 Greek word eTnWoTroe, from which is derived the 
 English word episcopacy, signifying "one that over- 
 sees;" "one that sees and looks over other persons;" 
 and the name given to the prophets of old is " a seer;" 
 " one that sees." The ecclesiastical character of this 
 little horn is, therefore, plainly indicated by the pecu- 
 liar feature that it was to have eyes for seeing, or 
 superintending those that were beneath it. And not 
 only was it to have eyes, but it was also to have a 
 mouth, speaking great things ; a preacher of proud pre- 
 tensions, or a doctor of despotic laws; an enacter of 
 canons, or rules for government and for regulation. 
 
 Then you will notice another feature in it, that it 
 was to uproot three out of the ten kingdoms. Now if 
 I apply this little horn where I think it is indisputably 
 applicable, to the Papal power that now reigns at Home, 
 I think you will find every feature of the prophecy met 
 and embodied in the history of that power. The three 
 kingdoms that were rooted up by this little horn were 
 the three kingdoms of the Vandals, Ostrogoths, arid the 
 Lombards, who were, after a succession of troubles, 
 rooted up by the Papacy and constituted into the states 
 of the Church. Now here is a very remarkable coin- 
 cidence. Can this be accident, that there is here a 
 description of a little horn, an ecclesiastico-political 
 power, which was to root out three horns or kingdoms 
 that preceded it? And you find in the history of 
 Europe that the Papacy has destroyed, partly by force 
 and partly by fraud, long ago, three of the estates of 
 the ten into which Europe was divided ; and the Pope 
 wears upon his head at this very moment the tiara or 
 three -crowned cap, to denote the three kingdoms or 
 horns which he rooted up, and over which he now 
 reigns. 
 
 Then you will notice that this power was to have a 
 mouth speaking great things a mouth by which it 
 claims to be the vicar of God, and to have the keys of 
 heaven and hell. It assumes the language, and arrogates 
 to itself the attributes of Deity. A mouth which assume*. 
 
232 PROPHETIC STUDIES, 
 
 what bishop never assumed before, and claims an in- 
 timacy with the world of spirits such as God never 
 vouchsafed to any creature upon earth. The Pope pro- 
 fesses to see into the realms of spirits ; to read and to 
 make known God's hidden, unsearchable, and inscrutable 
 record ; and pronounces, by declaring that he sees, what 
 is the doom of the lost that are in woe, and the destiny 
 of the saved that are in glory ; and can, for payment, 
 facilitate the escape of the sufferers in purgatory, and 
 can canonise and constitute into saints, to be worshipped, 
 those who are the inmates of the latter. 
 
 But the better way to show how this prophecy is ful- 
 filled is to refer to some of the great things that this horn 
 speaks. Do not say that it is of no importance to explain 
 this. Whatever God has written, it is the duty of the 
 minister to endeavour to expound. Here is a prophecy 
 that this episcopal ecclesiastico-political power was to 
 have, in the first place, a mouth that should speak great 
 things. Let me read to you very briefly what I myself 
 have collected, at considerable labour and pains, from 
 among the " great things" which this mouth speaks. 
 I might give you, not my description of the things, but 
 the very things themselves, as I have taken them from 
 the writings in which they are contained. The bull of 
 Pope Sextus V. against the two sons of wrath, as he calls 
 them, Henry of Navarre and the Prince de Conde, is one 
 specimen amid many of the pretensions put forth by the 
 Papal power. You say perhaps, "these are obsolete." 
 What was infallibly right in the sixteenth century can- 
 not be wrong in the nineteenth. These pretensions 
 never have been diluted, still less repudiated. The Pope 
 claims jurisdiction over all the kings and governments of 
 the earth ; though, thanks be to God, I think his poli- 
 tical sovereignty is gone substantially, never to be 
 wielded again with anything like success over the nations 
 of the earth ; though his spiritual power, in our own 
 land especially, seems to be making progress to a degree 
 unprecedented since the Reformation. 
 
 In making these arrogant assumptions, " the mouth," 
 is it is here called, proceeds upon the assumption that 
 
THE PAPACY. 233 
 
 Peter was the chief of the apostles, and that the Popes 
 of Home are the successors of Peter. There is not the 
 least evidence in the Bible or in history that such was 
 the case. In the first place, when the apostles contended 
 which should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, 
 our Lord, instead of setting Peter before them and saying, 
 "Here is your superior," took a little child, and set him 
 in the midst of them, and said, " He that is greatest of 
 all shall be servant of all." Was Peter constituted an 
 ambassador ? So was Paul. Did Peter receive the keys ? 
 So did Paul. And Peter, in his epistles, styles himself 
 only an "elder:" "I who am also an elder .... unto 
 you who are elders." Did Peter receive the power of 
 binding and of loosing ? So did Paul. Do not we read that 
 the apostles " sent Peter and John," &c., and that St. Paul 
 rebuked Peter to his face ? And if we ask the present 
 pontiff to trace his succession to Peter, we shall see that 
 Honorius the Monothelite, and Liberius the Arian, had 
 not the succession in doctrine ; Alexander VI. and Gre- 
 gory VII. had not the succession in holiness. The popes 
 do not preach, as Peter did. The Pope's shadow does 
 not heal diseases, as Peter's did. And in all these re- 
 spects, and in manj^ others which might be mentioned, 
 the succession seems to have failed, and the Popes of 
 Home to have become the successors of Judas, not the 
 successors of Peter the fisherman of Galilee. There is 
 left then only "a mouth speaking," not proving, " great 
 things." 
 
 But these " great words " are said to be spoken 
 specially against the Most High. What are the assump- 
 tions of the popes? I will quote what I have copied 
 literally from Baronius, the celebrated Roman Catholic 
 historian, in his annals ; such epithets as these bestowed 
 by such high authority on the Roman pontiff: "the 
 sovereign of the Church ;" the "head of the Church ;" 
 "our Lord;" the "high-priest and pastor;" the "chief 
 doctor;" the "master;" the "father;" the "judge of 
 all." (Baron. An. 34.) " It is idolatry to disobey the 
 Pope's commands." (Greg. VII. ch. 4.) And that ho 
 speaks great words against the Most High, I show you 
 
234 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 from Bellarmine, the great cardinal and upholder of the 
 Church of Home, who says : "Si autem Papa crraret 
 praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes, teneretur 
 ecclesia credere vitia esse bona et virtutes malas, nisi 
 vellet contra conscientiam pcccare." (Bel. de Rom. Pont, 
 vol. i. p. 546. Prag. 1721.) " If the Pope should err by 
 commanding vices or prohibiting virtues, the Church 
 would be bound to believe that vices were good and 
 virtues bad, unless she wished to sin against conscience." 
 I have quoted these words not at second-hand, but from 
 the works of the author, which I have been at the pains 
 to consult. These indeed are "great words" against the 
 Most High. But there is other and equally strong 
 evidence : Jesus said, "Drink ye all of this cup;" the 
 Pope says, " The laity shall not drink of it." God says, 
 " Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, or 
 the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in 
 the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth : 
 thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them." 
 In most of the Roman Catholic catechisms that I have 
 seen, that commandment is either left out altogether, or 
 " bow " is changed into " adore," though the meaning of 
 the original is strictly " bow," because the attitude of 
 the body was forbidden, lest there should be the feelings 
 of the soul immediately following or accompanying it. 
 And the Pope permits images to be reared, crosses to be 
 adored, and the bread upon the altar to be worshipped. 
 God says, "Honour thy father and thy mother;" the 
 Pope substantially says, " If the father be a heretic, the 
 son is bound to reveal him." God says again, " Thou 
 shalt not steal;" the Romish doctors say that "small 
 thefts are only venial sins." God says, "Remember the 
 Sabbath day to keep it holy;" the Romish catechism, as 
 printed and published at Rome, says, " Remember the 
 festivals to keep them holy :" "Recordati di sanctificare 
 le festi." We have here then " the mouth speaking 
 great things and words against the Most High." 
 
 Sanctissimus Dominus noster, " our most holy Lord," 
 is the appellation given to the Pope by the Council of 
 Trent. (Decretum super petitione concessionis calicis. 
 
THE PAPACY. 235 
 
 Cone. Trid. sess. 22, cap. ii. p. 223. Paris, 1837.) " All 
 power is given to thee in heaven and earth," are words 
 addressed to Gregory VII. (Binius, vol. vii. p. 484.) 
 It would be tedious to quote all the evidence afforded by 
 documents, monuments, official claims, and accepted 
 titles, of the idolatrous and blasphemous pretensions of 
 the popes of Rome. " The mouth speaking great things" 
 is too characteristic, too graphic, to escape the application 
 I have given. 
 
 Another feature that identifies this little horn with the 
 Papal power is the prediction that " he will make war 
 with the saints." The whole history of Europe is pain- 
 fully conclusive evidence of this feature. It was a pope 
 who raised the crusades against the Albigenses, and 
 carried them on until the whole province was depopu- 
 lated. It was a pope that instigated Alberic III. to 
 make war against the Paulicians in the East, till, within 
 a few years, one hundred thousand were put to death. 
 Aquinas, the celebrated casuist, said that "the goods of 
 heretics were to be confiscated, and their lives to be taken 
 away." Bellarmine says, "It is not enough to put here- 
 tics in prison for the extinction of their tenets, which go 
 forth from prison walls and taint the fold ; therefore it is 
 best to send them to their own place." When we look 
 back to the persecutions to which the Albigenses, the 
 Paulicians, and the Waldenses were subjected, and when 
 we become acquainted with the sentiments and doctrines 
 of Rome's most eminent and accredited upholders, we 
 can have little doubt that the power which thus made 
 war against the saints is " the little horn," which grew 
 up amidst the ten ; for all history in all its chapters, and 
 the word of God in its most solemn sentences, declares 
 that that power has been " drunk with the blood of the 
 saints." It was the retrospect of such cruelties which 
 made Milton exclaim 
 
 (i Avenge, Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
 Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold. 
 Even they who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
 When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones 
 Forget not. In thy b'ook record their groans 
 
236 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
 Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that roll'd 
 Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 
 The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
 To heaven. Their rnartyr'd blood and ashes sow 
 O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
 The triple tyrant, that from these may grow 
 A hundred-fold, who, having learn'd the way, 
 Early may fly the Babylonian woe." 
 
 It is true the Pope does not now persecute, unless we 
 should quote Dr. Achilli as an instance of an attempt to 
 do so ; but you are not therefore to conclude that his 
 principles have changed, for they are precisely the same. 
 It is not because his taste has been improved, for the in- 
 stance of Achilli shows that it has not ; but it is because 
 the freedom of the press, the spread of popular liberty, 
 the mildness of the governments of Europe, and the pro- 
 gress and triumph of enlightened education, have, by the 
 blessing of God, brought it to pass that the Pope's power 
 is limited to his church provinces. And the system of 
 Popery seems to me at this moment to totter, waiting for 
 that tremendous crash which shall sink it like a millstone 
 into the depths of the sea for ever and ever. The oath 
 of every Romish bishop is persecuting : " Omnes hasre- 
 ticos persequar et impugn abar." Force and fraud are the 
 two main pillars of the Popedom. 
 
 Thus then I have looked at these two points : first, 
 the heathen kingdoms that were to emerge from the 
 chaos in the convulsions of the earth ; next, the ten 
 kingdoms into which the first was to be split under the 
 symbol of horns; next, the little horn that sprung up 
 amid the ten, and therefore in Europe ; next, the three 
 that were to be pulled down the Vandals, the Ostro- 
 goths, and the Lombards by this little horn ; next, the 
 evidence of its fulfilment in the Papacy, a see, an epis- 
 copal power, with a mouth speaking great things and 
 words against the Most High, and making war with the 
 saints and the people of God. And then we have ex- 
 plained, in another portion of the chapter, the length of 
 time during which this politico-ecclesiastical power was 
 to make war with the saints. It is in ver. 25 : " They 
 
THE PAPACY. 237 
 
 shall be given into his hand until a time and times and 
 the dividing of time." Every writer upon prophecy is 
 satisfied that a "time" signifies, in prophetic language, 
 a year; " times," two years; and "the dividing of a 
 time," or " half a time," half a prophetic year. But as 
 a prophetic day stands for a literal year, so a prophetic 
 year consists of 365 prophetic days, or 365 literal years. 
 A time, times, and half a time, make then, when 
 added together, 1260 days, called by St. John in the 
 apocalypse 42 months. We are to understand, then, 
 that the saints of God were to be given into the power 
 of the ecclesiastico- political despotism for 1260 years. If 
 we begin to count this period from the time when Justi- 
 nian issued his pandects, and constituted the pope not 
 only the ecclesiastical pontiff of Christendom, but armed 
 him also with power to punish heresy with death, then 
 the 1260 years ended at the epoch of the French revolu- 
 tion in 1792 ; and certainly, by the blow it then received, 
 anything like the power of persecution.!! the part of the 
 Papacy has been destroyed. Its principles remain its 
 ability only is broken. If, however, you begin to count 
 the 1260 years from the time when the Pope first put 
 forth his claim to be universal bishop, A.D. 256, this cal- 
 culation would bring you down to the year 1517, when 
 the Reformation began and the Papal power was broken. 
 Taking either of these two epochs and either of them 
 may be the right one, from either 1517 or 1792 the 
 power of the Papacy to persecute has practically and 
 substantially ceased. And if this be the case, the fears 
 of some Protestants that the Pope will again get the 
 upper hand in England, and that he will sway our 
 sceptre, and occupy our throne, and direct our parlia- 
 ments, are, in my humble opinion, perfectly absurd. If 
 there be truth in the propositions I have stated, then 
 there is not the possibility of such an event, for God has 
 said that the saints should be given into his hand for 
 1260 years. Those years, I think, have expired, at the 
 earliest in 1517, at the latest in 1792; and therefore, 
 whatever temporary success the Papal power may attain 
 in England whatever proselytes it may make from the 
 
238 PEOPHETTC STUDIES. 
 
 Tractarian clergy whatever adherents it may gather 
 from the tainted laity I do not believe that the papal 
 power will ever attain political ascendancy in England. 
 I do not think there is the remotest possibility of it. 
 
 But I do not dwell longer upon this. I draw two 
 or three practical lessons, which will perhaps be more 
 useful. First, then, predictions of the increasing power 
 of the papacy are given, in order to be to us increasing 
 evidence of the truth of the word of God. I have 
 shown you that a perpetual miracle would destroy itself. 
 The present miracle is that the grass grows in spring 
 and withers in autumn. If it were to bo reversed, and 
 grass were to grow in autumn and wither in spring, 
 whatever God ordained would be found to be the natural 
 thing. The present law is, that the dead are buried 
 and do not rise ; but if it had been the experience of 
 eighteen centuries that the dead should rise twelve 
 months after their burial, we should pronounce it to be 
 no miracle, but the natural law or order of things. The 
 miracles that we see around us are the springing of the 
 grass, the blooming of the flowers the productions of 
 the earth. All these things are just as much results of 
 the touch of God as the turning of the water into wine, 
 the raising of the dead Lazarus, or the feeding of the 
 five thousand with a few loaves and fishes ; only we 
 are so accustomed to these phenomena, that we call 
 them, in our language, " the laws of nature," and 
 frequently forget that they are the evidences of the 
 presence of God. But prophecy is not liable to this 
 objection : it is a miracle of accumulative power. The 
 evidence becomes stronger every day of the origin and 
 inspiration of the Bible : one brings a city like Nineveh, 
 pale and ghastly from its grave ; another discovers some 
 great phenomenon in distant lands, or another brings 
 from science some new and long hidden fact that men 
 have never detected before, or discovers some new 
 medical power that bears a relation to the curse, and 
 seems to be an instalment of the day when that curse 
 shall be transformed into a blessing, we have all these 
 growing and accumulating proofs of the authenticity 
 
239 THE PAPACY. 
 
 and inspiration of the Bible, and that lioly men of old 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And 
 thus the longer the Bible continues to give, by the ful- 
 filment of its prophecies, accumulating evidence of the 
 inspiration of God, the clearer will be our convictions 
 that the Bible is true. 
 
 Another reason, perhaps, why the prophecies were 
 given, is to show the perfect harmony between the Old 
 Testament and the New. Head the records of Daniel 
 which he wrote in Babylon : read the apocalypse of 
 John recorded by him in Patmos, and you find that the 
 facts, the historic facts that they pre-intimated, are sub- 
 stantially the same : and that Daniel and John were both 
 taught from the same wisdom, inspired by the same 
 God, and spake as they were moved by the same holy 
 influence. 
 
 Another reason why God has so largely depicted in 
 Daniel, so minutely described in the apocalypse, and so 
 vividly sketched in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, the 
 great Papal power that was to arise, was that "fore- 
 warned, we might be fore-armed." And, if ever there 
 was a day when it was needful to disclose a system 
 whose spires sparkle in the rays of rising and of setting 
 suns, but underneath which are dungeons so dark and 
 dens so cruel, it is surely in a day when the rush and 
 current of the religious movement of the age seems all 
 to be rolling and hastening towards Babylon. I heard 
 Mr. Newman, the most distinguished convert that Home 
 has recently made, arguing, and in eloquent and im- 
 pressive terms, with those who are called Anglicans ; and 
 he assumed the ground which the Church of Home has 
 so repeatedly marked out, maintaining the doctrine of a 
 perpetually visible Church, which might fall into inci- 
 dental errors, but by no possibility into absolute apostasy; 
 and I declare that if I believed that dogma, I should, 
 after having heard his argument, feel it my duty to leave 
 the Church of Scotland or the Church of England, and 
 to join the Church of Rome. His reasoning as addressed 
 to Messrs. Maskell and Bennet was irresistible. There 
 is no ground that you can stand on but this Evangelical 
 
240 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 religion, the Christianity of the Bible, the religion and 
 the cement of the saints of God, or, the Church of Rome 
 not a corrupt Church, but the Babylon of the Apoca- 
 lypse, the great apostasy that is delineated here and in 
 the Eepistle to the Thessalonians. If the Church of Rome 
 be only a corrupt, reformable Church, the reformers ought 
 to have remained in it and tried to make it better : but 
 they felt it what Luther maintained it to be, that it was 
 the Babylon of prophecy, and heard sounding in their 
 ears the commission of their God, ''Come out of her, 
 my people, that ye be not partakers of her plagues." 
 I do not wonder that the Church of Rome practi- 
 cally prohibits the perusal, or at least the interpre- 
 tation of the Bible. It contains her own picture so 
 plainly, so vividly, so unmistakably sketched, that if 
 she allowed the Bible to be read, he that runs would 
 read that picture, and fasten the brand where the spirit 
 of God has fastened it eighteen centuries ago on her. 
 Take care then, in these days, of any approach to that 
 system. Your dogmas of apostolical personal succession 
 baptismal regeneration a perpetually visible Church 
 these are the postulates that Mr. Newman asks. 
 Grant him these, and the Pope will hold Saint Paul's 
 and Westminster Abbey in a very few years. I repeat 
 it again, ray dear friends, the only ground on which we 
 can stand, is this, that the Bible alone is the rule of 
 faith that justification by faith alone is the article of 
 a standing Church that regeneration by the Spirit of 
 God alone is the article of a living Church. Without 
 this justification by faith, there is a fallen Church. 
 Without this regeneration by the Spirit, there is a dead 
 Church. Concede these, and you may, without any 
 great sacrifice, and consistently enough, concede all 
 points besides. Never forget, then, my dear friends, that 
 the great safety of the people of God is cleaving to the 
 Bible ; and that the great secret of the Apostasy of Rome 
 is, the elevating of human authority into the place of 
 God. Here is just the whole spring and source of the 
 mischief. Remember this, that neither the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland, nor the House of 
 
241 THE PAPACY. 
 
 Commons of Great Britain, nor the Convocation, is any 
 authority with me as to what I am to believe. Neither 
 the Bishop of Exeter in the one, nor our own beloved 
 and gracious Queen in the other, constitute the rule of 
 faith. It is not the Bible explained by the bishop, nor 
 the Bible explained by the presbytery, but the Bible 
 alone, that is the rule of faith of all true Christians. 
 Once concede that you are to look at the Bible through 
 the lens of the presbytery, or through the telescope of 
 the bishop, and you give up your great and strongest 
 citadel, and you are sure to fall into the hands of the 
 enemy. Cleave, then, to that blessed book as your only 
 rule of faith the arsenal of the soldiers of Christ the 
 armoury of the saints of the Most High. The oracles 
 of God are as fresh and beautiful as when first taken, 
 like a leaf from the tree of life, and committed to the 
 nations. The Bible is a lamp ever bright, a light ever 
 sure. And be not satisfied with holding the Bible in 
 your hand ; hold it also in your heart. We are strong, 
 not by possession of the Bible as a book, but by tho 
 embodiment of the Bible as a living plastic, regulating 
 faith. It is God's truth within us, not God's truth 
 without us, that is the strength of Christians, the safety 
 of the saints of God. Show, then, to the Church of 
 Home show to the world at large, that we have a 
 succession that never fails the succession of the sons 
 of God ; that we have a religion which is ever beautiful, 
 and mighty to make us holy and to make us happy a 
 religion that is not meat, nor drink, but righteousness, 
 and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Seek to show 
 your missionary spirit by diffusing this faith ; and leave 
 not the sisters of charit)', so active in our streets, or the 
 long-robed priest of the Oratory, so busy in every place 
 into which they can gain admission, to eclipse or excel 
 you in ministering to the wants of your fellow men, 
 and in spreading this blessed Gospel among those who 
 are ignorant of it. The great defence against Puseyism 
 and Popery is living religion. Be Christians, and 
 Home will feel it. Be orthodox in head, but cold and 
 unsanctined in heart and inactive in life, and Rome 
 
242 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 will not only rejoice, but gain. Let us bless God that 
 we know this, that however that dark system may 
 spread for a little, its mightiest triumphs are the pre- 
 cursors of its greatest downfal. God's judgments on 
 Home have already begun Babylon is now drinking of 
 the cup of the indignation of God ; and all her boasted 
 triumphs are but the instalments, as it were, or fore- 
 tokens of her speedy downfal. She is only gathering 
 together all her forces, till the earth shall explode from 
 beneath, and the heavens rain floods of fire from above, 
 and great Babylon shall perish like a ship foundering at 
 sea. We rejoice not at the sufferings of any : but yet 
 we cannot but join with saints that are in heaven and 
 angels that are round the throne in giving glory to God 
 that the great waster of the earth is about to be re- 
 moved; and that the Jews, his ancient heritage, have 
 heard Ids voice and are soon to come back; and that 
 the fulness of the Gentiles has nearly arrived, and " the 
 kingdoms of this world are soon to become the kingdoms 
 of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever 
 and ever." Amen. 
 
LECTURE XVII. 
 
 THE COMING KINGDOM. 
 
 *' / beheld till the thrones were cast doivn, and the Ancient 
 of days did sit, whose garment was white as snoiv, and 
 the hair of his head like the pure ivool : his throne was 
 like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire . . . 
 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a 
 kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should 
 serve him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
 which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which 
 shall not be destroyed . . . Until the Ancient of days 
 came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most 
 High ; and the time came that the saints possessed the 
 kingdom . . . JDut the judgment shall sit, and they shall 
 take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it 
 unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the 
 greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall 
 be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, 
 whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all 
 dominions shall serve and obey him." DANIEL vii. 
 9, 14, 22, 26, 27. 
 
 THE first fact that is here worthy of notice is the 
 consumption, or the wasting away, of that power which 
 is called the " little horn." I have identified this power 
 with the Papacy, by, I think, irresistible evidence. 
 There is here a clear intimation, that in the first in- 
 stance it shall be gradually wasted or consumed till it 
 is all but exhausted by the wasting influence of a power 
 without it ; and next, that after it has undergone a 
 series of successive wastings or consumptions, it shall 
 then be utterly and signally destroyed, and its body 
 
 K 2 
 
244 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 given to the devouring flame. In this description of 
 Daniel, one cannot but notice the basis of the predictions 
 of St. Paul respecting the man of sin, and so far the 
 evidence of his acquaintance with the book of Daniel. 
 In 2 Thess. ii. we have a description of a power that 
 should " sit in the temple of God, showing himself as if 
 he were God ; " that power which he calls " the mystery 
 of iniquity," which was so soon to be developed, and of 
 which he foretels the end. 
 
 " Then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the 
 Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth :" that 
 is the first stage;, and then utterly " destroy with the 
 brightness of his coming." You have thus the very 
 events predicted by St. Paul, clearly indicated by Daniel 
 long before. Both prophets drew from a common foun- 
 tain. Daniel states that "the judgment shall sit," that 
 they shall take away the dominion of the little horn, to 
 consume it, and then to "destroy it unto the end." 
 St. Paul on this subject utters predictions which are 
 completely the echo of the prophecy of Daniel ; not that 
 the one transcribed the predictions of the other, but that 
 both were inspired by the same Spirit, foresaw the rise 
 of the same dread and destructive superstition, and 
 predicted, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, first 
 its gradual decay a decay that is now obvious in every 
 land and lastly its final and irretrievable destruction 
 by the brightness of the Redeemer's coming. 
 
 "We cannot but see in the next place that the utter 
 destruction of "the false prophet" is not prior but sub- 
 sequent to the appearance of the " Ancient of days," or 
 the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. "We see the 
 thrones set ; we see the Ancient of days arrayed in his 
 garments, white as snow thousands of attendant angels 
 ministering before him; and " after this," says the pro- 
 phet, " I beheld then because of the voice of the great 
 words which the horn spake : I beheld even till the 
 beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to 
 the devouring flame." And so, in verse 26, where it is 
 explained, "The judgment shall sit, and they shall take 
 away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto 
 
THE COMING KINGDOM. 245 
 
 the end." It therefore appears to me that, first, the 
 Lord shall come, and next, the Papacy shall be finally 
 destroyed. I do not believe that the Church of Borne 
 will be swept away utterly, except by Christ's imme- 
 diate personal revelation. All Scripture seems to me 
 clearly to indicate this. Her consumption, in fact, is 
 now going on ; and soon, as soon as the Lord comes, 
 the final destruction of the system and of all that cleave 
 to it, by what the Apostle calls, "the brightness of the 
 Redeemer's coming," shall be signally accomplished. 
 So we read of the stone that first smites the image upon 
 its ten toes, or the ten kingdoms ; and then the God of 
 heaven sets up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed 
 or be left to other people, but which shall break in 
 pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and it shall 
 stand for ever. There is first, the revelation of the 
 stone, i.e. the second coming of Christ ; then there is 
 the destruction of all hostile dominions or empires, and, 
 among others, that of the lloman apostasy also. So 
 here it is, after the advent, that the beast " was slain, 
 his body destroyed, and given to the devouring flame." 
 Now notice how parallel this runs with the descrip- 
 tion of our Lord's advent in 2 Thess. i. 7 : " To you 
 who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus 
 shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 
 in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not 
 God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ : who shall be punished with everlasting de- 
 struction from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
 glory of his power ; when he shall come to be glorified 
 in his saints, and to be admired in all them that be- 
 lieve." You see how perfectly one passage responds to 
 the other. First of all there is to be the revelation of 
 Christ, as the Apostle says ; next, he is to "take ven- 
 geance in flaming fire on them that know not God and 
 obey not the Gospel :" or, according to Daniel, this 
 beast, or false prophet, or antichristian horn, is to be 
 committed to the burning flame ; or, as St. John tells 
 us in the Apocalypse, "she," i.e. "the great whore," 
 is to be burned, and " the smoke of her torment shall 
 
246 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 ascend tip for ever and ever." This identity of lan- 
 guage, so specific in every case, cannot be accidental; 
 it is the coincidence of men who were inspired by the 
 same Spirit, and who proclaim the same grand events, 
 the destruction of the apostasy by the personal ap- 
 pearance of the Lord, the glorifying of all that believe 
 and are found when he comes "looking for him the 
 second time without sin unto salvation," and his being 
 "admired in all them that believe," and "glorified by 
 his saints." 
 
 Such is the blessed hope that is set before us in the 
 Gospel. Such is the prospect that we have, that all 
 that is hostile to the Lord of glory shall be utterly 
 destroyed, and that the truth in all its purity shall pre- 
 vail, and overflow the human family from sea to sea, 
 and from the river to the ends of the earth. It is thus 
 that those who look for the utter destruction of Home 
 before Christ comes look for a vain thing. It will last 
 till he comes. It spans the chasm, between Christ's 
 first and second advent; it will be weakened by the 
 force of the pre-intimatory strokes of the stone cut out 
 without hands ; it will be consumed by the preaching 
 of the Gospel ; it will be exhausted by the hostility of 
 a thousand kings who once were charmed with its 
 grandeur, and made drunk with the cup of its intoxi- 
 cation ; but it will only be utterly and completely 
 destroyed and broken up by the brightness of the 
 Redeemer's coming. 
 
 This leads me to notice those passages I have read, 
 which announce his coming. We have in verse 9, a 
 most sublime description: "I beheld till the Ancient 
 of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and 
 the hair of his head like the pure wool : his throne was 
 like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A 
 fiery stream issued and came forth from before him : 
 thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thou- 
 sand times ten thousand stood before him : the judgment 
 was set, and the books were opened." This is plainly 
 not the last judgment, for it precedes the destruction of 
 antichrist; it is a judgment previous to the last, de- 
 
THE COMING KINGDOM. 247 
 
 scribed, as I shall show you, in other parts of Scripture. 
 But the first question is, who is the " Ancient of days ?" 
 Some think it is a description of God the Father ; but 
 it is never to be forgotten that there is not from the 
 commencement of the Bible to its close any portrait, 
 even in words, of the appearance to human eye of God 
 the Father. He is spoken of as " dwelling in light in- 
 accessible and full of glory;" as "the God whom no 
 man hath seen nor can see ;" and there is nothing like 
 a picture for the eye given of God the Father. Just in 
 the same manner, there is nothing in Scripture like a 
 portrait of the Holy Ghost. Hence nothing is to my 
 mind more revolting than to see a dove set forth as if 
 it were the Scriptural symbol of the Holy Spirit. I 
 know the passage on which the idea is founded, in 
 which it is stated that the Holy Spirit descended upon 
 Jesus "like a dove:" but every one who knows the 
 construction of the Greek language, and will be at the 
 trouble to consult the original, will see that it is not 
 said that the Holy Spirit descended " in the form of a 
 dove;" there is conveyed no such meaning; but that 
 " he descended as a dove descends," i.e. with the flut- 
 tering, rapid movement of a dove ; and for this purpose 
 other birds might probably have been selected with 
 equally expressive justice, in order to denote the idea 
 intended. There is no picture of God the Father re- 
 corded in the Bible to have been seen by man ; nor is 
 there any picture or similitude of God the Holy Ghost : 
 there is a portrait of Him who is " God manifest in the 
 flesh," " seen of angels," "justified in the Spirit," " be- 
 lieved on in the world," and finally, "received up into 
 glory." This is to be expected. If this then be so, I 
 think the inference is just, that the Ancient of days 
 great as may be the difficulty on this hypothesis of 
 reconciling this with the statement in verse 13 is none 
 else than the Lord Jesus Christ. That I am justified in 
 making this assertion seems to me plain from the corres- 
 ponding statement in the book of Revelation, where a 
 description, analogous if not identical, is given of our 
 blessed Lord avowedly and by name. First, "He cometh 
 
248 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 in the clouds, and every eye shall see him." Then says 
 John, " I turned to see the voice which spake with me. 
 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto 
 the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the 
 foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His 
 head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as 
 snow ; and his eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his feet 
 like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; and 
 his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in 
 his right hand seven stars : and out of his mouth went 
 a sharp two-edged sword : and his countenance was as 
 the sun shineth in his strength." Now see what Daniel 
 says of the Ancient of days : "His garment was white 
 as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool : 
 his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as 
 burning fire." 
 
 Is not the sketch given by John as it were a reflec- 
 tion of the sketch by Daniel ? are not these substantial 
 features of identity ? and is not the inference at least 
 highly probable, that the being described by the one 
 is delineated by the other; and that in the picture of 
 Daniel it was Jesus Christ in one of those frequently- 
 occurring anthropomorphic manifestations of himself 
 prior to his incarnation ? If so, how clear the assertion 
 of his deity as the Ancient of Days with a garment 
 white as snow, and before whom thousands and tens of 
 thousands stood and ministered I 
 
 Another reason why I conclude that this is not a 
 representation of God the Father, is the following : 
 The Father is never spoken of as coming to judge the 
 world: "He has committed all judgment unto the 
 Son." "We must appear, not "before the judgment-seat" 
 of God the Father, but before " the judgment-seat of 
 Christ." And every prediction in the New Testament 
 leads us to suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ is the 
 judge, and appointed to be so, of the living and the 
 dead. The only difficulty in the way of this interpre- 
 tation is the statement contained in ver. 13 : "I saw in 
 the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man 
 came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient 
 
THE COMING KINGDOM. 249 
 
 of days, and they brought him near before him." Herein 
 is the difficulty, because the portrait of this first-men- 
 tioned personage is unquestionably that of our blessed 
 Lord. If so, how can he be said to be " brought before 
 the Ancient of Days?" I admit and feel the difficulty. 
 I cannot explain it : I have not yet discovered what 
 will be discovered, the solution of these words : but it 
 is plain enough that the Son of man is the portrait of 
 the Saviour. It appears to me scarcely less plain that 
 the other passage is a portrait of the Saviour also. The 
 two may be portraits of the Saviour in his different as- 
 pects : one as the absolute God ; the other as the incar- 
 nate Man : one as the Son of God, the Ancient of days ; 
 the other as the Son of man, born of the Virgin, cruci- 
 fied for us, and for our salvation. That ver. 13 gives the 
 picture of the Saviour, is plain ; for it is the foundation 
 of all the imagery used by the apostles to denote him 
 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints. Parallel 
 passages, corroborative of this, are to be found in Matt. 
 xxiv. 30 : " And then shall appear the sign of the Son 
 of man in heaven." " Then shall all the tribes of the 
 earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming 
 in the clouds of heaven in power and great glory." We 
 have the bame picture in Matt. xxvi. 64, where he him- 
 self says, " Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting 
 on the right hand of power," (answering to the Ancient 
 of days,) " and coming in the clouds of heaven : " and in 
 Rev. i. 7, we have the same picture again placed before 
 us : " Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye 
 shall see him." And in Acts vii. 55, 56, we have the 
 very same picture as seen by Stephen, when " being full 
 of the Hoty Ghost, he looked up into heaven, and saw 
 the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand 
 of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and 
 the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." 
 
 We thus then see, first, the picture of Christ as the 
 Ancient of days ; next we see him coming in the clouds 
 of heaven, with power and great glory : the first, his 
 essential deity ; the second, his mediatorial character ; 
 and immediately after, we perceive, " there was given 
 
250 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 him his dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
 people, nations, and languages, should serve him : his 
 dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not 
 pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be 
 destroyed." I wish you to notice this fact: our Lord 
 first descenls from heaven borne upon the clouds, and 
 appears upon the earth; next, and immediately after 
 this manifestation of himself, the saints take possession 
 of the kingdoms under the whole heaven. " All people, 
 and nations, and kingdoms," it is here said, " shall 
 serve him." Chronologically viewed, the order of pro- 
 ceeding is this: Christ comes first, Christ's foes are 
 depressed and destroyed next, and the millennium is 
 immediately established upon earth. If this event, 
 the destruction of the antichristian apostasy, be the first 
 thing that takes place immediately after Christ's second 
 advent, then the inference seems to me plain, whatever 
 may be the difficulties that beset it, that the millennium 
 is not the dawn that ushers in Christ, but that Christ is 
 the sun emerging from beneath the horizon, whose noon- 
 day beams constitute that full millennial light and un- 
 shaded glory which shall overflow the whole habitable 
 globe. It is impossible that all these descriptions should 
 be merely figurative. It is too plainly expressed too 
 clearly taught in the language of the New Testament 
 too direct and historical in its tone and bearing, to be 
 considered as a mere figurative delineation of a great 
 Providential event, which leads to the destruction of the 
 man of sin and to the establishment of the kingdom of 
 Christ. And if there were any difficulty or mistake 
 about it, surely it is cleared up by such a passage as 
 that contained in Acts i. 9: "When Christ had spoken 
 these things unto the apostles, behold," it is added, " he 
 was taken up into heaven, and a cloud received him out 
 of their sight." You recollect the apocalyptic picture 
 is, " Behold, he cometh with clouds ; " " then shall ye 
 see the sign of the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
 heaven." Thus when Christ ascended into heaven, after 
 his resurrection from the dead, the phraseology employed 
 to denote that ascension is, that ' ' a cloud received him 
 
THE COMING KINGDOM. 251 
 
 out of their sight;" and then, at ver. 10, we are told, 
 that " whilst they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he 
 went up, behold, two men stood by them in white ap- 
 parel ; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye 
 gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken 
 up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as 
 ye have seen him go into heaven." He was taken up to 
 heaven in a cloud : the prediction uttered by the angel 
 was, that he should come exactly in the same manner ; 
 and therefore the event that Christians are to anticipate 
 as the brightest, the holiest, and the most precious that 
 can occur, is, the second appearance of him who left us 
 in the cloud to plead at the Father's right hand, and 
 Avho shall come again in all the pomp and grandeur of 
 the Ancient of days, seated upon the clouds as his chariot, 
 in form like unto the Son of man, consuming with ever- 
 lasting fire the false prophets, the beast, and the apostasy; 
 taking vengeance upon all that know not God, and that 
 obey not the Gospel ; and to be admired in the saints 
 that have been raised from the dead, and gathered from 
 the ranks of the living, and constituting that happy and 
 blessed consummation when the bridegroom shall have 
 come and the bride shall have made herself ready. 
 
 We gather then from all this, after careful comparison 
 and analysis, that Christ shall come with the speed and 
 brilliancy of the lightning upon the clouds of heaven, 
 and at a moment when the world shall be asking in 
 scorn, Where is the promise of his coming ? and that 
 lightning flame which precedes the chariot on which he 
 comes shall penetrate every grave, until each saint that 
 has fallen asleep in Jesus shall feel the reflux of a new 
 life, and bone shall be joined to bone, and sinew to sinew, 
 and the dead in Christ shall rise first. The despised and 
 rejected of men will appear as the Ancient of days the 
 crucified between two thieves shall be seen coming in 
 the glory of his Father in the clouds of heaven. What a 
 piercing cry shall rise from the lost as they behold him 
 whom they have pierced ! in what bitter language shall 
 they mourn ! What an exulting shout of victory and of 
 gratulation shall roll from ten thousand times ten thou- 
 
252 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 sand tongues, " Lo, this is our God ! we have waited for 
 him : blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
 
 Immediately after this revelation of the Ancient of 
 days, the kingdom of Christ shall be established upon 
 earth. A kingdom is given him an everlasting do- 
 minion a dominion that shall not pass away. This is 
 the same kingdom which is described in the last two 
 chapters of the Revelations, under the emblem of the 
 new Jerusalem that cometh down from heaven : that 
 kingdom whose constituent elements are righteousness, 
 and peace, and joy ; whose subjects are kings, and priests, 
 and saints : a kingdom in which present political great- 
 ness shall have no place ; in which great wealth shall 
 have no welcome ; into which nothing that defileth shall 
 enter, but only they who have washed their robes and 
 made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 The ninth verse indicates also that those saints who 
 rise with Christ shall sit upon thrones. For the language 
 of ver. 9 is, "I beheld until the thrones were cast down." 
 There is but one who is to reign absolutely, the Ancient 
 of days ; then how do we explain the appearance of 
 many " thrones r" This might be inexplicable, if we 
 had not parallel passages to show its meaning. One of 
 these is found in Luke xxii. 30, where we find these 
 words : " That ye may eat and drink at my table in my 
 kingdom, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." So, 
 Matt. xix. 28 : " Verily I say unto you, That ye which 
 have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of 
 man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit 
 upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 
 And this identifies the description with the description 
 of the Ancient of days in ver. 9 of this chapter. And 
 that this is not a deduction from a solitary or an isolated 
 passage, is plain from another descriptionin 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3 : 
 " Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? 
 . . . know ye not that we shall judge angels ?" I next 
 turn to Rev. xx., at the description of the very com- 
 mencement of the millennium, not after it, recollect 
 (and this shows that the Ancient of days, as described in 
 ver. 9, comes before the millennium). At ver. 4 of that 
 
THE COMING KINGDOM. 253 
 
 chapter we have the words, " I saw thrones " with which 
 compare the words of Daniel, " and the thrones were 
 Bet," " and they sat upon them." Who sat upon 
 them ? Those that were raised and reigned with Christ 
 a thousand years; "and judgment was given unto 
 them : and I saw the souls of them which were beheaded 
 for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and 
 which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, 
 neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in 
 their hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ a 
 thousand years. Eat the rest of the dead," i.e. the un- 
 converted, the unregenerated dead, those that had the 
 mark of the beast upon their foreheads and had wor- 
 shipped the beast "lived not again until the thousand 
 years were finished." 
 
 Now, put all these passages together, study them at 
 your leisure, and they will prove, I think, irresistibly, 
 that ver. 9 of this chapter of Daniel, which describes 
 the Ancient of days as coming in the clouds of heaven to 
 judge the world and to receive a dominion and a king- 
 dom, is a delineation of the Lord Jesus Christ coming 
 prior to the millennial reign; and the saints who are 
 raised from the dead and gathered from the living who 
 are found alive at that day, shall, as a mark of the 
 esteem and affection of their Lord, be placed on thrones 
 beside the Saviour himself, and concur with him in the 
 judgment of all flesh. There is nothing strange or un- 
 reasonable in supposing that Christians will thus become 
 the assessors of Christ ; that they will express an Amen 
 to his judgment, and sympathise with him in all his just 
 and righteous decisions, then and there seen and felt to 
 be so. 
 
 In the next place, we read that the character of those 
 who shall occupy this kingdom will be "saints;" but 
 that their worldly aspect is to be "kingdoms, and 
 languages, and people." This shows us that after the 
 Ancient of days has come after the thrones have been 
 set after the Son of man lias been revealed in the clouds 
 of heaven, all nations, people, and languages existing 
 in all their diversity, and with all their distinctions, but 
 
254 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 individually and morally saints, though circumstantially 
 nations, shall constitute that empire of peace and joy, 
 over which he shall reign in glory and in beauty. If this 
 be so, nations will exist in the millennial reign. Per- 
 haps all the distinctions that separate nation from nation 
 shall be perpetuated then ; but, whilst they have different 
 colours and complexions then as now whilst they speak 
 different tongues as they do now, they shall have one 
 grand characteristic in common, they shall be the saints 
 of God, the sons of the Most High Asia, Africa, 
 America, and Europe, shall all be baptised by one spirit 
 and washed in one fountain, and have in their hearts the 
 image, the likeness, and the superscription of the Lamb. 
 Flower will still differ from flower, star from star, coun- 
 try from country ; there will be all variety of modes, all 
 diversity of circumstance, but perfect unity of moral and 
 spiritual character, united and consolidated in Christ, 
 and gathered round him to worship and adore him as the 
 brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image 
 of his person the Saviour of sinners, the Lamb slain. 
 Then Christians whose complexion is white shall be 
 ashamed that they have ever looked with contempt on 
 Christians whose faces are not so. Then the American 
 Christian who would refuse to approach the Communion 
 table in the company of the Christian black, will find 
 that he with whom he would not partake of the symbol 
 upon earth is a fellow-partaker with him of the sub- 
 stance in glory ; and he shall wonder, if not grieve, that he 
 was ever tempted to make so foolish and sinful a distinc- 
 tion where were the common law, the common faith, and 
 the common Father, and one Spirit animating and sus- 
 taining the hearts of both. Then nations that warred 
 with each other shall wonder that they did so. Then 
 perhaps the buried dead of Waterloo shall start to their 
 feet ; the last sounds they recollected upon earth, were 
 the roar of artillery, the roll of the victorious drum, the 
 cries of the wounded and the dying; and the first 
 sounds they shall hear at that day shall be the trumpet 
 of judgment, and the songs of the saved and the curses 
 of the lost, and the voice of Jesus, saying, " Arise, ye 
 
THE COMING KINGDOM. 255 
 
 dead, and come to judgment!" And how shall the 
 French Christian marvel that he ever consented to destroy 
 the British Christian in battle, or that man ever wielded 
 against man an} 7 " other than spiritual weapons ! 
 
 Languages also shall exist in that day : for there shall 
 be "people, and nations, and languages." The division 
 of tongues was part of the curse ; but the reversal of that 
 curse will not be the reduction of all languages into one, 
 but the perpetuation of all languages, each nation under- 
 standing what the other speaks. The miracle at Pente- 
 cost was not that all the Apostles spoke one language, 
 and all that believed spoke the same language ; but that 
 each man spoke in his own tongue, and each understood 
 what his neighbour spoke. So shall it be in the millen- 
 nial day. There shall be many tongues, but one senti- 
 ment ; many languages by many tongues, but each un- 
 derstanding perfectly the other: the many languages, 
 like the cletfs in music, shall only constitute the more 
 glorious harmony ; there shall not be uniformity of 
 speech, but unity of sentiment. There will not be the 
 monotony of a single language, but the component har- 
 mony of many languages, praising one God and the Lamb 
 for ever and ever. 
 
 Then the unity of character of all people and lan- 
 guages, and nations, and tongues is, that they shall all 
 " serve and obey him." All the nations of the globe 
 shall perpetually behold, and without ceasing magnify 
 and praise the Lamb. Every language shall be burdened 
 with this one song ; every heart shall overflow with this 
 all-encompassing and adoring love; every voice shall 
 give utterance to an unceasing anthem ; all shall serve 
 him in that blessed abode where they " rest not day nor 
 night, saying, Unto him that loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us, out 
 of every language and people and tongue, kings and 
 priests unto our God, to him be glory and dominion for 
 ever." 
 
 We now gather from the whole of this statement, 
 then, that truth shall eventually triumph; there is no 
 reason to doubt that the right and the true and the holy 
 
256 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 shall have the victory. All dominions that are hostile 
 to Christ must give way. All kingdoms incompatible 
 with his must be dissolved. The kingdoms of this world 
 have their symbols in the lion, the bear, the leopard, 
 and the fourth dreadful and terrible beast ; and by a law 
 universally proved, their passions and discord shall pre- 
 cipitate their own destruction ; but Christ's kingdom has 
 nothing anarchical, because it has nothing sinful in it. 
 It has not one element of decay, because into it nothing 
 that defileth can enter. Suns shall grow pale, stars shall 
 become dim ; the crescent shall wane, the crucifix shall 
 fall from the hands of him that holds it : Judaism shall 
 be cast away an exhausted formula : the philosophy of 
 Socrates and Plato, the Academy and the Stoa, shall be 
 forgotten, and their discussions cease. All other names 
 shall be shaded or utterly disappear ; and Christ's name 
 shall be all, and Christ's kingdom shall extend over all 
 the earth, and all shall bless him and be blessed in him. 
 "We see already tokens of that day. I take a bright view 
 of the coming days. I do not believe that the man of sin 
 shall re-assert his ancient political supremacy in this 
 land, or that he shall be able any more to wield the des- 
 tinies of the nations of the earth, or to persecute the 
 saints of God, at least on a gigantic scale. I believe, 
 too, that there shall be given before the time of the end 
 auguries and instalments of the coming glory, partly the 
 fulfilment of Joel ii. 28. What progress do knowledge, 
 science, education, Christianity, the Eible, make every- 
 where throughout the world at this moment! Do we 
 not see the whole human family drawing nearer to each 
 other ? Do we not see the two great nations, America 
 and England, speaking a tongue that promises more and 
 more every day to become the tongue of the whole 
 Avoiid ? Do we not see all languages, however diver- 
 sified, becoming reducible to two, three, or four at the 
 very most, Christians becoming less earthly and Christ- 
 ianity less alloyed ? What are these but the tokens of 
 the approaching glory voices in the wilderness prepar- 
 ing the way of the Lord messengers sent before to 
 announce that the bridegroom cometh ? I nee flowers of 
 
THE COMFNG KINGDOM. 257 
 
 paradise begin to bloom in many a desert, and afar, 
 many a temple spire emerging into the light of rising 
 and setting suns where pagodas were before. I can see 
 the first rays of the Sun of righteousness beginning to 
 penetrate the Mosque and the Alhambra, and to surprise 
 the superstitious devotee in the midst of his devotions. 
 The Indian begins to burn his shaster, the Arab his 
 Koran, and the Chinaman his gods. Fewer are found in 
 Pekin to cast their infants in the streets to perish ; fewer 
 still in India to light the names that are to consume the 
 widow ; fewer still to drag the wheels of the chariot of 
 Juggernaut over the bodies of his prostrate devotees. I 
 see upon all sides the sea of barbarism and superstition 
 begin to ebb, and many a dove to take wing and fly over 
 the length and breadth of the world's chaotic flood, 
 giving tokens that the Prince of peace is on his way, 
 warning us that the sound of his approach already breaks 
 upon the ear. Let us hail the twilight : let us urge on, 
 as far as we can, the coming day; and let us rest assured, 
 whatever the prospects be, because God has said it, that 
 Christ will have a kingdom and a dominion which shall 
 not pass away a kingdom that shall not be destroyed ; 
 and that the power and dominion, and the greatness of 
 the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be givon to 
 the people of the saints of the Most High, whose king- 
 dom is an everlasting dominion, and all nations shall 
 serve and obey him. Are you members of his church 
 now, that you may be members of his church then ? 
 Are you the saints of God by grace, or the sinners of the 
 world still by natme ? Have you been translated from 
 the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear 
 Son ? Is the prospect which Daniel saw a bright one 
 for you ? When this trumpet shall sound, will it startle 
 you with terror, or cheer your soul with joy ? "What 
 the Gospel is to you now, the sound of that trumpet will 
 be to you then. The interest that you have in the 
 Gospel now will determine the event of which that sound 
 will be the precursor then. My dear friends, let me ask 
 you, in the prospect of that day, to resolve that you will 
 be found in the number of the saints of God that you 
 
 a 
 
258 MiOPHETIi; STUDIES. 
 
 will be, if it be possible, the sons of the Most High 
 that no persecutions that are possible, no scorn that may 
 assail, no bribes that mny seduce you, no sins that may 
 tempt you, shall prevent you from arising, and going to 
 your Father, and saying, " Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven and in thy sight;" and he will rise and meet 
 you ; and he will say, u Bring forth the fairest robe, 
 and put it on him, and let there be joy ; for this my son 
 was dead and is alive, was lost and is found." 
 
LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 THE MOSLEM. 
 
 DANIEL VIII. 
 
 You will easily perceive that it is necessary to read 
 the whole of this chapter as the basis of a consecutive 
 exposition. It is an historico-prophetieal narrative, 
 and must be studied as a whole. Because it is not 
 doctrinal theology, it is not on that account to be passed 
 over as uninstructive^/ God directed it to be written 
 for our learning ; at the same time it embosoms in- 
 structive lessons, which we shall not fail to gather as 
 we proceed. 
 
 The signs by which great truths are set forth in this 
 chapter are in perfect accordance with what is con- 
 tained and set forth in previous portions of this book. 
 All ancient writers have set forth truth hieroglyphically, 
 with greater or less propriety. Symbols remain when 
 languages change, and thus become the most permanent 
 representatives of great truths. Especially does it seem 
 appropriate to set forth what shall take place in the 
 latter days, still future under some of these hieroglyphic 
 symbols. If the future had been so plainly revealed 
 that all could read future as they see present things, 
 men's responsibility would have been destroyed. If, on 
 the other hand, it had been so dimly disclosed that 
 nobody could understand it at all, there would have 
 been little use in disclosing it at all. If some would 
 say these prophecies are meant to be understood after 
 they have been revealed, we ask them, why were they 
 previously given ? Do you say that it is to convince 
 man that God's Word is 'truth r But the fulfilment of 
 many stretches into the millennial glory, and we shall 
 
 s2 
 
260 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 need then no additional conviction that God's "Word is 
 true, for all scepticism will have passed away ; and we 
 shall see and know God, whom there will be none to 
 deny. It is rather more dutiful in us reverently to 
 study, and humbly to explain as we discover truth, 
 and where we cannot see clearly, patiently to wait, 
 aware that what we know not now we shall know 
 hereafter. 
 
 The bear in the former division is plainly the ram in 
 the present, as I explained to you in the course of a 
 previous lecture. The two horns that start up on the 
 head of the ram arenas I explained,) the Medes and the 
 Persians, constituting one great kingdom. The ram's 
 head of gold was, as every historian will tell you, the 
 diadem of the Persian king, this alone identifying that 
 symbol with the personage to whom it refers; and 
 " pushing westwards," denotes that empire subduing 
 Lydia and Babylon by Cyrus, and Egypt by Cambyses. 
 The he- goat is plainly explained in the chapter to be 
 the Macedonian power; his "pushing" (as it is stated 
 inverse 4) " westward, northward, and southward, so 
 that no beast might stand before him," denotes his con- 
 quests, his advancing and irresistible might. J The 
 notable horn that starts up between the ears of the goat 
 might shortly be shown to be, what it may be indis- 
 putably proved, Alexander the Great, by whom the 
 Persian ram was destroyed, and by whose destruction 
 immense addition was made to his own empire. This 
 victorious progress of Alexander is matter of history ; 
 it is not matter of conjecture from prophecy, but matter 
 of historical fact. The great horn, which typified 
 Alexander, as we read in this passage, was broken, not 
 gradually wasted away, not desolated inch by inch until 
 it disappeared, but mapt asunder., ic indicate that his 
 sovereignty, with his life, was suddenly cut short. 
 Everybody who knows his biography is aware that 
 Alexander was seized with fever in the very midst 
 of his victories, and died. History teaches us what the 
 prophecy indicates by four notable horns towards the 
 four winds of heaven, as is stated in ver. 8 ; it tells us 
 
THE MOSLEM. 261 
 
 that when Alexander fell, his empire was divided among 
 his four generals :/ Cassander had Greece ; Thrace, with 
 its provinces, was given to Lysimachus ; Egypt to 
 Ptolemy ; and the remainder of Asia was given to 
 ^-Seleucus.y We have thus the biography of Alexander 
 sketched" by Daniel long before Alexander was born. 
 /There is no other monarch in the world to whom tho 
 description here given would apply ; there is no other 
 people in the world's history with which the events that 
 are here delineated can be made to coincide ; the in- 
 ference, therefore, is irresistible, that history here 
 records with its pen, what prophecy has sketched with 
 its luminous pencil. And so man in his writings, de- 
 signedly, consciouslj*, or otherwise, witnesses to the 
 fulfilment of the prophecies of God; and it is in so 
 doing that history evermore presents, if we need such 
 additional testimony, fresh evidence that God's word is 
 truth. God sketches the outline of the greatest gene- 
 ral's life, and that great general comes forward at the 
 appointed time, and sets himself, ignorant of it all the 
 while, to fill it up. Alexander thought he was doing 
 his own work, subserving his own ambition, adding to 
 the splendour of an illustrious name, and to the sup- 
 port and extension of an almost unrivalled empire ; he 
 thought that his own hand was working out what his 
 own great genius planned : mistaken man ! Great 
 things are put into a little space ; we see them by the 
 light of God's truth. Alexander was filling up the 
 outline that God had sketched ; he was not the direct- 
 ing hand, but the obedient pencil ; not the writer, but 
 the mere pen; he was not the originator, but the 
 humble copyist; and thus his glory becomes pale, his 
 grandeur mean, while we see that God had arranged all 
 the space that he was to cover, and determined the 
 limits of his actions hundreds of years before Alexander 
 stepped upon the field. 
 
 Thus one result of the study of prophecy is, to make 
 great men feel humble, and little men, through the 
 knowledge of God's word, feel happy. ,s 
 
 I have already dwelt, however, on the sketch or 
 
262 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Alexander and his empire, as it was depicted in a pre- 
 vious prophecy. I proceed, in this, to show-what has 
 been thought the more difficult part of iy-what is meant > 
 *~ by the " little horn," i.e. the power, sovereignty, rule, 
 which is here described, /"it has been thought difficult, 
 because there is a description of the Romish power, under 
 the picture of a " little horn," in a previous chapter. 
 But it may easily be seen that little horn is perfectly 
 distinct from the one sketched here. The former sprung 
 out of the fourth kingdom, and out of the fourth king- 
 dom in its tenfold division. This horn plainly springs 
 out of an eastern, or the Grseco-Macedonian empire, and 
 is characterised by other features, and gives birth to 
 other and very different exploits. It must be a religious, 
 or politico -ecclesiastical power, from its physical small- 
 ness and its moral triumphs. Let us see, then, what 
 it refers to ; and search if we can. find any such body 
 to which we can apply it. I may state, that some have 
 supposed this little horn to be Antiochus Epiphanes, who 
 appeared three hundred years before the birth of Christ, 
 and signalised himself by his opposition to God, and by 
 the dishonour which he brought upon the religion of 
 Judea. But this seems improbable, from the following 
 circumstances, which I submit to your consideration/ 
 / The little horn was to arise out of one of the four 
 Macedonian empires, into which the empire, or dynasty, 
 of Alexander was split. In the second place, this king- 
 dom was to arise at the latter end of the four kingdoms 
 of Alexander, or Greek dynasties, as explained in verse 3. 
 The characteristic of this little horn was to be a kingly 
 power. The four horns are four kings ; and the notable 
 horn between the eyes another king, who was to have a 
 fierce countenance, and was to teach dark oracular say- 
 ings. And in the next place, he was to have great 
 success towards the east, and toward the "glory," this 
 last expression denoting plainly Jerusalem : for the 
 Apostle says " the Jews, to whom pertained the adop- 
 tion, the covenants, and the glory" In the next place, 
 the success of this little horn was to be so great, that it 
 should cast truth, i.e. we suppose, Christianity, to the 
 
THE MOSLEM. 263 
 
 ground, and spread and propagate itself by craft. It 
 was to take away the daily sacrifice, prayer, praise, and 
 thanksgiving; and it was to stamp upon all secular 
 powers, "the mighty ones," and upon "the people of 
 the holy ones." And the reason why the holy ones upon 
 whom it was thus to stamp were thus depressed, is 
 stated, in ver. 12, to have been "by reason of their 
 transgression." And the punishment thus inflicted on 
 them is stated in ver. 19 to be "at the latter end of the 
 indignation." And this power, in the next place, was 
 to magnifjr itself against " the prince of the host." And 
 it was to last in its power exactly 2,300 prophetic days, 
 i.e. 2,300 literal years. Now the first question that we 
 have to determine, is, who were the people that were 
 thus to be visited in consequence of their transgression, 
 at the latter end of the indignation, and to be stamped 
 upon and destroyed, by reason of their sin, by the great 
 power; and this will help us more clearly to identify it. 
 That it cannot be the Jews, I think is plain, for many 
 reasons. From the days of Daniel to the final overthrow 
 of the Jews, there were only two powers that desolated 
 or destroyed them ; the first, Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 300 years before the birth of our Lord ; and the second, 
 the lloman. And if I show, as I will do by-and-bye, 
 that this little horn cannot be either of these, I then 
 show that the Jews are not the people who are here 
 described as the holy ones and the mighty ones, hut 
 some other people, whom we are hereafter to specify. 
 /That this little horn does not denote Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, is clear from this one circumstance, that, 
 like all the other horns mentioned by Daniel, it must 
 be the symbol of a continuous sovereignty, not of one 
 solitary individual who starts into existence, and then 
 disappears, but of a realm, or sovereignty, governed, pro- 
 tected, and preserved by him. But Antiochus Epiphanes 
 was only a single individual, who appeared upon the 
 stage and passed away. The kingdom of Antiochus never 
 could be said, like that of this little horn, to be a gigan- 
 tic empire, prospering toward the south and toward the 
 east. In the days of Antiochus, the Jews' transgres- 
 
264 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 sion was not full ; for at that period the Jewish dynasty 
 was almost in its meridian glory : some of its most 
 illustrious men were then living. And, lastly, Antio- 
 chus died about 300 years after the commencement of 
 the 2,300 years which describe the duration of the 
 dynasty represented by the little horn. From these 
 facts it is plain that the little horn does not describe 
 Antiochus Epiphanes. And in the next place, it can- 
 not refer to the Romans, for the Roman power did not 
 increase eastward, so much as this is described to have 
 done; but it increased specially westward and north- 
 ward. Neither did the Roman power increase by craft ; 
 for there was very little craft in the aggressions, the 
 victories, or the progress of Home, but rather honesty, 
 manliness, and open battle. And again, the Roman 
 power was not a realm that rose out of Macedon, but 
 from Latium. And lastly, the Roman power had no 
 hold in Greece, until long after the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem. And if the little horn represents Rome pagan, 
 it is utterly absurd to suppose that it can represent 
 Rome papal at the same time. There are in prophecy 
 two distinct symbols for Rome in its pagan, and Rome 
 in its papal state; the one is the " iron legs," or Rome 
 pagan, and the other is the " ten toes," iron mixed with 
 clay, describing Rome papal ; and it cannot, therefore, 
 refer to Rome. In the Apocalypse, the seven-headed 
 dragon is pagan Rome, and the seven- headed, ton-horned 
 beast is papal Rome. And since Antiochus Epiphanes 
 and the Romans were the only two powers who perse- 
 cuted the Jews, and as these are not the two powers 
 here indicated, for it is certain that they are not, 
 either of them, the power indicated by the little horn, 
 so the Jews, over whom they triumphed, are not the 
 people indicated by those who are here described as 
 "the holy ones," and "the transgressing people." I - 
 believe, therefore, that it denotes professing Christen- 
 dom, which was visited in the last days of the Grseco- 
 Macedonian empire, by reason of the transgression of 
 its people,(as I showed you under the eighth seal, in 
 my Apocalyptic Sketches, when describing the irruption 
 
THE MOSLEM. 265 
 
 of the Turks and Saracens into Asia and Europe, in 
 order to chastise "heathen Christendom " for its idola- 
 try .J Then the epithet "mighty" is totally inapplic- 
 able to the Jews. They never were a mighty people, 
 though th'jy might have been represented as a " holy 
 people ;" and verse 23 seems almost to identify the 
 Gentiles ; for it declares, that " in the latter times of 
 the four kingdoms, when the transgressors are come to 
 the full, a king of tierce countenance, and understanding 
 dark sentences, shall stand up." In my judgment, 
 therefore, and in the judgment of those who have 
 studied and written at length upon the subject of this 
 prophesy, it is the Turkish or Mahometan power that is 
 here represented by the little horn. /I have showed you 
 that it cannot be Antioclms, as some theologians hold ; 
 because in so many particulars the application fails in 
 reference to him. It cannot be the Roman power, be- 
 cause in every particular the application fails. It must, 
 therefore, be some other power ; and the features deli- 
 neated by the prophet, and the facts thrown up in the 
 history of Mahometanism, so completely tally, that the 
 inference is almost irresistible, that it is the Turkish 
 or Mahometan power that is here intended.^ 
 
 The history of its rise and progress may be comprc- , 
 
 hended in a few sentences. , It originated in Chorassin, v t^ ' 
 a part of Parthia south of the Oxus, and' in the very ^ . *^, 
 territory of the Syrian, or Gra3co- Macedonian empire. 
 The birth-place of Mahometanism is, therefore, the very 
 Ideality here indicated in prophecy. In that eastern 
 territory, so clearly indicated as the place of its rise, the 
 Turcomans, a shepherd tribe, revolted against their 
 ruler ; became independent ; elected Togrul Beg . as 
 their chief, who appeared at this moment a " little 
 horn," the petty chief of a petty but increasing clan; 
 so that his origin, rise, and beginning, may fairly be 
 represented, as far as his physical prominence is referred 
 to, by the symbol of a little horn. This Togrul Beg, 
 having thus become the chief of this petty tribe, moved 
 first southward, at. the call of the Caliph of Bagdat. 
 He added to his -victories year after year, and was at 
 
266 pnorHEirc STUDIES. 
 
 length appointed, by reason of his success, the caliph- 
 general of Islam. He married the caliph's daughter, 
 and became, from a petty and contemptible chief, the 
 royal and all but irresistible propagandist of Mahome- 
 tan fanaticism. By-and- bye he conquered Judea, " the 
 glory," or the "glorious land" that is here alluded to. 
 He next overran Asiatic Christendom, and already he 
 developed every feature of the character described in 
 verse 23, as the "king of a fierce countenance," causing 
 to understand dark sentences ; mighty in his own power, 
 but not by his own power, but by the influence of a 
 fanatical system which he adopted, progressing and 
 prospering wonderfully, destroying the mightiest na- 
 tions and the holy people ; through his policy causing 
 craft to prosper in the land, and magnifying himself 
 even against the Prince of princes; till, as we shall 
 afterwards show, he was ultimately broken without 
 hand. And to show how completely this chief, rising 
 from a little to be a great and powerful sovereign, ful- 
 filled, in his histoiy, the predictions of this prophecy, 
 I quote from the unwilling, but faithful, narrator, 
 Gibbon, who says : " Togrul Eeg extended his juris- 
 diction from the Chinese frontier, ivest and south," 
 almost the very language of the prophecy, " as far as 
 the neighbourhood of Constantinople, the holy city, 
 Jerusalem," again using the very language of pro- 
 phecy, "and the spicy groves of Arabia Felix; and 
 extended a dominion which surpassed the Asiatic reign 
 of Cyrus and of the Caliphs." Just read the prophecy 
 at your leisure ; and recollect, as you read, the sketch 
 I have given from Gibbon, and you will find that the 
 prophet describes what shall be most minutely ; and the 
 historian, who had never read the prophecy, records, 
 with equal fidelity, what has been; and Gibbon the 
 sceptic becomes the commentator on Daniel the prophet, 
 and presents the unconscious and the unwilling proof, 
 that " holy men of old spake as they were moved by 
 the Holy Ghost," 
 
 This prince, or horn, or power, is described as being 
 " of a fierce countenance." It is interesting to notice, 
 
THE MOSLEM. 267 
 
 in reading the history of Gibbon, that the expression 
 he more than once uses to denote Mahometanism, is 
 "fiercer/ess," or "ferocity." For instance, this very ex- 
 pression occurs in the pages of Gibbon : " The Turkish 
 nations still breathed the fierceness of the desert;" and 
 one of the phrases that Gibbon uses is, " he was fierce as 
 a Turk ;" the very language of the prophet being em- 
 ployed by the infidel and unbelieving historian. 
 
 The prophet further adds : " He waxed great to the 
 host of heaven ; cast down of the host and of the stars to 
 the ground, and stamped on them ;" " the daily sacrifice 
 was taken away magnified himself against the prince of 
 the host," "cast down truth to the ground caused craft 
 to prosper." These features are recorded by the histo- 
 rian. Thus Gibbon writes: "By the choice of the 
 sultan, Nice was preferred for his palace and his fortress ; 
 and the divinity of Christ was denied and derided in the 
 same temple in which it had been pronounced by a 
 general synod." The Council of Nice was held A.D. 
 315, and one of its great conclusions was, that the deity 
 of Christ was a plain and obvious dogma of Holy "Writ. 
 
 It is stated here of this fierce king, that "he magni- 
 fied himself against the Prince of princes :" the historian 
 states the fact, that Nice, distinguished for its unequi- 
 vocal testimony to the deity of Christ, was selected by 
 the sultan as his palace and fortress, in which they 
 scorned and derided that great truth with the confession 
 of which Nice is identified in ecclesiastical history. 
 Gibbon continues : " The unity of God and the mission 
 of Mahomet were preached in the mosques ; on the hard 
 conditions of tribute or servitude, the Greek Christians 
 might enjoy the exercise of their religion : but the most 
 holy churches were profaned ; the priests and bishops 
 were insulted, and were compelled to suffer the triumph 
 of the pagans, and to witness the apostasy of their 
 brethren." Gibbon thus testifies how completely every 
 feature I have gathered from the portrait of the prophet 
 is embodied in the dark history and development of that 
 fierce and powerful fanaticism which was let loose, as I 
 showed you in my Lectures on the Apocalypse under the 
 
268 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 figure of the irruption of Euphratean horsemen 7 'for the 
 express purpose of punishing idolatrous Christendom for 
 the transgressions into which they had fallen, that is, the 
 idolatry with which they had desecrated the worship and 
 denied the temple of God. 
 
 I think, then, from these points of coincidence, and 
 from the utter impossibility of applying this picture to 
 any other power in actual history, we are warranted in 
 concluding that the "little horn" that rose up in the 
 eastern empire, of tierce countenance, as described by the 
 prophet, and recorded by the historian, " causing to un- 
 derstand" for the word in the original is in this mood, 
 "causing to understand" dark, mysterious, and oracu- 
 lar sayings, that is, the teaching of the Koran, stamping 
 upon God's people, or, as Gibbon says, " insulting the 
 bishops and the priests," and degrading every Christian 
 with whom they came into contact, and magnifying 
 himself against the prince of the host ; in all these coin- 
 cidences we have the conclusive evidence, or, at least, 
 the strongest possible presumption, that Gibbon, in des- 
 cribing the irruption of Mahometan fanaticism, with all 
 its characteristic features, is the echo of the voice of 
 Daniel describing the little horn springing up in the 
 eastern empire, the fierce king punishing professing 
 Christendom for its great transgression. The following 
 extracts present a correct idea of Mahomet andMahomet- 
 anism : 
 
 Gibbon describes the Koran, with its dark sentences, 
 as an " endless incoherent rhapsody of fable and precept 
 and declamation, which seldom excites a sentiment or an 
 idea, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and is some- 
 times lost in the clouds." 
 
 Gibbon states : "In the exercise of political govern- 
 ment Mahomet was compelled to abate the stern rigour 
 of fanaticism, to comply with the prejudices and passions 
 of his followers, and to employ even the vices of man- 
 kind as the instruments of their salvation. The use of 
 fraud and perfidy, of cruelty and injustice, was often 
 subservient to the propagation of the faith, and Maho- 
 met commanded or approved the assassination of the 
 
THE MOSLEM. 269 
 
 Jews and idolaters who had escaped from the field of 
 battle. / By the repetition of such acts the character of 
 Mahomet must have been gradually stained, and the 
 influence of such pernicious habits would be poorly com- 
 pensated by the practice of the personal and social vir- 
 tues which are necessary to maintain the reputation of a 
 prophet among his sectaries and friends. Of his last 
 years^ ambition was the ruling passion, and a politician 
 well" suspected that he secretly smiled (the victorious 
 impostor) at the enthusiasm of his youth and the credu- 
 lity of his proselytes. In the support of truth the arts 
 of fraud and fiction may be deemed less criminal, and he 
 would have started at the foulness of the means, had he 
 not been satisfied of the importance and justice of the 
 end." } 
 
 "Light and darkness," says Dr. Hales, " were not 
 more opposite than Christ and Mahomet. ./It is no 
 Wonder, therefore, that a sensual and corrupt world 
 loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were 
 evil more congenial to the Koran of Mahomet than to 
 the Gospel of Christ. The pure and holy Jesus, who 
 did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth, who went 
 about doing good to the bodies and souls of men by his 
 beneficent miracles, and still more salutary doctrines, 
 nobly and boldly challenged his enemies to impeach his 
 moral character if they could : ' Which of you con- 
 vinceth me of sin ?' and even his betrayer and perse- 
 cutors bore testimony to the ' innocent blood' of the Son 
 of God, the righteous Son of man. On the contrary,? 
 boundless ambition and unbridled lust, cloaked under tEe 
 most consummate and presumptuous hypocrisy, possessed 
 like fiends the heart of Mahomet. He was indeed a 
 true son of Belial. ''None but great souls can be com- 
 pletely wicked ;' little souls want the ability to contrive 
 and to execute splendid mischief on a great scale. Ma- 
 homet "wore the mask of sanctity and mortification while 
 he was preparing his imposture and establishing his re- 
 putation as an apostle of God and a reformer of the 
 world. But while his mission was acknowledged, and 
 his deluded followers became disposed to swallow the 
 
270 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 greatest impieties and absurdities, implicitly surrender- 
 ing to him all authority over their souls, their senses, and 
 their understandings, he quickly threw off the mask and 
 broke through ull the restraints that prudence and policy 
 had hitherto laid on his impetuous passions, and went 
 about as a raging and roaring lion, seeking whom he 
 might devour, and with the most matchless effrontery, 
 and most daring impiety, he deliberately brought down 
 pretended, revelations from heaven to sanction his lies 
 and pander to his vices." 
 
 " If ever there was a finished hypocrite, possessed of 
 the most audacious and shameless effrontery, it surely 
 was Mahomet, whose God was his belly, Avho gloried in 
 his shame who minded earthly things, under the garb 
 of sanctity and religion." 
 
 * " Islamism, therefore, in its whole extent, is adverse 
 to the mild spirit and liberal genius of Christianity. It 
 was hatched and matured in hypocrisy and falsehood. It 
 was addressed to the appetites and passions of a sensual 
 and corrupt people. It was distinguished by a spirit of 
 hatred and hostility to the rest of mankind, Christians, 
 Jews, Pagans. It befriended arbitrary and despotic 
 power over the souls and bodies of men. It encouraged 
 ignorance, by representing all liberal arts and sciences as 
 unnecessary or as prejudicial, either if not wan-anted by, 
 or if contrary to, the Koran ; and it produced a torpor 
 and apathy which chilled and deadened every tendency 
 to speculative exertion and moral improvement by the 
 desolating doctrine of fixed fate or predestination.".,' 
 
 ]S~ow the next question and it will be very shortly 
 answered is, When did the 2,300 years, at the end of 
 which this "little horn" was to fail, begin? and at 
 what period therefore may it be supposed that its pros- 
 perity closed ? It is not the date of the rise but of the 
 decay of Mahometanism that is here indicated. /*The 
 two dates at one of which the 2,300 years must com- 
 mence, are either the year 538 B.C., when the supremacy 
 of the Persian and Macedonian empire began, or the 
 year 480 B.C., just prior to the defeat of Xerxes on his 
 invasion of Greece. The one period is the commence- 
 
TH.1-: MOSLEM. 271 
 
 ment of the Persian dynasty, the second is the era of 
 its meridian, or its noontide power and glory. We 
 may prefer, for various reasons, the latter period. Take 
 the meridian glory of Persia as its commencement ; and 
 then we shall find that the end of the 2,300 years will 
 bring us down to A.D. 1 820.^ Bicheno, who lived in the 
 last century, stated in 1797 that the 2,300 years, dur- 
 ing the last part of which the Mahometan delusion was 
 to prosper, prevail, and stamp under-foot all that opposed 
 it, began 480 B.C., and would terminate, as he then said, 
 about A.D. 1820. Thirty years ago then, if this pro- 
 phecy be correct, or, rather, if this application of the 
 date here specified be the true one, the Mahometan em- 
 pire began to give way. Is this matter of fact, or is it 
 not ? I might give you, at great length, evidence that 
 it is so. For instance, it is stated in the Annual llegister 
 for the year 1820, "The Ottoman empire had reached 
 its meridian strength, free from all foreign invasion, 
 and in possession of perfect domestic peace." Every- 
 thing in the history of Turkey, up to the spring of 1820, 
 was powerful, peaceful, prosperous. Now just notice 
 what begins to take place at that period. In the sum- 
 mer of that year Ali Pacha revolted against the domi- 
 nion of the sultan, and intestine war began. In October 
 1820, the Greek insurrection took place; and Turkey 
 was crippled in its strength and reduced in its terri- 
 tory. And from 1820, if anybody will be at the 
 trouble to read its history, down to the present hour, 
 plague, earthquake, fire, revolt, destruction, have not 
 ceased continually to lay it waste, till, in the language 
 of Lamartine, " Turkey is dying rapidly for want of 
 Turks." Since 1820, Greece, Wallachia, Moldavia, 
 Algiers, have been separated from the power of the 
 Moslem dominion : and a missionary, writing recently 
 from Constantinople, says, " Turkey is in the agony of 
 dissolution ; " and a traveller, writing on the same sub- 
 ject, says, " There is no law, no safety for property, in this 
 unhappy country." It requires no prophecy to satisfy us 
 that the Mahometan power is rapidly falling to ruin. 
 Now is this an accidental coincidence ? Four hundred 
 
272 PROPHETIC 1 S1TJDIES. 
 
 and eighty years before Christ, when the Persian laws 
 were supreme, and the Persian empire was in its me- 
 ridian power, a "little horn" is predicted to spring up 
 in after ages with features that identify it with the 
 Mahometan superstition ; the very period of the end of 
 its duration is assigned, 2,300 years, from B.C. 480; and 
 so when the end of this 2,300 years comes not a year 
 before or a year after Turkey begins to hear the knell 
 of its approaching doom, and, piecemeal, year by year, 
 it falls to ruin ; and every one who reads the present 
 history of that country knows that every day some new 
 revolutionary reform is taking place in its government. 
 The paddle-wheel disturbs the silence of its waters ; tht 
 European engineer is invited to Constantinople; Protes- 
 tant residents arc multiplying in every direction in the 
 midst of it ; the sultan is casting off the dress, the forms, 
 the ceremonies, the habits of the Turk ; it is ceasing to 
 be a capital crime for a Turk to become a Christian. The 
 sultan has given leave to the Je\vs to build a temple, if 
 they please, in the midst of Jerusalem : and only lately, 
 her Majesty's representative at the court of the sultan 
 secured rights and privileges for all denominations of 
 Christians, and for those of the ancient Armenian 
 churches, utterly incompatible with the essential princi- 
 ples of the Koran, " it dies without hand." /And what 
 renders yet more striking all this fulfilment of prophecy 
 is the fact, that the " little horn" was not, like that 
 which sprung up between the eyes of the goat, to be 
 snapped in sunder, but was to be broken without hands ; 
 or, to use the apocalyptic symbol, the great river Eu- 
 phrates was to be gradually dried up. You have, in the 
 first case, the little horn suddenly broken; but you have 
 in this case the power or dynasty symbolised by the little 
 horn broken without hands, a gradual desolation and 
 decay corresponding to the prediction so plainly denun- 
 ciatecl by Daniel, j 
 
 I have stated, then, the prophecy and the plain his- 
 toric fact. Let us now draw from it, for ourselves, one 
 or two useful lessons. And the first is this, that all the 
 otherwise inexplicable fads in the history of the church 
 
THE MOSLEM. 273 
 
 and of the world are here plainly explained. Not one 
 cloud has fallen upon the church that God did not 
 foresee ; not one opposing force has arisen to obstruct 
 the march of the everlasting Gospel which prophecy 
 has not predicted. /There has occurred no unexpected 
 dislocation there has taken place in the history of the 
 people of Christ no unforeseen corruption ; all has come 
 as God foresaw, and as his prophets predicted ; and 
 therefore we know that God has not because of these 
 things forsaken his church ; but rather, because these 
 have occurred, he has shown his Providence acting in 
 the world's history that which his Spirit inspired in the 
 prophecy of ancient writers. ) 
 
 It is thus, too, that we see in the vise and origin 
 of this system the ever active presence and power of 
 Satan. Mahometanism cnme "like a dark smoke," as the 
 Apocalypse tells us, " from the bottomless pit." Satan 
 is its agent and its inherent might. But his limits are 
 fixed. How delightful to know that God has fixed the 
 bound-lines of his power, and told us in words which 
 can never be contradicted or reversed, when, where, and 
 how his power and his policy shall cease together. And 
 in the next place, do we not see in the very existence of 
 Christianity, amid all those dark and overshadowing 
 superstitions, an evidence of the presence of God ? The 
 Gospel has been the creation and the care of the living 
 God, or it must have been extinguished long ago. ^Ml 
 elements have assailed it all forms have tried to over- 
 shadow it but it has emerged not only existing, but 
 triumphant, from them all, and proved that it is linked 
 with the throne, overshadowed by the presence, inspired 
 by the truth, and protected by the power of God himself. 
 And every one of these triumphs of the Gospel is surely 
 a fore-augury and a fore-earnest that it will eventually 
 triumph^/ A religion that has survived so much is surely 
 not destined to perish ; a book that has emerged from so 
 many dread collisions is surely not a book that is to be 
 ultimately destroyed. What the Gospel has done is a 
 pledge and presentiment of what the Gospel will do. 
 Its existence to-day is the strongest proof that it will 
 
274 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 last while the sun and moon endure. (''Every prophet 
 says so ; every history indicates that it will be so, and 
 every fact that is occurring around us the folly of its 
 opponents and the wisdom of its friends, speech and 
 silence is giving token of its rapid and approaching 
 triumph.^ The crescent wanes, and the cry of the 
 Muezzim becomes fainter the cimeter is less appealed 
 to, and craft is more exposed. The Hindoo is ceasing to 
 light the fire for the consumption of the widow, and the 
 China-woman refuses to leave her babe to perish in the 
 streets of Pekin. The Indian objects to drag the san- 
 guinary chariot of Juggernaut over the bleeding remains 
 of his fellow-creatures, and the Hindoo mother no longer 
 casts the infant that she bore into the waters of the 
 Ganges. The altars of Paganism crumble, the lights in 
 the temple of superstition are being extinguished one 
 by one, and the first dawn begins to overspread the 
 distant lands of the world, of that emerging " Sun," 
 which shall soon arise with " healing in his wings," 
 assume his noontide throne, and cover the whole earth 
 with that glory that never shall be diminished. /The 
 Thames and the Tiber, the Danube and the Rhone, 
 among the waters of Europe, shall soon call on the 
 Ganges, the Euphrates and Nile in the East, and both 
 joined by the Ohio, the Missouri, and Mississippi, the 
 great rivers of America, in the far west, shall meet and 
 mingle ; and the praise of the Lord shall arise as the 
 voice of many waters, and the wide world shall be 
 covered with the knowledge of him, as the waters cover 
 the channels of the great deep. All that God has pro- 
 claimed to be fulfilled has been fulfilled ; all that God 
 has said is to be fulfilled in the future will be fulfilled ; all 
 shall bless him and shall be blessed in him. We stand 
 on the threshold of great and solemn events : a great 
 epoch in which a thousand prophecies are being fulfilled 
 is just at our doors; an era, as I have told you before, 
 of short but terrible duration, in which old controversies 
 shall be revived and new controversies shall be added, 
 and all dangers meet and mingle in one dread turmoil, 
 is just about to overtake us. There is at the present 
 
T1IE MOSLEM. 275 
 
 moment a pause, but only a lull ; it is not the settling 
 down of all to quiet, it is a lull which betokens to re- 
 flecting minds the outburst of a more terrific and irre- 
 sistible storm, before which all ecclesiastical and all civil 
 bulwarks and battlements the consolidations of centuries 
 shall bow, tremble, and break up. Some smiled at me 
 when. I told you, three or four years ago, that our 
 Church establishments, if prophecy speaks plainly, were 
 soon to give what has already taken place signs of 
 approaching dissolution. One of the representatives of 
 the Episcopal bench tells the House of Lords that a great 
 secession is about to take place, and proposes ecclesi- 
 astical despotism as the only resistant. Men distin- 
 guished for their earnestness and zeal, but blinded by a 
 dread superstition, are rushing from us into that great 
 apostasy, which has been drunk with the blood of saints, 
 and is still bent upon their ruin. All things give token 
 that institutions venerable for their age, valued for use- 
 fulness, Scriptural in their foundations, are about to give 
 way, in order that there may emerge from the chaos a 
 church more beautiful by far, whose foundations are the 
 attributes of God, whose altar is the living Lamb, whose 
 towers shall sparkle in the rays of rising and of setting 
 suns throughout millennial days, and in perfect peace 
 for ever and ever. ) 
 
 My dear friends, if ever there was a crisis when a 
 man should ask himself, "What am I ? and "Where am I 
 to be ? it is the hour in which our lot is cast. Tell me, 
 then, not the sect to which you belong, but the side to 
 which you cleave. Let me beg of you this day to 
 answer, beseeching you to ask your own consciences in 
 the sight of God, Am I a Christian, or am I not ? not 
 Am I an Episcopalian, a Presbyterian, or an Indepen- 
 dent ? Any of these you may be, and not be a Christian 
 at all. But, is my heart renewed ? is my soul reformed ? 
 are my sins forgiven and blotted out ? am I a new 
 creature ? do I hate what I once loved ? do I now love 
 what I once hated ? do I count all things but loss for 
 the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus : and, 
 Do I feel it my duty to consecrate every hour that 
 
 T 2 
 
276 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 remains to the service of that Master, who died that I 
 might live, and rose again that I might be holy and 
 happy for ever ? 
 
 xTair-weather Christianity will not do in the time 
 into which we are rushing. That sentimental and 
 tasteful religion, so elegant because so indifferent, so 
 beautiful to the natural man because so cold and statue- 
 like, will not do. Intensity is taking possession of and 
 rushing into everything upon earth. Infidels are be- 
 coming intensely so ; pagans are becoming intensely so. 
 Should Christians alone become more cold, more callous, 
 more indifferent ? A new life is proceeding from be- 
 neath, and taking possession of all Satan's agencies. A 
 new life is descending from on high, and taking pos- 
 session of all God's people ; and pious men are begin- 
 ning, more than ever, to feel now that there is nothing, 
 comparatively, worth contending for, but the glory of 
 Christ, the salvation of souls, the spread of evangelical 
 religion, the supremacy of Protestant and Scriptural 
 truth. If, then, the only rock that will stand is the 
 Rock of ages ; if the only vessel that will float securely 
 upon the waters is that ark which God himself has pre- 
 pared ; make sure that your building is on that rock ; 
 be sure that you are in that vessel. Do not, my dear 
 friends, risk eternity on a probability. And if you 
 should not be spared to enter that chaos which is 
 coming, but should be removed and called to the judg- 
 ment-seat of God before, in either case it becomes you, 
 and it becomes me, to ask ourselves, What will eternity 
 be to us ? No man goes blindfold to heaven. He knows, 
 if he will look into his own conscience, and read it, 
 whether he is going to heaven or not. It is not at all a 
 difficult question. A man whose heart is absorbed in 
 his counting-house, whose pleasure is the gaming-table, 
 or the follies, the gaity, and the amusements of this 
 world ; whose highest excitement is the opera or the 
 playhouse ; who has little thought about eternity, but 
 many thoughts about what he shall eat or drink, and 
 wherewithal he shall be clothed ; gives no proof of a 
 procession heavenward. My dear friends, I cannot dis- 
 
THE MOSLEM. 277 
 
 guise from you the fact, if such be the type of your 
 character, that you are marching on the broad road as 
 plainly, as intelligibly, as if your name and your doom 
 were written upon the Iroad blue firmament, and every 
 eye could read it, and every ear could hear it. 
 
 But you, on the other hand, who ' count all things 
 but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
 Jesus;" you who are resting upon the living Saviour, 
 as your only hope; whose heart's desire and prayer is, 
 that you may know what true life is, that you may feel 
 what the power of real religion is ; you who bring your 
 property, your time, your talents, and your influence, 
 and pray that God would consecrate them, and make 
 them all subserve his holy will, and the good of your 
 fellow-creatures ; you whose only Sanctifier is the Holy 
 Spirit, whose bright hope is the kingdom that never can 
 be removed ; there is no doubt about your destiny. 
 You are in the path which may be narrow, which may 
 have many obstructions and many difficulties, but it 
 leads you to the presence of him " in whose presence is 
 fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are 
 pleasures for evermore. 'jy 
 
 My dear friends, do not leave the house of prayer 
 this night without choosing whom ye will serve. Be 
 decided. Do not live in doubt. Do not have any more 
 suspensive feelings about the future, or anxious thoughts 
 about the present, but go now with bended knee, and 
 believing heart, and vow solemnly, in the sight and 
 hearing of the Searcher of hearts, that, as for you, for 
 the rest of your life, you will be the Lord's. 
 
LECTURE XIX. 
 
 FASTING. 
 
 " And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by 
 prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, 
 and ashes" DANIEL ix. 3. 
 
 THE whole chapter from which I have selected my 
 text is rich with Christian petitions. I know not that 
 there is in the Bible a sublimcr litany than that which 
 is contained in this chapter, or clauses more appropriate 
 as channels of a Christian's prayers, than such earnest, 
 beautiful, and yet simple ones as these " Lord, hear; 
 Lord, forgive ; Lord, hearken and do ; defer not, 
 for thine own sake, my God : for thy city and thy 
 people are called by thy name." The whole chapter as 
 we pass along will suggest precious thoughts as well as 
 seasonable prescriptions for prayer. In this lecture I 
 will introduce my reflections in the words which I have 
 now read. " I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek 
 by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, 
 and ashes." The whole chapter as indeed is indicated 
 here is a specimen of the inner life of the prophet 
 Daniel. He who was made illustrious for his prophetic 
 wisdom, as is proved in previous chapters, was not the 
 less remarkable for his earnest, his spiritual and devoted 
 praj-ers: and perhaps he was so wise as a prophet, 
 because he was so devoted as a suppliant. If he had 
 prayed less fervently, he had perhaps been favoured 
 with much less remarkable and interesting prophecy. 
 It was by prayer he drew down the light which he 
 needed for the present, and which made the future so 
 luminous to his eyes. ] t was by prayer that he drew 
 down the omnipresence of God to shelter him in the 
 
PASTING. 279 
 
 den of lions, and to protect him in the hour of peril from 
 the machinations of his bitter and relentless enemies. 
 And if we are not called upon to prophesy as Daniel 
 prophesied, because the age of prophecj^ has passed away, 
 we are certainly called upon, not only here, but through- 
 out the whole Bible, to pray as Daniel prayed, for the 
 age of prayer still lasts. Our wants are deep, our 
 necessities as many as his, and, blessed be the name of 
 Him with whom we have to do, he is as ready to forgive 
 the sins and hear the prayers of the nineteenth century 
 as those of the six hundredth year before the birth 
 of our Lord ; for his mercy is now what is was then, 
 unchangeable by circumstance, inexhaustible by time : 
 " The Lord merciful and gracious, long- suffering and 
 abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for 
 thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." 
 As far as relates to prophecy, the sacred canon is now 
 closed, and therefore we may not expect that we shall 
 be gifted with the spirit of prophecy. There is a time 
 mentioned in the Eible for everything a time for pro- 
 phecy, which ceased with Malachi, under the Old Tes- 
 tament, and with John in the New. There is a time to 
 pray which shall only cease when there shall be no more 
 wants to be supplied, and there shall only be praise for the 
 full and perfect rest of every affection and desire. The 
 present age is not the age of uttering prophecy, but the 
 age of the fulfilment of prophecy. It is to me one of the 
 most interesting studies to trace the outlines of the future 
 as sketched in the Bible, and to watch the filling up line 
 upon line of that outline which is taking place in the 
 present. What is modern history? The translation of. 
 ancient prophecy; and the longer modern history records 
 its facts, and rolls along its stream, the more clear and 
 remarkable is the light that is cast upon ancient pro- 
 phecy, reminding us that once holy men of God spake as 
 they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; and proving in the 
 second place, that God reigns in Providence as surely as 
 he ruled in the affairs of ancient Babylon. Every day 
 strengthens the conviction that God has taken care that 
 the minutest jot and tittle of all that he has predicted 
 
280 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 shall bo adequately and certainly performed. But while 
 the age of prophecy, as far as it was inspired, has thus 
 passed away, the age and need of prayer still lasts. It 
 is an instinct of the human, an inspiration of the divine, 
 a privilege Christians enjoy, a duty all men should bow 
 to. I will take an opportunity in a subsequent discourse 
 of enlarging upon the nature and characteristics of 
 prayer. This evening I am anxious to call your atten- 
 tion to a subject on which various opinions have been, 
 and are now entertained, and on the obligation of which 
 various controversies have been held ; namely, that 
 which is here stated to have accompanied Daniel's 
 prayer, " fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." There is a 
 constant allusion throughout the whole of the Old 
 Testament to " fasting, sackcloth, and ashes," as accom- 
 paniments of prayer. There are also frequent allusions 
 to fasting scattered throughout the New Testament; 
 and some are strongly convinced, that even as an evan- 
 gelical duty they are bound to practice it, and believe 
 that those who cannot see that it is obligatory upon 
 them in this dispensation, are guilty of violating a clear 
 and unequivocal commandment of our blessed Lord. I 
 will glance very briefly at this interesting, and, in some 
 degree, very practical inquiry. 
 
 In all the works that Christ, that great example, 
 performed, I do not find that, except in one special 
 instance, so clearly supernatural as to be placed beyond 
 the range of any approximate imitation on our part, 
 our blessed Lord ever fasted. The only occasion on 
 which he is said to have fasted, was, when he was in 
 the wilderness, during a period of forty days, led up by 
 the Spirit to be tempted, not for the purpose of fasting, 
 for fasting was an incident, not an end. That he felt 
 no hunger during that fast, is abundantly plain from the 
 observations contained in Matt. iv. 2, which records, 
 that when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he 
 " was afterwards an hungred ;" as if he were not 
 hungry during the forty days that he fasted, but only 
 after the forty days had expired ; words which imply, 
 I think, without straining the passage, that the fasting 
 
FASTING. 281 
 
 of our Lord was not the mere abstinence from food, but 
 a complete withdrawal from the more public duties of 
 his sublime ministry, a season of solitary, sequestered, 
 and isolated, or rather insulated, communion with God. 
 
 But it has been argued, from Matt. vi. 16, that our 
 Lord expressly enjoins fasting. He says, for instance, 
 in that passage, " Moreover when ye fast, be not, as 
 the hypocrites, of a sad countenance : for they disfigure 
 their laces, that they may appear unto men to fast." 
 Heading this passage, a person may naturally infer that 
 our Lord here prescribes fasting as a positive duty ; but 
 I do not think that such an inference can be legitimately 
 deduced from it ; because we find him alluding to vari- 
 ous practices thtft prevailed among the Jews in his clay, 
 which are not believed by any to be obligatory on us. 
 He merely regulated the existing practices which we 
 know were then lawful, but have now passed away. 
 
 We have an instance of this in Matt. v. 23, where he 
 says, " Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and 
 there remcmberest that thy brother hath aught against 
 thee ; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy 
 way." There was an altar in the temple; but this 
 temple and that altar have ceased to exist. "We know 
 that, by the very nature of the Gospel, there is but one 
 altar, namely Jesus, who was at once the altar, the 
 sacrifice, and the priest. Hence those prescriptions of 
 bringing the gift to the altar, and leaving it there, and 
 then going to be reconciled to a brother, are not to be 
 considered as a reason for the permanent existence of an 
 altar in every church, but the temporary correction of a 
 fault committed under that economy which had not 
 then wholly passed away. 
 
 It seems to me clear, that when our Lord alluded 
 to fasting, he was not enjoining a duty permanently 
 obligatory, but regulating and correcting the abuse of 
 an existing practice which he found perverted among 
 the people to whom he preached. We have another 
 instance of the same thing in Matt, xxiii. 18 : " Who- 
 soever sweareth by the altar, it is nothing ; but who- 
 soever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty." 
 
282 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 And again, ""Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 
 hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and 
 cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the 
 law.'' He alludes to practices that then prevailed. He 
 does not prescribe tithes as permanent obligations ; but 
 he regulates the conduct of the Jews in the then exist- 
 ing duties, and no more. 
 
 Our Lord's remarks on fasting are to be considered 
 in the light of the passages I have quoted, not as the 
 inculcation of a permanent precept obligatory upon us, 
 but simply as a direction intended to regulate a practice 
 which he found grossly and grievously abused. There 
 is not any passage, throughout the whole Old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures (and this will startle you if you have not 
 noticed it before), that positively and directly enforces 
 fasting, however venerated in the feelings or prevalent 
 in the practice of the Jews The only passage that 
 seems capable of this construction is Leviticus xvi. 29, 
 where it is said, " This shall be a statute for ever unto 
 you : that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the 
 month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at 
 all." 13 ut it is not the word "fast" that is used, but 
 the words " afflict your souls," which would seem to 
 mean humbling the soul, drawing near to God, in the 
 exercise of penitence, supplication, and prayer. But 
 though it is not a divine prescription, it is yet unques- 
 tionable, that in almost every instance of fervent piety, 
 and especially of public prayer, fasting was observed. 
 In the case of Ahab, he humbled himself, and fasted, 
 and prayed, in sackcloth and ashes. So in the case of 
 Daniel before us : he fasted in sackcloth, and in weep- 
 ing and with ashes. So the people of Nineveh fasted 
 with weeping, and in sackcloth and ashes. So Jonah 
 speaks of fasting. But it is Avorthy of notice, that those 
 who quote the passages I have read, only take out of 
 each text so much as suits them. If those texts are to 
 be literally observed, and are obligatory at all, then 
 there must be, first, prayer; secondly, fasting; and, 
 thirdly, sackcloth and ashes. The advocates of the per- 
 manent obligation of literal fasting as the accompani- 
 
FASTING. 283 
 
 ment of prayer, understanding by fasting, abstinence 
 from food, take this one practice ; but they leave out 
 the other two, viz., the wearing of sackcloth, putting 
 ashes on the head, or the lying on the ground. 
 
 If you insist that fasting is clearly and literally en- 
 joined in this passage, you must allow me to insist that 
 the wearing of sackcloth, and putting ashes on the head, 
 are as clearly and as literally enjoined. At the same 
 time, I hold that fasting is unquestionably referred to 
 in Scripture, and in some respect, I believe, in its spirit, 
 and true import, and right use, it is obligatory upon 
 every true Christian. It does not always mean, as it 
 has been generally considered to mean, pure abstinence 
 from food, as I think such a passage, for instance, as 
 Joel i. 14 clearly shows : " Sanctify ye a fast, call a 
 solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabit- 
 ants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, 
 and cry unto the Lord." This cannot mean abstinence 
 from food this is inadmissible, because the judgment 
 under which the people was actually suffering was 
 famine ; for it is said, " The vine is dried up, and the 
 fig- tree languisheth; the pomegranate- tree, the palm-tree 
 also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, 
 are withered." And in verses 17, 18, "The seed is 
 rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, 
 the barns are broken down ; for the corn is withered. 
 How do the beasts groan ! the herds of cattle are per- 
 plexed, because they have no pasture." In short, there 
 was a literal famine predominant throughout the land. 
 This was the actual judgment ; and if so, what would 
 be the meaning of prescribing to a people starving for 
 hunger, fasting or abstinence from food? This inter- 
 pretation is untenable it is obviously absurd. So in 
 Joel ii. 12 " Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn 
 ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, 
 and with weeping, and with mourning." This he ex- 
 plains in verse 13 : " And rend your heart, and not 
 your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God : for 
 he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great 
 kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." 
 
284 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 True fasting is not a piece of mere externalism a 
 mere mechanical act; it is far higher, it is a fasting 
 that the soul undergoes, not an outward abstinence 
 which the body alone can feel. It consists not in ab- 
 staining from food, wearing of sackcloth, and sitting in 
 ashes, but in humbling the soul, in bowing the heart, 
 in wearing a meek, lowly, and humble spirit. This is 
 fasting worthy of the name, this tends to a good pur- 
 pose. I refer to a passage in Matt. ix. 14, which will, 
 I think, confirm the position I have already taken : 
 " Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why 
 do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast 
 not ?" To which our Lord replies, in the next verse, 
 Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as 
 the bridegroom is with them ? but the days will come, 
 when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and 
 then shall they fast" Does he not here imply that 
 mourning and fasting are convertible terms, and that he 
 that mourns and is truly humbled in heart fasts, in fact, 
 though not in appearance, truly in the sight of God, 
 though unseen by men? There is, I say again, no 
 evidence that our blessed Lord fasted according to the 
 rites and practices of the Jews, except on one special 
 occasion already referred to, if indeed then, and his con- 
 duct in it is wholly inimitable by us. But to suppose 
 that by observing forty days of abstinence from animal 
 food, while we indulge in all the other delicacies of the 
 season, is to imitate our blessed Lord, is a thorough nnd 
 useless piece of Pharisaic formalism. "To undo the 
 heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free," this is the 
 fast that God hath chosen, and nothing but this is so 
 near an imitation of him " who went about doing good." 
 In Matt. xvii. 14 21, we have another allusion to 
 fasting, which is worth looking at, in order to enable us 
 more clearly to judge of its true meaning : " And when 
 they were cornc to the multitude, there came to him a 
 certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, 
 have mercy on my son : for he is a lunatic, and sore 
 vexed : for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft 
 into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, 
 
FASTING. 285 
 
 and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered 
 and said, faithless and perverse generation, how long 
 shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? 
 bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil ; 
 and he departed out of him : and the child was cured 
 from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus 
 apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out ? And 
 Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for 
 verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of 
 mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove 
 hence to yonder place ; and it shall remove : and no- 
 thing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind 
 goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." What is 
 meant by fasting here, to which so much importance 
 seems to be attributed ? One thing is perfectly obvious, 
 that faith is the grace requisite in order to work the 
 miracle, and that unbelief was the reason why they 
 could not cast out the foul spirit. Our Lord does not 
 say that their not fasting was the reason why they 
 could not cast him out, or that fasting was a practice in 
 the exercise of which they could cast him out ; but that 
 faith was wanted, and that unbelief was the reason of 
 the failure. Fasting i.e. insulation from the world, 
 and prayer or earnest application to God, were and are, 
 he indicates, the means of obtaining this faith. 
 
 But we naturally ask, in considering the meaning of 
 fasting and its application, What is the end of fasting ? 
 Not to mortify the body, as men seem generally to con- 
 sider, but to mortify, as the Bible tells us, the lusts or 
 the deeds of the body. And it seems to me therefore 
 that whatever may be one's predominating moral dis- 
 ease, fasting is the withdrawal of the evil that feeds 
 and facilitates the progress of that disease. And so it 
 appears to me that the fasting which our Lord enjoins 
 as the accompaniment of prayer must be viewed in the 
 light of the special malady for which it is adopted. 
 And what would be fasting most appropriate in one 
 case would just be the very reverse and most inappro- 
 priate in another case. For instance, if you find one 
 whose besetting sin is excessive indulgence at the table 
 
286 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 one of the most humiliating and most discreditable of 
 man's weaknesses and by this I mean not the man 
 who eats to excess at one meal, which surely is a rare 
 thing, because an unnatural thing, but the man who 
 dines twice, once by anticipation and once actually and 
 truly ; whose anxiety in the morning is what he shall 
 eat and what he shall drink ; who thinks much about 
 the enjoyments of the table not, be it observed, an un- 
 common thing in this age of luxury, civilisation, and 
 social refinement, as it is called it is that man's duty 
 to fast in the sense of eating less, thinking less on such 
 a subject, and being more anxious about more important 
 and weightier things, and less so about what he shall 
 eat and drink. In his case fasting is a duty ; but it 
 means not abstaining from food, but taking the food 
 provided for him, thinking about it less, and about 
 better things more. 
 
 But suppose the case of another person who is ad- 
 dicted to an excessive use of alcohol in any of its shapes, 
 who parts with his senses, his reason, and responsibilitv, 
 under the excessive excitement of alcoholic stimulants, 
 what is the cure for such a person ? I hope I address no 
 individual here who is the victim of so debased and 
 brutal a habit a habit that is even rebuked by the 
 beasts of the field, and denounced in the most awful 
 tones in the Word of God ; for drunkards, we are told, 
 shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. But what 
 is the cure for such a person ? I believe that of human 
 and mechanical means there is no other remedy than 
 total abstinence. And why r Because he at least can- 
 not control his use of alcoholic stimulants. But if A 
 uses wine as a refreshment or as necessary to him, and 
 uses it without in the least passing the bounds of mode- 
 ration, it would not be right to say to A, "You shall 
 abstain totally from the use of it, because B cannot touch 
 it without being intoxicated." But you should say to A, 
 " Continue in the legitimate and proper use of what God 
 has not forbidden, and what science has proved to be 
 occasionally useful;" and we should say to B, who can- 
 not touch it without indulging to excess, "It is your 
 
FASTING. 287 
 
 duty at once totally to abstain from it." And when- 
 ever I have met with drunkards, and spoken to them, I 
 have always felt that total abstinence is the only right 
 prescription in their case. They have lost their self- 
 control, and their passion for intoxicating liquors has 
 become, not only a moral sin, which makes them odious 
 in the sight of God, but a physical disease, the only 
 cure for which is total abstinence from the pernicious 
 cause that feeds it at all hazards and on every occasion. 
 But because this is the fasting which becomes B, who 
 cannot touch wine without taking it to excess, it is not 
 the fasting which is required in the case of A, who 
 takes it in its place and for its proper use. 
 
 Let rne take another instance, and you will sec how 
 truly fasting is a usage to be observed in the spirit, and 
 not in the letter. {Suppose the case of a miser, who 
 spends his days in endeavouring only to make and 
 amass money, and his nights in counting the gains he 
 has accumulated in the day, or devising fresh schemes 
 for increasing his hoard one, in short, who is the 
 victim of that frightful disease which is always gather- 
 ing and never distributing. Suppose some one Avcre 
 to go to him and say, "Lent has arrived; you ought 
 during these forty days to fast and abstain from food." 
 The miser will tell you, "I stint myself in every meal, 
 and every day, in order to save and to accumulate money; 
 and therefore to tell me to fast is only to ask me to do 
 what I have been doing continually for the last ten or 
 twenty years." Plainly, abstinence from food is not 
 the fasting that such a man requires ; but the fasting 
 that is proper for him is to take of his hoarded wealth 
 and give to that poor starving widow ; to take of his 
 abundance and clothe those shivering orphans ; to dis- 
 tribute garments to the naked, and to deal bread to the 
 hungry. To a man like this we would say, " Such is 
 the fast that the Lord thy God requires of thee." 
 
 Let me give another instance to show how W T C are to 
 observe this custom of the prophets in the spirit, and 
 not in the letter. Take the case of the victim of inces- 
 sant and excessive excitement one who goes to the 
 
238 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 opera three times a-wcck, and to the playhouse twice; 
 one who is a large subscriber to the circulating library 
 of stimulating romances, the most pernicious reading 
 in which the rational mind can indulge. That person 
 lives in constant excitement, and becomes gradually 
 unfitted for the ordinary and proper employments in 
 which a Christian ought to engage. "What is the fast- 
 ing proper for such an individual ? Not the eating less 
 food, for she eats too little already ; for the mind, being 
 in a state of excitement, acts upon the body just as if 
 that body were in a state of constant fever. Ihe proper 
 prescription for such a person is, "Give up your box 
 at the opera leave off going to the playhouse with- 
 draw your subscription from the library. Do not ask 
 continually what is the last new novel ; go and be a 
 Sunday-school teacher ; become the secretary of a cloth- 
 ing or benevolent society, or go out as a district visitor ; 
 engage in works of active beneficence, arid your mind 
 and body will then acquire their proper health, and 
 you will find, not in the literal abstinence from food, 
 which is not required, but in loosing the bands of 
 wickedness, undoing the heavy burdens, and letting the 
 oppressed go free, the fasting which God requires." 
 
 Such seems to me to be fasting in its spiritual and 
 right sense, viewed especially in the light of those cases 
 in our experience which it is intended to meet. 
 
 In watching the conduct of the apostles immediately 
 after the ascension of our Lord, we find that on some 
 occasions they did fast according to the ceremonial in- 
 troduced by the Jews, namely, by abstaining from 
 food ; but it is as plain that they conformed to many 
 other Jewish practices that were not injurious to the 
 spirit and purity of Christianity, under the rule that 
 Paul lays down of becoming all things to all men, in 
 order that he might win some. We find St. Paul saying 
 in one passage, " that he was in fastings often;" from 
 which some have argued that we also should frequently 
 fast. But the Apostle, in the very same passage, says 
 that he was in perils often, both by land and by sea ; it 
 cannot, however, hence be argued that we too should go 
 
FASTING. 289 
 
 and seek our perils by sea and land. And surely, it 
 never can be argued that we ought to imitate the 
 Apostle in fasting, unless we imitate him in what he 
 was compelled to undergo, the painful accompaniments 
 which he enumerates. It appears from the context that 
 this fasting was not what he voluntarily practised, but 
 what he was compelled by his persecutors involuntarily 
 to endure ; it is not therefore a precedent he gives for 
 us to follow, but a suffering which he mentions as 
 assigned to himself. 
 
 Subsequently to the Apostle's days we find fasting or 
 abstinence from food almost the glory, if I may so call 
 it, of the Nicene Church ; and it was specially practised 
 by the Gnostic heretics, who believed that man's body 
 was constitutionally the curse of his soul ; and that to 
 persecute and scourge and lacerate the body, was the 
 only way to emancipate and elevate the loftier nature 
 within it. And if you will be at the trouble to read 
 the Roman Breviary, or the history of the saints that 
 have been canonised by that Church, you will find them 
 all notorious for scourging, lacerating, and tormenting 
 the body with nettles, spikes, thorns, hunger, nakedness, 
 supposing that there was something essentially and in- 
 herently sinful in the matter, and that only by its anni- 
 hilation or destruction, and not by its sanctification, was 
 man to be made holy and happy and like God. It is 
 certainly not unworthy of being noticed on the present 
 occasion, that those countries in which there are the 
 most fast-days, are the very countries in which the 
 Sabbath is least of all observed. You will find, if you 
 read the Roman Catholic periodical press, the Tablet 
 and other publications of a similar description, the most 
 furious invectives against anything like an approach on 
 the part of our country to hallowing the Sabbath day. 
 And why ? Because they have raised to a level with 
 the Sabbath the ordinances and the commandments of 
 men ; and in Roman Catholic countries Good Friday is 
 far more solemnly observed than the Sabbath-day, and 
 saints' days are much more decorously kept than the 
 Lord's day. This is just what we might expect. " No 
 
 u 
 
290 PEOPUET1C STUDIES. 
 
 man can serve two masters." If you try to serve man's 
 tradition and God's command equally, the result will be 
 that man's tradition will become supreme and God's 
 commandment will become depressed, because God's 
 word is uncongenial to the natural man, for his heart is 
 enmity to it, whereas man's tradition ministers to the 
 natural man, and is therefore welcome to him. Hence, 
 wherever fast days, instituted by man, have been set up 
 as of equal obligation with the Sabbath, ordained of 
 God, we shall find the Sabbath-da}- become ultimately 
 nothing, and the fast-day become all. So much is this 
 the case, that in the Roman Catholic Catechism used at 
 Rome, the third commandment in their arrangement is 
 given as " Remember to keep holy the festivals;" 
 " Recordati sanctificare le feste ; " not a syllable being 
 mentioned about keeping holy the Sabbath-day. It is 
 not only practically expunged from the observance of 
 the people, it is theoretically banished from the Cate- 
 chisms of the Church ; the holiday invented by the 
 priest totally superseding the holy day instituted by 
 God. And it is very remarkable, that in ancient times 
 the men who fasted most i.e. abstained from food, and 
 scourged the flesh, instead of being the most humble, 
 were almost without exception most notorious for their 
 violent and ungovernable tempers. To give you an 
 instance : In the fourth century of the Christian era, 
 lived two divines, the history of each of whom I have 
 read and studied, Jerome, the great advocate of fasting 
 and of monkery, and Yigilantius, the great opponent of 
 both. The remains of the writings of Vigilantius are 
 very few, and are only to be found in the volumes of his 
 adversary, with whom he carried on a very ardent and 
 lengthened controversy. Now, if you will read the 
 productions of Vigilantius, the opponent of carnal fast- 
 ing, you will find them full of a beautiful and quiet 
 spirit, replete with gentleness and forbearance, ever 
 putting the best interpretation on the conduct of his 
 adversary, and yet firmly contending that fasting, or 
 abstinence from food, and total retreat from society were 
 not of divine obligation. Jerome, on the other hand, 
 
FASTING. 291 
 
 who fasted from food to a severe extent, calls his oppo- 
 nent endless nicknames, makes puns of his name, and 
 displays always the most bitter and quarrelsome spirit. 
 So that the man who never observed a fast-day or a 
 feast-day, but ate what was convenient for him, was of 
 a beautiful and Christian temper ; while the man that 
 fasted, and went into the desert, and clothed himself 
 with rags, and walked barefoot, was notorious for the 
 most violent, unsanctified, and ungovernable temper. 
 "We learn from this, that it needs grace to sanctify the 
 soul ; and that whether you pamper or starve the body, 
 or whether you feast or fast, you do not thereby neces- 
 sarily purify the soul. Christianity presents to us some- 
 thing nobler and grander than prescriptions either for 
 feasting or for fasting. " One believeth," says the 
 Apostle, " that he may eat all things : another, who is 
 weak, eateth herbs." Then mark what is his command : 
 "Let not him that eateth despisfe him that eateth 
 not ; and let not him which eateth not judge him that 
 eateth : for God hath received him. Who art thou that 
 judgest another man's servant ? to his own master he 
 standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up : for 
 God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one 
 day above another : another esteemeth every day alike." 
 Every English churchman believes that Good Eriday is 
 obligatory. If he believes it, he ought to observe it. 
 Every Scottish churchman, on grounds, perhaps, equally 
 strong, both being extra-scriptural, believes it is not of 
 divine origin. Let him not observe it. One esteems 
 one day above another. Another esteems every day 
 alike. Where God hath not spoken, " let every one be 
 fully persuaded in his own mind." 
 
 If men would only recollect this, members of teetotal 
 societies would not call men who think it is lawful to 
 taste wine, drunkards ; and men who think it is proper 
 to drink wine would not call members of teetotal so- 
 cieties fanatics. But each would be fully persuaded in 
 his mind, he that eateth eating to the Lord, and he 
 that eateth not eating not to the Lord. Eor the 
 sublime and noble character of the Gospel is this, " the 
 
 u 2 
 
292 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 kingdom of God is not meat nor drink, but righteousness, 
 and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." " Meat com- 
 xnendeth us not to God ; for neither if we eat are we 
 the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse." 
 " He is not a Jew, who is one outwardly ; neither is 
 that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh : but 
 he is a Jew, who is one inwardly ; and circumcision is 
 that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; 
 whose praise is not of men, but of God." 
 
 What good sense, what loftiness of spirit, breathes in 
 the Gospel ! The more we examine it, the more we see 
 how worthy it is of God to give it, and how suitable and 
 profitable it is for man to accept it. And if we had only 
 a profound er sense of the necessity of a new heart, we 
 should have less dispute about meat and drink, and 
 holy-days, and feast-days, and fast-days, feeling that the 
 kingdom of God is not an outward observance, or con- 
 ventionalism of any sort, but an inner state, " righteous- 
 ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." We are 
 justified, not by fasting, but by the righteousness of 
 Christ alone. "We are sanctified, not by the tormenting 
 of the body, but by the renewal of the heart by the 
 Holy Spirit of God alone. Make sure that you are ac- 
 cepted in God's sight, by resting on the righteousness 
 that Christ accomplished for you ; and that you are 
 sanctified in God's sight by being made meet for heaven 
 by the Holy Spirit that is promised to you ; and all the 
 discussions that have vexed the world about meat and 
 drink, and fast-days, and feast-days, will be crowded 
 into very little bulk indeed. And very remarkable it is, 
 that just in the ratio in which men lose sight of vital 
 religion, do they become attached to, and absorbed with 
 days, and forms, and ceremonies. There is no clearer 
 sign of a church losing her glory, than when the ten- 
 dency of her ministers is to busy themselves much 
 about such matters. And when such a church forgets 
 that the inner beauty is the true beauty, the beauty of 
 holiness, and begins to increase in inferior beauty by 
 robes borrowed from Aaron's faded wardrobe, and the 
 flamens' heathen vestry, trying to make a grand im- 
 
FASTING. 293 
 
 pression in the sight of man by splendid robes and 
 pompous rites, she is all the while losing those inner 
 and hidden excellences in which God delights, and 
 which the spiritual man alone can appreciate. If you 
 are satisfied that you are justified by the righteousness, 
 and ransomed by the atonement of Jesus alone, you will 
 not believe that any rite is essential to 3 r our acceptance 
 before God. And if you are thoroughly convinced that 
 you are renewed in your heart by the Holy Spirit alone, 
 you will not care to discuss much whether you ought to 
 be plunged in much water or sprinkled with a little. 
 If you feel deeply the necessity of an inner change, by 
 the Spirit and not by the baptism, you will find you 
 have something better to think about than a fruitless 
 discussion, or an idle controversy. Take a Baptist who 
 is a spiritual man, and take an Episcopalian or a Presby- 
 terian who is equally so, and they will agree to differ 
 about the quantity of water to be used in baptism, 
 because they are practically agreed about this one thing, 
 "Except a man be born again of water and of the 
 Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 
LECTURE XX. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 " And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek ly prayer 
 and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes" 
 DANIEL ix. 3. 
 
 PRAYER was the expression of the spiritual life of 
 Daniel. It is not unworthy of our exposition. We 
 cannot overrate the importance of prayer, or attach to it 
 too great excellence, short of attaching or attributing to 
 it anything that belongs to God. There is a very beauti- 
 ful definition given of it in a hymn by the Moravian 
 poet, James Montgomery. He tells us that 
 
 " Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
 
 Unutter'd, ov express'd, 
 The motion of a hidden fire 
 
 That trembles in the breast. 
 
 " Prayer is the burden of a sigh, 
 
 The falling of a tear, 
 The upward glancing of an eye 
 
 When none but God is near. 
 
 " Prayer is the simplest form of speech 
 
 That infant lips can try ; 
 Prayer the sublimest strains that reach 
 
 The Majesty on high. 
 
 " Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
 
 The Christian's native air, 
 His watchword at the gates of death ; 
 
 He enters heaven by prayer. 
 
 " Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice, 
 
 Returning from his ways, 
 While angels in their songs rejoice, 
 
 And say, ' Behold ! he prays.' 
 
PRAYER. 295 
 
 " The saints in prayer appear as one 
 
 In word, and deed, and mind, 
 When with the Father and his bon 
 
 Their fellowship they find. 
 
 " Nor prayer is made on earth alone 
 
 The Holy Spirit pleads ; 
 And Jesus, on the eternal throne, 
 
 For sinners intercedes. 
 
 u O Thou, by whom we come to God, 
 
 The life, the truth, the way, 
 The path of prayer thyself hast trod ; 
 
 Lord, teach us how to pray." 
 
 Such is a beautiful definition of prayer, by one who 
 seems to have known what its spirit, its aim, and object 
 are. Life begins with prayer, and life ends with prayer. 
 The soul enters on the currents of this world with 
 prayer for guidance ; it enters upon the margin of the 
 ocean of eternity with prayer also, as its parting breath. 
 But prayer is often misconceived in all churches, and by 
 all parties. I would, therefore, endeavour to detach 
 from it those misconceptions which occasionally adhere 
 to it. 
 
 First, The end of prayer, offered in private, in the 
 family, or in public, is not to inform God. Many persons 
 pray as if they wished to tell God what God does not 
 know. But, surely, no greater absurdity than this can 
 be possibly conceived. He knows the thought that 
 nestles in the most secret nook and cranny of the human 
 heart, as well as the thought that is embodied in the 
 newspapers, and trumpeted by a thousand tongues. The 
 still small voice, and the deep cry of ten thousand the 
 want of an orphan, and the strong necessity of a king- 
 dom, are equally known to him. 
 
 Nor is prayer loud speaking, or much speaking, or any 
 one special form whatever. The silent aspiration that 
 struggles for egress is heard by God as clearly as the 
 litany that is chanted in the grand procession, and enun- 
 ciated by innumerable tongues. God hears the dumb 
 desire, and sees the hidden thought ; and if we pray in 
 
296 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 secret, when no man can see, he that seeth in secret will 
 hear us, and reward us openly. 
 
 In the next place, prayer is not prescribed in the 
 Scripture, or offered by a true believer, in order to work 
 any change in God. We are not to suppose that by 
 petitioning we can arrest his purposes, or divert his de- 
 signs from the great end that he has in view, or has pre- 
 viously fixed. No eloquence of petition, no fervour of 
 feeling, no perseverance at the throne of grace can alter 
 one purpose of the Unchangeable, or change, in the least 
 degree, the designs of him who has " no variableness, 
 nor shadow of turning." Therefore, when we read in 
 Scripture such language as, "I will not let thee go till 
 thou bless me;" when we read that in consequence of 
 prayer God " repented" of what he had done ; and 
 when we hear of God being moved by prayer, we 
 cannot fail to feel that all tbis is plainly language that 
 describes divine things, accommodated to theimperfections 
 and the weaknesses of human beings. I need not tell 
 you that this idea solves and harmonizes those apparently 
 conflicting words that are in various parts of Scripture, 
 where God is said to repent, and to change, where he 
 is said to have taken a particular course, and that some- 
 thing has occurred which has altered it. These are the 
 shadows on the dial of time of the incarnation, before 
 that incarnation came ; it is God then speaking and 
 acting within the limits of humanity, God speaking in 
 imperfect human speech in order to be comprehended by 
 dull and imperfect human beings : and this very conde- 
 scension of God is most wickedly made by the infidel to 
 be an argument against the inspiration of the very book 
 which God has made the record of his condescension. I 
 have no doubt that the language of the Bible (perfect as 
 that book is) does not fully answer to the great ideas of 
 which it is the vehicle. Infinite ideas cannot be embo- 
 died in finite vehicles ; and therefore, instead of the ex- 
 pressions of the Bible being exaggerated, as some persons 
 suppose, I believe that when the divine penmen selected 
 the most expressive language in order to convey the 
 truths of God, even that strong language breaks down 
 
PEAYEE. 29 7 
 
 and fails beneath the magnificence and splendour of the 
 thoughts of which it is made the vehicle. Even the 
 Bible then, with all its glory, is but a dim and shadowy 
 manifestation of that brightness which the unpurged 
 human eye cannot bear to look upon in its intensity. "We 
 are not, therefore, to suppose that anything we pray for 
 can work the least change in God ; prayer is needful for 
 us, not for God ; it was instituted, not for his advantage, 
 but for our salvation, comfort, and convenience ; it is the 
 expression of our homage, the declaration of our de- 
 pendence, the cry of our necessities, a mighty instrument 
 which he has put into our hands, the use of which he has 
 promised to bless. 
 
 In the next place, you must not associate with prayer 
 any idea of atonement or expiation. By the Romish 
 Church, and those who have imbibed the spirit and imi- 
 tate the ways of that church, prayer is regarded as a 
 penance. Hence, in the Roman Catholic Catechism, you 
 will find that one of the 'penances that the priest assigns 
 to people who have confessed their sins is prayer ; the 
 priest tells them, after they have confessed, that they are 
 to repeat so many Pater Nosters and so many Ave 
 Marias, each and all of which are regarded and defined 
 in their Catechisms to be expiatory. And I must say 
 that those Protestant parents have not got rid of their 
 ancient Popish affinities who say to a child, " You have 
 conducted yourself very badly at church ; you must go 
 home and learn a collect ;" or, " You have done very 
 wrong; you must go and learn a psalm." My dear 
 friends, never prescribe the sanctuary, the psalm, the 
 Bible, prayer, as a punishment ; always teach your chil- 
 dren that each is a privilege ; and if your child has acted 
 wrongly, say, " You shall not go to church to-day ;" or, 
 " You shall not read the Bible to-day ;" or, " You shall 
 not have that spiritual privilege to-day which you 
 always have had ;" and you will then act in the true 
 spirit of Protestant Christianity. But to teach the poor 
 child to regard the bended knee and the uplifted heart, 
 and the utterance " Our father," as a punishment to 
 teach the poor child to regard the Psalms of David, 
 
298 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 which are to be the hases of the songs of heaven, as a 
 penance and a punishment, is worse than Popery ; it is 
 teaching the child lessons in its earliest moments, which 
 will become so inveterate by habit, that they will not be 
 eradicated even to the last day of its existence. Prayer 
 is not an expiation, it is not a penance, it is not to be 
 taught and impressed as such ; it is, on the contrary, in 
 every sense, a privilege. To attach to prayer anything 
 expiatory, is to rob Christ of Irs prerogative, and to 
 attribute to the ordinance the glory that belongs to the 
 Lord of the ordinance. Always carry with you this idea 
 that there is no expiatory atonement anywhere in the 
 universe but in the blood of Jesus. In tears shed like 
 rain, in torture, endured as martyrs only endure it, there 
 is nothing, and can be nothing expiatory ; and the re- 
 mark, therefore, which you will occasionally hear of 
 some one who has been long ill, u Poor man, he has suf- 
 fered enough for his sins, he has endured enough, and 
 has made ample atonement for his sins/' is but heathen, 
 or Romish, unscriptural, unprotestant, unspiritual lan- 
 guage. Not only is there nothing atoning in anything 
 man can suffer, but there is no necessity for anything 
 atoning being in it. Does not the blood of Christ cleanse 
 from all sin ? Does not the righteousness of Christ entitle 
 to all glory ? We need no additional expiatory element 
 on the one hand, and we need no additional perfect 
 righteousness on the other ; we are complete in Christ, 
 our priest, our prophet, and our king. 
 
 This leads me to another remark. I meet sometimes 
 with excellent Christian persons who say they give up 
 all hope, believing that God does not hear them ; 
 "because," they say, "our prayers are so mixed with 
 wandering and sinful thoughts, and are so imperfect that 
 we cannot pray aright." My dear friends, that idea 
 seems to imply a lingering notion that your prayers are 
 expiatory, or that your prayers are a title to heaven. 
 Why, if you could pray aright, it would imply that you 
 could live aright, and that you needed no sacrifice, nor 
 Saviour, nor atonement ; that you are, in short, innocent 
 and unfallen beings. It is perfectly true that you cannot 
 
PEAYEE. 299 
 
 think aright, nor speak aright, nor pray aright, nor live 
 aright ; and, instead of saying, " I pray so badly that I 
 will cease to pray," you ought to pray and pray still for 
 the forgiveness of your prayers through the blood of 
 Christ Jesus which cleanseth from all sins. 
 
 In the next place, when we pray, it is not only not to 
 make any expiation, but we must not pray, to use the 
 definition of our Lord, in order "to be seen of men." 
 The Pharisees of old prayed in the corners of the streets ; 
 and the Romanists of recent times pray upon the pave- 
 ments of cathedrals, and, in their homes, in what they 
 call " oratories," places, nooks consecrated and set 
 apart specially for this purpose. But you must never 
 forget that there is no one spot, or hill, or dale, or street, 
 or cathedral-pavement, or chapel-floor, anywhere, that 
 has one particle of more essential hallowedness or holi- 
 ness in the sight of God than another. It is quite right 
 and decent to set apart places for public worship, but to 
 suppose that a prayer will be heard on a cathedral pave- 
 ment which cannot be heard on a kitchen floor, is to for- 
 get by whom and through what prayers are heard the 
 perfect intercession of the Son of God. Hence I regard 
 the practice introduced into the diocese of Exeter, of 
 having " oratories" in private dwellings, because it is 
 said the drawing-room floor, or the dining-room floor is 
 not fit to kneel on, and therefore it is not right to have 
 family worship there, but in a little nook cut off from the 
 rest and consecrated, and that there alone you must 
 pray, as the first inroad upon that noble and precious 
 thing, family worship. No one must submit to it ; the 
 thought, the prayer that comes from an humble heart, 
 rises to God swifter than angels' wings can fly, and is 
 heard by the ear of Jehovah louder than the seven 
 thunders themselves. The only priesthood we need 
 below is the priesthood of the affections; the only 
 chancel that is holy is the chancel of an humble and 
 broken heart; the only f aid-stool is the bended heart, 
 not necessarily the bowed knee, and such prayer, offered 
 in such circumstances, God will hear. Many a man says 
 prayers who never prays at all ; and many a man rarely 
 
300 PKOPB.ETIC STUDIES. 
 
 says prayers who prays continually. It is not the 
 Liturgy or Litany, however beautiful or eloquent ; it is 
 not the loud utterance, however fervent ; but it is the 
 thought that flies inaudible, like lightning, from the 
 heart, penetrates the clouds, and conveys the creature's 
 wants to a Creator's fulness, and draws down benedictions 
 larger than tongue can tell or heart can conceive. 
 
 Prayer, in the next place, is not to be an excuse or 
 apology for the neglect of duties. AVe must not say, " I 
 cannot attend to the payment of my debts, because 1 am 
 too much engaged in praying." You must not say, " I 
 must give up certain duties that are plain and obvious, 
 because I must devote a certain time to prayers that are 
 dutiful and right." Prayer is not to be a substitute for 
 duty, but the inspiration of duty, and the strongest in- 
 centive to its effective discharge. Prayer is to lead to 
 pains- taking, and pains-taking is to lead to prayer. He 
 that prays best will labour most, and he that labours in 
 the right spirit will pray in the right spirit also. 
 
 Again, prayer is not an exercise suited to a great 
 crisis, to be laid aside and afterwards to be used on the 
 recurrence of another crisis. When a shipwreck has 
 been threatened, I have seen persons begin to pray who 
 never prayed before. In the season of pestilence, or 
 famine, or war, or battle, or disorganisation, or revolu- 
 tion, many will begin to pray, and you would suppose 
 that they were rapt saints and seraphs in such cir- 
 cumstances ; but if the famine passes away, if the war 
 ceases, if the pestilence is removed, and if you should say 
 to such persons, " We prayed for the removal of these 
 things, and they are gone ; is not this an answer to our 
 prayers r" they would laugh you to scorn for such 
 foolery, fanaticism, and enthusiasm, showing that their 
 prayer was the same to them as the ringing of bells is 
 to lloman Catholics, who suppose that when there is 
 lightning the ringing of consecrated bells will avert it, 
 and that the muttering of Pater Nosters will keep away 
 the judgment that God justly sends for their sins. We 
 are to pray, my dear friends, at all times, in minute 
 things and in mighty things in all time of our tribula- 
 
PEATEE. 301 
 
 tion, in all time of our wealth, in the hour of death, and 
 until our footsteps are heard in our approach to the judg- 
 ment throne. We are to pray in the high-roads of 
 public life, and in the hidden and sequestered by-paths 
 of individual experience ; we are to pray when we go 
 out, and when we come in ; little things are the hinges of 
 great results, and he who does not pray that God would 
 guide him in the little things has no right to expect that 
 God will bless him in great things. A Christian feels 
 that his daily bread has no blessing till he has asked it, 
 that his home has no consecration till he has sought it, 
 and that his labours can have no increase till God's 
 blessing has rested upon them. And this reminds me to 
 state, that every head of a family should have family 
 prayer. If you look at this exercise in the lowest light, 
 you must see that it brings before a whole house the idea 
 of God; it presents before each member thoughts of 
 eternity ; and the very fact that you kneel and pray, and 
 give utterance to your wants, teaches every one, from the 
 menial domestic to the head of the house, to feel that 
 there is a God, a judgment- seat, an eternity, a soul to be 
 saved ; and when you recollect how in this world we are 
 apt to tread down and trample in the dust such solemn 
 thoughts, you will feel how important it is that we 
 should try to recruit, to revive, and resuscitate them as 
 often as we can. But more than all this, when we pray 
 as a family, we seek family blessings, and God has said 
 that the families who do not call upon him he will not 
 bless. Many of your present aches and ills, and domestic 
 trials and troubles, may be to lead you to this; and 
 when you have been brought to acknowledge God as a 
 family, then see if the sunshine of his countenance will 
 not lighten upon you, and the blessing that maketh rich 
 abundantly descend on you. 
 
 I have thus shown you what prayer should not be ; 
 let me endeavour briefly, in the space that remains, to 
 show 3*011 what it should be. 
 
 In the first place, prayer should be addressed unto 
 God, as our Father. When we pray (and I wish all 
 specially to notice this), we do not come before God as 
 
302 PllOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 criminals overwhelmed by the' terrors of the -wrath of 
 a judge, but as sons, sinful and erring sons, it may be, 
 asking the blessing of a Father. Kecollect that the 
 great idea of the Gospel the idea that rims through it 
 all, that gives its tone, its colouring to it all is the idea 
 of God as our Father ; and every time are pray to him, 
 we pray not as to an angry judge, but as to our Father. 
 Do not forget this. Go to God as sons into the presence 
 of a Father, never as criminals to deal with the wrath of 
 a judge. The very first utterance is, Abba, Father ; 
 the very first inspiration of the Holy Spirit given to us 
 is, that God hath sent forth the spirit of his son, crying 
 in our hearts, " Abba, Father." And our Lord appeals 
 to us, " If ye [earthly fathers, with all your faults and 
 imperfections] know how to give good gifts unto your 
 children, how much more will your Father which is in 
 heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" 
 But while we are to pray to God as a Father, we are to 
 pray to no creature on this side of God. Such, as I have 
 told you, is my idea of the grandeur of man's soul, that 
 there is nothing that I would bring that soul into close 
 contact with in religion short of God himself. No crea- 
 ture must come between me and God, not the highest 
 angel or archangel; it is my privilege to go to my 
 Father, and to say to him, in the spirit of adoption, 
 " Our Father, which art in heaven." 
 
 But prayer is to be offered, not only to our Father, 
 but it is to be offered in the name and through the me- 
 diation of Christ. Christ is the way to the Father, and 
 the Father's way to us ; his name is not a mere musical 
 cadence to a prayer, or a customary close to a collect, but 
 it is to be the Alpha of our prayer, and its Omega too ; 
 he is to be the substance of every prayer, the commence- 
 ment and the end of every prayer ; and it is because of 
 what he has done, that we can see a channel by which 
 our prayers shall rise to Deity, and the blessing of Deity 
 shall descend into the heart of humanity. It is, then, 
 in the name of Christ we must pray. 
 
 But we are also told that we are to pray in the strength 
 and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. No man 
 
PKAYEK. 303 
 
 persists long in seeking for a blessing who does not give 
 evidence, by that persistency, that the Holy Spirit has 
 taught him to pray for it. We all know very well that 
 water rises to the level from which it descended ; it is so 
 with prayer ; the prayer only that God has inspired will 
 reach to God ; we are told, therefore, that the Spirit of 
 God pleads and intercedes within us with groanings that 
 cannot be uttered. What a thought is this, and what 
 an evidence of the helplessness of man ! We need God 
 to pray to, God to pray through, and God to pray in ; 
 Christ pleading without us, the Spirit pleading within 
 us. Sustained safely is the creature in the everlasting 
 arms. How safe is that man whose God is our God ; how 
 sure is that prayer of an answer which is placed in the 
 golden censer of a Saviour's merits, and kindled by the 
 presence of that Saviour's Spirit ! You may recollect, 
 that in the ancient economy, it was not only sin to offer 
 upon a wrong altar, but it was no less so to offer incense 
 kindled from strange fire. Now the right altar is Christ, 
 the true fire is the Holy Spirit ; it is his fire that kindles 
 the cold heart, it is his inspiration that gives eloquence 
 to the stammering lips, it is his presence that gives 
 efficacy and expression to the inmost thoughts and de- 
 sires of our hearts. It is thus, then, we pray to God 
 the Father, in the name of Christ the Son, by the inspi- 
 ration of the Holy Spirit. And so praying, we are to 
 pray for everything. We forfeited all by sin ; and if 
 we have anything, we have it by grace. It is not a very 
 important thought, and yet a thought that we rarely 
 take hold off, that there is not one blessing, not one 
 happy pulse in the bounding heart, not one inspiration 
 of cold air, not a glass of cold water, not a sensation of 
 health or joy in the human frame, that are not as much 
 the purchase of a Saviour's blood as the crown of glory 
 that will be bestowed upon his saints. We forfeited all 
 when we fell : and if we have aught that is good, holy, 
 happy, beneficent, it is by grace, and by grace alone. 
 Therefore, my dear friends, let us recognise the fountain 
 of these things; let us feel, that if we have no spiritual 
 mercies yet for which we can thank God, we have so 
 
304 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 many temporal mercies, that the man whose lips are 
 dumb in prayer, has a heart that must be cold and ob- 
 durate indeed. 
 
 And when we pray for additional blessings grace and 
 glory we are to pray for them earnestly, that is, from 
 the heart, sincerely, truly, under a deep consciousness 
 that we want them. Do not express in prayer more 
 than you feel, but pray that you may feel deeply what 
 you want, and so pray. If a person is under deep wants, 
 and washes from any one that which will satisfy those 
 wants, how simple is the language he uses. Nothing, 
 therefore, is to my mind so offensive as very splendid 
 language in prayer, as very fine phrases, exquisitely- 
 turned sentences, beautiful idioms, rich similes, and fine 
 eloquence ; all this in prayer is like poppies in a corn- 
 field, injurious, mischievous, bad. Whenever a person, 
 therefore, prays earnestly, and truly, his prayer will be 
 simple, it will be short, it will be to the purpose. Al- 
 most every prayer in the Bible is a short prayer. Long 
 prayers and repetitions do not indicate earnestness ; it is 
 the deep simple cry of a humble, needy, destitute heart 
 that God hears, when offered through the name and the 
 merits of Christ Jesus. I look upon the General Con- 
 fession of the Church of England as a perfect model in 
 this respect : it is exquisitely simple, and evidently 
 borrowed from and moulded upon the model of the Lord's 
 Prayer. There is scarcely a word in it that is not a 
 monosyllable : " We have done those things which we 
 ought not to have done, and w r e have left undone those 
 things which we ought to have done." How simple, 
 how intelligible, how much to the purpose ! and what a 
 contrast to those splendid extemporaneous prayers we are 
 sometimes doomed to listen to ! Let us pray in spirit, 
 and pray in truth, and we shall pray simply, and to the 
 purpose simple words, sublime petitions. So our 
 Lord taught his disciples, and so he will teach us to 
 pray. 
 
 We are to pray intensely and earnestly. I have been 
 looking over the Bible for instances of prayer. I can- 
 not quote them all now j but I have noticed how 
 
PRAIEE. S05 
 
 earnest and intense were the petitions, not only of 
 Daniel, but of all God's most distinguished saints. " If 
 thou wilt not forgive their sins," said Moses, " blot me, 
 I pray thee, out of thy book." What earnestness is 
 that ! Again, St. Paul said, ".I could wish I wfcre 
 accursed from Christ for my brethren and my kinsmen 
 according to the flesh." What earnestness is there ! 
 I remember a parallel case, that of John Knox, the 
 eebbrated reformer, who has been blamed and carica- 
 t"ed, just as it now seems to be the fashion with 
 respect to Calvin, of whom all sorts of falsehoods and 
 misrepresentations are circulated. The prayer that 
 John Knox constantly offered was, " Lord, give me 
 Scotland, or I shall die ;" meaning by that, " Let me 
 see the Gospel spread in it, let Protestantism prevail in 
 it, let Popery be cast out from it, or I shall die." I 
 quote the prayer, to indicate the intensity of the feeling 
 that was condensed into that great man's heart, when 
 he prayed for such a blessing, and for a land at that 
 time the most darkened and benighted amid all the 
 nations of the earth. I may refer to Knox's own 
 prayers, which are left to us, as specimens of great and 
 beautiful sublimity of thought. I do not think, how- 
 ever (this is my own judgment, whether you concur 
 with me or not, for the Bible is silent upon such subjects) 
 that the repetition of the same words every Sunday, 
 is always expedient. Have you not noticed, that the 
 most exquisite song, if sung every day, begins to pall ? 
 It does seem to be the higher philosophy, and not the 
 less Christianity, that the same thoughts should be in 
 varied language, in this dispensation at least, lest men 
 should be found repeating the words, like those of a 
 beautiful song, and losing meanwhile the under-current 
 of thought, which alone is precious and worthy. 
 
 We are to pray also for all good things ; and among 
 other good things we are to pray for temporal blessings. 
 These, however, we are to pray for with a certain 
 measure of reserve. The measure of our temporal 
 blessings is, "Give us this day our dnily bread ;" the 
 condition of our temporal blessings is, " Thy will be 
 
308 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 done, as in heaven, so on earth." "We are taught not 
 to ask blessings for to-morrow, but for to-day only. If 
 Christians lived as Christians profess to pray, how 
 happy should we be ! But alas, alas man poor 
 inconstant man is constantly fearing dangers that 
 may happen to-morrow, and constantly praying for 
 blessings that he may never need to-morrow; showing 
 the inconsistency of his character, and thereby the 
 grandeur and the truth of that petition which he has 
 been taught : " Give us this day our daily bread." " Seek 
 first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all 
 other things shall be added unto you." When you pray 
 for temporal blessings, God may not give you the very 
 temporal blessing you ask, but he will give you that 
 which will remove the want that you feel. If you ask 
 riches, he may withhold them, because riches might be 
 a curse to you ; but God will give you contentment, 
 \vhich is sweeter fur. "When Paul felt keenly some 
 thorn in the flesh, he prayed that it might be removed. 
 God said he would not remove the thorn, but he would 
 still answer the prayer by doing what was better "My 
 grace shall be sufficient for you." When you are on a 
 sick-bed, and pray for health, God may not give you 
 health ; such health may lead you to sin ; but he will 
 give you grace to bear your sickness, and the inward 
 man shall be renewed day by day. And oh ! what a 
 consolation is it to know that we can pillow our aching 
 heads upon the bosom of him who has promised that he 
 will supply all our wants, and do exceeding abundantly 
 above all that we can either ask or think. 
 
 But, although we ask for temporal blessings, we are 
 to ask specially and primarily for spiritual blessings; 
 and let me tell you how you are to ask for them. Every 
 promise in the Bible is meant to be, if you will allow 
 the expression, although coarse, it is expressive the 
 " raw material " of prayer. The promises are given us 
 to be turned into prayer ; and you will need no liturgy, 
 and feel the want of no litany, if you will just open the 
 psalms, and wherever God gives a promise, turn that 
 promise into a prayer, and beg that God will fulfil it in. 
 
PRAYER. 307 
 
 your experience. The promises come from the skies ; 
 the believer accepts them, and sends them back again in 
 the shape of prayers ; promise comes down again as 
 performance, and prayer as a blessing ; and the hearts 
 of them that accepted the one and embodied the other 
 rejoice with joy unutterable and full of glory. Hence, 
 there is not one blessing that a sinner needs for eternity 
 that you are not warranted to ask, and to ask boldly, as 
 a son from a father, in the name of Christ Jesus. Do 
 you need a new heart : do you need joy ? do you need 
 peace r Whatever you need, -if God has promised it 
 that you may ask. But you say, " Is there no risk of 
 presumption?" I answer, presumption is asking any- 
 thing that God has not promised ; but your asking for 
 grace, or anything that God has promised, is not pre- 
 sumption. Were the Queen to command you to ask the 
 highest dignity in the realm, it would be no humility to 
 say, " It is too great for me to ask;" it would be the 
 greatest humility, loyalty, and courtesy that you could 
 show were you instantly to ask it. "When a celebrated 
 French king once showed the infidel philosopher Hume 
 into his carriage, the latter at once leaped in, on which 
 his majesty remarked, " That's the most accomplished 
 man living." Hume showed his greatest reverence for 
 the monarch, by doing what royalty commanded. And 
 if we so treat the kings of this world, whose crowns 
 are crumbling into dust, surely if the Prince of the 
 kings of the earth say, " Seek, and ye shall find ; ask, 
 and ye shall obtain ; knock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you," it must be the highest humility to ask the 
 greatest blessings, and it must be the highest pride to 
 ask anything less. 
 
 To the complaint often expressed by many Christians, 
 " We have asked, but God has not answered," I give 
 this very short reply : God says he will give, but he 
 does not say how long you must pray, or how often you 
 must ask. When you are ill, and apply to a physician, 
 if that physician promises you a cure, and gives you 
 certain prescriptions, you do not run away from him and 
 saj r , " All his promise is deception," but you faithfully 
 
 x2 
 
308 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 take the prescription he gives you, and wait the result. 
 It is so with God : God says he will answer you, but he 
 bids you pray ; and if you go on using the prescription, 
 God himself has pledged his veracity that you shall have 
 an answer exceeding abundantly above all that you can 
 ask or think. God requires of you unlimited confidence ; 
 give him that confidence, cast your care on him, wait 
 patiently on him, and he will bring his promises to pass. 
 But you say, your sorrow continues, and increases while 
 you pray. The sorroAV you feel, or the calamity you are 
 the subject of, may be the medicine, not the disease. 
 You do not want the medicine to be withdrawn, you 
 only want the disease to be cured. 
 
 Especially is all this true of intercessory prayer. If 
 you have a friend, a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife, 
 a relative, who are not what they should be, and whom 
 you wish to be what God would have them to be, con- 
 tinue to pray for them, and as sure as you do pray, so 
 sure that prayer will be, sooner or later, answered. 
 Many a prayer offered up by them that are gone is 
 doing its work in the hearts of those who tread reve- 
 rently upon their ashes. You may be gathered to the 
 grave before the blessing you have prayed for descends 
 upon a near and a dear one, but fall it will ; God has 
 pledged himself to it, and he will most assuredly fulfil 
 his pledge. 
 
 But you are to pray for blessings not only upon your 
 friends and your relatives, but even upon your foes. 
 The way to destroy an enemy is to love him, and the 
 way to destroy your enmity to him is to pray for him. 
 "Whenever there is any one towards whom you feel 
 most uncomfortably, go home and pray for him, and all 
 your uncomfortable feeling will depart. If this were 
 BO if one were praying for another, and each for all, 
 the world would have innumerable benefactors, men 
 who prayed for others, the results of whose prayers 
 many might be reaping, whilst they knew not the names 
 even of those that uttered them. Let us pray for all 
 men, for kings and all that are in authority, for our 
 friends that they may be the friends of God, for our 
 
PRAYER. 309 
 
 enemies that they may be forgiven, for all flesh that 
 they may see and taste the great salvation of our God. 
 And as an encouragement to such prayer, let me read to 
 you and with it I will close that beautiful specimen 
 which occurs in the history of Abraham. God had 
 resolved, we are told, to destroy Sodom. " And Abra- 
 ham drew near, and said, "Wilt thou also destroy the 
 righteous with the wicked ? Peradventure there be 
 fifty righteous within the city : wilt thou also destroy 
 and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are 
 therein ? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty 
 righteous within the city, then will I spare all the place 
 for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, 
 Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the 
 Lord, which am but dust and ashes : [what humility, 
 and yet what boldness !] Peradventure there shall lack 
 five of the fifty righteous : wilt thou destroy all the city 
 for lack of five ? And he said, If I find there forty and 
 five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet 
 again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found 
 there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 
 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, 
 and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be 
 found there. And he said, I will not do it if I find 
 thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken 
 upon me to speak unto the Lord : Peradventure there 
 shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not 
 destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not 
 the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once : 
 Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I 
 will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the Lord went 
 his way, as soon as he had left communing with 
 Abraham : and Abraham returned unto his place." 
 Abraham left off praying before God left off giving. 
 
LECTURE XXI. 
 
 BIN, CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION. 
 
 " And T prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my 
 confession, and said, Lord, the great and dreadful 
 God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that 
 love him, and to tJism that keep his commandments" 
 DANIEL ix. 4. 
 
 IN my first remarks on the chapter a portion of which 
 I have read, I endeavoured to show what was the nature 
 of fasting;, and ashes, and sackcloth, and how far obli- 
 gatory on us were these accompaniments of prayer which 
 Daniel here presented. It is said that he "prayed with 
 fasting, with sackcloth, and with ashes." I showed that 
 these were temporary ceremonies in their material form, 
 whilst they expressed permanent feelings of the heart in 
 the dispensation in which it is our privilege to live ; that 
 the fasting required now has rather a relation to the heart 
 than to the body ; that the sackcloth and the ashes are 
 lowliness and humility of soul, and that, where these 
 are accompanied by faith and trust in the atonement of 
 Jesus, there there is the spirit that presents acceptable 
 prayer to God, and on which the blessing pledged and 
 promised will descend. In my next discourse I endea- 
 voured to explain the nature of prayer ; its divisions, 
 its obligations, and its general characteristics. In my 
 remarks this evening I will call your attention to three 
 specific topics that are touched upon in the course of 
 the prayer which I have now read : first, sin, as the 
 root and cause of all the miseries we suffer ; next, the 
 confession of sin, which Daniel here exhibited; and, 
 thirdly, the forgiveness of sin by him to whom the 
 prayer is addressed; "the Lord our God," to whom 
 
SIN, CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION. 311 
 
 "belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have re- 
 belled against him." 
 
 We have, first of all, then, in this chapter, the ac- 
 knowledgment of sin ; Daniel owning, throughout the 
 whole passage, that whatever evils had fallen upon 
 them, their princes, and their fathers, their rulers, and 
 all the people of the land, were to be traced to one pro- 
 lific and bitter root, and that root, sin. The word is 
 easily uttered; but eternity itself will not be able to 
 exhaust its terrible significance. Sin it was that 
 
 " Brought death into the world, and all our woe !" 
 
 Sin was not made by God. "Wherever it came from, it 
 came not from the creative hand of our God ; it was no 
 original portion of the creation of God ; it was no part 
 or parcel of the original furniture which garnished and 
 beautified the earth as it came from the hand of God. It 
 is a foul stain that has fallen upon the earth. Whence 
 it came originally, the Bible docs not tell us ; and as we 
 are unable to explain its origin and the cause of its in- 
 troduction as a fact, philosophers and sceptics, who 
 either repudiate it or explain it away, are equally unable 
 to solve the difficulty, and say why, and where (ore, and 
 how, sin crept into the world, and originated all the 
 disaster and wreck and misery which confessedly flow 
 from it. All that we know is, that God is not the 
 author of it ; and he cannot be charged in any shape or 
 sense with the responsibility of its existence. God made 
 man holy ; he made creation happy ; he pronounced 
 them both to be "very good;" and, whatever be the 
 source of sin, it is not of God, nor from God, nor is he, 
 in his government, in any rranncr whatever, chargeable 
 with its existence or its consequences. 
 
 Sin, in looking at it as the source of evil, may be said, 
 in the first place, to be wrong done to one's own self. 
 No man sins without suffering in the act of his sin, and 
 suffering afterwards terrible and enduring consequences 
 that follow that act. Never can sin, as a fact in the 
 past, be utterly annihilated. Its dark shadow will re- 
 main suspended over your recollections to the last ; your 
 
312 rKOFHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 remembrance of it will not cease till grace is swallowed 
 up in glory. Forgiven it may be ; forgotten by you, as 
 a fact, your memory will never suffer it to be. Sin, I 
 have said, is wrong done to one's own self. It creates 
 terrible presentiments which you yourselves are all con- 
 scious of. There is no feeling in the human heart more 
 rending, more insufferable for its agony, than the terrible 
 feeling of remorse. We know not fully what it is in 
 this world, because it is benumbed, soothed, repressed 
 by a thousand circumstantial applications round us. 13ut 
 when these are occasionally withdrawn, and the con- 
 science is left to its gnawings, I believe that we have in 
 such remorse the first sensations of the torment of the 
 worm that never dies, and of the fire that shall never be 
 quenched. 13ut I do not now refer to sin as the source 
 of future misery ; I look at it as the source of misery 
 now : a sinner is an unhappy man, unhappy when he 
 sins ; never is the right hand lifted up to sin unless amid 
 the lightnings of conviction and remonstrance. Never 
 does a man do what his conscience declares to be wrong 
 without feeling conflict, misery, discord, which are only 
 the dawn of that future hell where sin is left to its full 
 sway, and its victim is consigned to all its terrible 
 results. 
 
 Sin is wrong done, specially, I observe, to man's 
 conscience. Man's conscience may be seared, benumbed, 
 stupified, by the influence of sin ; but it never sleeps 
 the sleep of entire death in this world. There are times 
 when conscience will awake, and when all the opiates 
 of this world utterly fail to hush it. There are moments 
 of sequestration from the world, when some mysterious 
 light will flash upon the conscience, resplendent and 
 vivid as the lightning, in which you read the sins you 
 have done, and see the retribution that of necessity 
 cleaves to them ; and hard as you may try to stupil'y, to 
 still, and to allay that conscience, you will not succeed. 
 It will rise from its temporary lull, and reason audibly, 
 till the wounded spirit can no longer bear it, " of right- 
 eousness, and temperance, and judgment to come." It 
 is related in Scripture, that when Herod, who was a 
 
SIN, CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION. 313 
 
 Sadducee, and who, therefore, disbelieved the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead and the immortality of the soul, heard 
 that Jesus was performing great miracles, instantly his 
 conscience smote him with the recollection that he had 
 murdered John, and that conscience, stronger than his 
 reason, said, " It is John," and, stronger than his creed, 
 it added, " who is risen from the dead ;" and with fore- 
 bodings which he could not quell, made him feel that he 
 was Come to avenge the foul murder of which he, Herod, 
 had been guilty. So true is it that conscience is more 
 eloquent than speech, more powerful than armies ; mo- 
 narchs have felt it on their thrones, and sceptics have 
 believed in spite of their atheistical convictions. 
 
 Sin is wrong done to the affections. Every one knows, 
 and it is well that we should know, that the moment 
 you introduce sin into the affections of a man, in thought, 
 in deed, or in word, that moment there follows disont.T, 
 confusion, suffering. "Who knows not the fury of re- 
 sentment, the corroding pain of a spirit of revenge ? 
 Who is not aware what a hardening thing is avarice 
 wherever it is cherished and entertained ? Few there 
 are who have not learned by painful personal experience, 
 that the introduction of sin into the circle of the affec- 
 tions of the heart is the introduction of a foul demon 
 who there lords it over you, and torments you with a 
 scorpion sceptre which you can neither get rid of nor 
 overcome, except by the forgiving blood of the cross, and 
 the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 Sin, too this sin of which I am speaking is an in- 
 jury done to reason. Not that the sinner does not reason: 
 avarice calculates its gains ; ambition lays its plans; 
 sensuality arranges its prospective indulgences ; dis- 
 honesty schemes and plunders most cleverly ; and very 
 bad men may be very clever men ; yet sin is wrong 
 donf. to reason. That noble faculty which was made to 
 tract- and teach the footsteps of God, is degraded, debased, 
 and made a mere mercenary calculating machine for 
 sensuality, avarice, ambition, dishonesty, and crime. 
 Sin is degradation and wrong done to reason. 
 
 Sin is injury done to the soul ! What sickness and 
 
314 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 pain are to the body what loss is to the estate what 
 dishonour is to the name these, and more than these 
 and felt more intensely than these, sin is to the soul ! 
 
 Sin is wrong done to all society : it is the ceaseless 
 epidemic that is never stayed ; it is the desolating plague 
 for which there is no earthly cure. What explains the 
 convulsions of the earth, the lawsuits, the quarrels, the 
 disputes, the murders, the dishonesty, by which society 
 in some of its sections is stained ? It is the contention 
 oi' pride, the corroding of envy, the coldness of distrust, the 
 exactions of selfishness, the outbreaks of passion. Sin is 
 the fever, the disease that tears, and wears, and wastes it. 
 
 And sin, lastly, is hateful to God. It is the only 
 thing in the whole universe that God hates. JS T ot the 
 sinner, but his sin does he hate. God so loved the sinner, 
 that he gave his only begotten Son that that sinner 
 might be saved. God so hates sin, that rather than sin 
 should triumph, he gave the blood of incarnate Deity, and 
 so washed it away. 
 
 And this sin, my dear friends, in one word, is our sin: 
 the sin we were born in nursed in; the sin that cleaves 
 to all mankind ; which taints our purest thoughts, which 
 is the alloy in our holiest feelings. The sin that offends 
 God, and is the conductor of his lightnings to the earth, 
 is our sin. There is no man who does not feel that it 
 is so. There is no man that will not say, " I have 
 sinned." There is no memory that does not recollect 
 some dark shadow that has swept over it ; no con- 
 science that has not some painful quivering in it; DO 
 biography that has not in its pages something it has done 
 which it feels it should not have done, something it has 
 left undone which it feels that it ought to have done; 
 and there arc few that feel not in their best moments 
 that there is no good in them. 
 
 Such, then, in few words, is sin; and such is the re- 
 lationship of sin to the reason, the affections, the heart, 
 the conscience, society. It is the only thing that God 
 hafrs; it is the only thing that makes hell. I believe 
 hell does not consist of literal flame any more than of a 
 literal worm. It consists of far more terrible agony than 
 
SIN, CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION. 31/> 
 
 that ; the worm that never dies, is the conscience ; the 
 fire that is never quenched, is sin. Let there be a com- 
 pany of drunkards, thieves, ambitious men, envious, 
 cruel, sanguinary men let them all be cast together, let 
 all restraints and restrictions be withdrawn, and there 
 will originate and burn there a hell of the most tcrriiic 
 kind ; there will be passions, and no means to indulge 
 them; thirst, and no supply for it; ambition, and no 
 thrones to gratify it. I do not believe we have anything 
 like an adequate appreciation of what sin is. It is lightly 
 committed ; it is lightly done ; but years upon years do 
 not exhaust it. But blessed be God, terrible as it is, 
 there is no sin, though it be of scarlet dye and of crimson 
 hue, that may not be washed away in that precious blood 
 "that cleanseth from all sin." 
 
 But, in the next place, Daniel not only admitted sin 
 as the cause of all ; but in this eloquent, because simple 
 and earnest prayer, he freely and fully confessed it. The 
 constant expression that he uses is, "I confessed;" "I 
 made my confession unto the Lord;" "I said, I have 
 sinned, and have done wickedly;" "The sins that we 
 have sinned have brought on this great evil." 
 
 The next feature, therefore, in this prayer which I 
 proceed to consider is, Confession. Confession, if truly 
 felt, is freely uttered. There arc two sorts of confession : 
 there is the confession of sin extracted by unexpected 
 disaster, or by the foreboding of a deserved judgment ; 
 and there is the confession of sin freely and sponta- 
 neously given utterance to. When Pharaoh was under 
 the judgments of God, he confessed his sins, but he did 
 it as if it were an atonement; and the instant that the 
 judgment ceased, the monarch returned to his crimes. 
 We read also that Balaam, when ^he angel withstood 
 him, with a sword drawn in his hand, confessed his 
 error: and Judas, in an agony of remoise, and amid the 
 sparks of that hell which his own wickedness had 
 kindled, confessed that he had betrayed innocent blood. 
 But such was not the confession that Daniel made ; and 
 such is not the confession to which the Christian gives 
 expression. The Christian's confession of sin is a very 
 
316 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 different thing. Many men confess their sins just as 
 merchants in a storm at sea cast their goods overboard ; 
 not that they dislike their goods, but that self- preserva- 
 tion compels them to fling them away. Their confession 
 is wrung and extorted from them, not by a sense of the 
 hateftdness of sin, hut from a desire a vain one, I 
 admit of thereby obtaining security from the judgment 
 of God ; but a Christian sees sin, and feels sin, to be 
 hateful. "What pain is to the body, that a Christian feels 
 sin to be to the soul ; he owns that he has been guilty of 
 it ; and he pours out his confession of it, like Daniel, 
 freely and spontaneously before God. 
 
 In the next place, where there is true confession of 
 sin, and such confession as Daniel here made, it is full and 
 explicit. Trace at your leisure every clause in this 
 litany, and you will see how full, how explicit, is the 
 confession that Daniel makes of every sin of which he 
 had been guilty. The unconverted who confess their 
 sins, not because they hate them and feel their burden, 
 but because they would be rid of them in order to avoid 
 the consequences that they apprehend, and in order to 
 escape the judgments that they fear, make but a half 
 confession. When they begin to confess, they say, so 
 much was owing to circumstances ; so much to things 
 over which w r e had no control ; so much to constitutional 
 temperament; so much to somebody else: just as did 
 our iirst parents, whose succession we have truly inhe- 
 rited. When Adam was questioned by God, he cast the 
 blame on Eve : when Eve was threatened, she cast the 
 blame on the serpent : and only w r hen Christ was 
 preached in Paradise, as the woman's seed who should 
 bruise the serpent's head, did Adam and Eve kneel at the 
 family altar, and make such confession as Daniel made, 
 free and full, laying all the blame upon themselves, none 
 upon God. 
 
 And, in the next place, Daniel's confession was spe- 
 cific. Wherever there is genuine confession, it will always 
 be personal and specific. In public prayer, whether it 
 be the prayer that the minister breathes as the mouth- 
 piece of the people, or the written prayer and printed 
 
SIX. COXFKSSIOX. AXD ABSOLUTION. 317 
 
 which lie rends, and prays as the mouth-piece of the 
 people, in either case, the confession cannot be personal 
 and specific. It must be a general confession for all 
 who arc there present. But when you are in your closet 
 when you lift your hearts to God, are there no per- 
 sonal, specific sins, of which you are conscious, and for 
 which your own heart condemns you ? and " God is 
 greater than your hearts, and knoweth all things" 
 those sins you ought, and, if you arc Christians, you will, 
 specially unfold and acknowledge before Him who alone, 
 for Christ's sake, has promised to forgive them. Thus wo 
 find the Apostle Paul, when he acknowledged his sins 
 before others, instead of trying to explain them away, 
 rather, if possible, exaggerated them. In Acts xxvi. 9, 
 he says, " I truly thought with myself, that I ought to 
 do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem : and many 
 of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received au- 
 thority from the chief priests ; and when they were put 
 to death," he says substantially, ''when I could not kill 
 them, I was wicked enough to give my voice against 
 them ; and, more than this, I banished them ; and, more 
 than this, I persecuted them even unto strange cities ; 
 and, more than this, I punished them often in every 
 synagogue ; and, worse than this, I compelled them to 
 blaspheme." What a dark catalogue of grievous crimes ! 
 and what an honest acknowledgment of them specific, 
 minute, not diluted, the responsibility not shifted, not 
 confessing them to glory in them, or as if he did not feel 
 their weight and their heinousness, but humbling himself, 
 and yet, in the intimation that they were forgiven, de- 
 siring to show us that God had mercy upon him, the 
 chiefest of all sinners, in order that he might be a pattern 
 of all long -suffering and mercy to those that should here- 
 after believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Not only will the believer be specific in his confession 
 of sin, but he will also confess with deep sorrow and 
 humility. He will regret that he has sinned, not because 
 of sin's fruits, but because of sin itself; and one of the 
 greatest evidences of your soul being in a state of grace, 
 
318 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 is when you can confess to God, and ask forgiveness from 
 God, for sins that the world knows not, but for secret 
 sins sins that nobody suspected you of of thought, of 
 affection, of feeling, of heart, when, in short, before 
 God you confess secret sin, and seek forgiveness through 
 the blood of Jesus, I know not a more distinct or con- 
 clusive evidence that the Holy Spirit has changed your 
 heart, and that you are a child of God, and an heir of the 
 kingdom of heaven. And yet all this deep confession of 
 sin before God, as in the case of Daniel, is not, let it ever 
 be recollected, the confession of a criminal in the presence 
 of a judge, deprecating his wrath, but the confession of a 
 son returning to a father, and prostrate at the feet of his 
 father asking his paternal blessing and forgiveness. "We 
 do not draw near to God in Jesus Christ as criminals, de- 
 precating his wrath and beseeching his forgiveness ; but 
 as children it may be, prodigal children it may be, 
 sinful, stray, and apostate, but yet returning children. 
 Never did the prodigal feel what true repentance was 
 till he was able to say, "I will arise and go to my 
 father." That sentence was the evidence and the ex- 
 pression of that hlial feeling with which he confessed to 
 him his sins; ''Father, I have sinned against heaven 
 and before thee." The tear in the eye must not dim your 
 view of the countenance of your Eather. The sorrow 
 in your heart, however bitter, must not drive you from 
 God, but draw you nearer to God. The most awful 
 aspect of sin is its centrifugal force, when it drives the 
 sinner from God. Sin is then about to be forgiven, when 
 you are led to lay it before God. Judas confessed his sin, 
 that he had betrayed innocent blood, and he went out 
 and hanged himself. Cain confessed his sin " Mine 
 iniquity is greater than I can bear ;" and he ran out from 
 the presence of God. The prodigal confessed his sin, but 
 ran to his father's bosom, and to the threshold of his 
 father's house ; and he was accepted, w r hile the two first 
 perished in their sins, unforgivcn and without hope. 
 
 This confession of sins, my dear friends, must be to 
 God himself, No priest upon earth has a right to exact 
 it. No Church upon earth has power to command it 
 
SIN, CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION. 319 
 
 to be made to any other than God. Show me one text 
 in the Bible that indicates, however remotely, that we 
 ought to confess our sins to a priest. " Confess your 
 sins one to another," is the only text I ever have heard 
 quoted in support of it. But this is mutual, or recipro- 
 cal confession ; not the confession of the people to the 
 priest, but of the people one to another. But I object 
 to all such priestly confession, on this ground, that sin 
 is committed against God, and against God only; and 
 he against whom it is committed alone can forgive it. 
 For instance, if I were to steal, I should do two things ; 
 I should commit injury on my neighbour, and sin 
 against God. What man does to man, man can forgive ; 
 and therefore I ask my neighbour to forgive the injury 
 I have done him. But sin, which is in the act and rises 
 higher, and strikes against God, that God alone can 
 forgive ; and therefore, when David said, " Against thee 
 thee only have I sinned," he did not mean by that, 
 " Against thee chiefly have I sinned," but truly and 
 exactly. The injury or wrong was done to Uriah : his 
 sin was against God. And thus, then, if sin be com- 
 mitted against God only, for a priest to assume to for- 
 give it, is for that priest to play the apostate, and place 
 himsell in the temple of God, showing himself as if he 
 were God. Besides, to look at it in a lower light, what 
 man would degrade himself, fallen as man is, to kneel 
 before a fellow-man, and disclose to him the inmost 
 thoughts and feelings of his heart ? But the secret of 
 the upholding of that terrible tribunal at which I have 
 only glanced, as I have passed along, is the frightful 
 power which is comprised in it. I have often heard 
 persons say, that they wonder that, when Roman Catho- 
 lics hear the Gospel, they do not leave their Church. So 
 should I too, did I not remember, that the moment you 
 become a Roman Catholic you must go to the priest 
 tell him every fact in your biography that you think to 
 be sin, every thought, every relationship, every con- 
 nexion ; the priest learns to know you, your history, 
 your friends, your prospects, and he transmits all to the 
 great central source where all is known. The man who 
 
320 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 knows me as well as I know myself, is my master for 
 life, and I am his slave. His look can awe me, his 
 word can silence me. So that the wonder to me is, not 
 that so few leave the Church of Home, when once they 
 are involved in its meshes, but that they ever leave it at 
 ail. Nothing but the grace of God can enable them so 
 to count all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus. To God, then, let us confess our sins, 
 not to man. For " To the Lord our God," not to the 
 priest or to the Pope, " belong mercies and forgiveness, 
 though we have rebelled against him." 
 
 And this leads me, therefore, to the third thought 
 which is suggested in Daniel's prayer, namely, for- 
 giveness of sin. Sin, then, may be forgiven. " To the 
 Lord our God belong forgivenesses," multiplied acts of 
 forgiveness for multiplied acts of sin, or, as the Psalmist 
 says, " There is forgiveness with thee, that thou maycst 
 be feared;" for, as he proclaimed himself to Moses, 
 " forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." When 
 God forgives sin, sin is not annihilated : a fact cannot 
 be annihilated : a fact remains in our memories, sure as 
 its occurrence in the world. When, therefore, God for- 
 gives tin, he does not annihilate it. As far as we can 
 gather from the Scriptures, or from our experience, this 
 is impossible. He forgives it, while perhaps we cannot 
 forget it: perhaps, in heaven, the sad recollection of 
 what we were will add to the enjoyment of what we 
 are, and swell with richer harmony the Divine thanks- 
 giving "unto him that loved us," so guilty, " washed 
 us," even us, so polluted, " in his own blood, and hath 
 made us kings and priests unto God, even his Father : 
 to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." The 
 forgiveness of sin is the exclusive prerogative of God. 
 I have said that sin is against God alone ; and therefore 
 God alone forgives it. For any priest to assume to 
 forgive the sins of men, is to try to snatch a jewel which 
 belongs to the diadem of Deity : it is the foolish attempt 
 to clothe ourselves with a portion of his lofty attributes, 
 and so to realise the awful fact, that he who attempts 
 to steal a ray from the glory of God, takes a consuming 
 
SIN, CONFESSION, AKD ABSOLUTION. 321 
 
 curse into his bosom. The forgiveness of sin, I say, is the 
 inalienable prerogative of God. He only has the key 
 that opens, and no man can shut ; and blessed be his 
 name that it is so he only shuts, and no man can open. 
 "Were all the voices of the dead we have injured to rise 
 from their graves, exclaiming, " I forgive, I forgive, I 
 forgive," all the voices of all the dead we have injured 
 together, never could extend forgiveness to us. That 
 one still, small voice, sounding from the cross, or echoed 
 unspent from the throne, " My son my daughter, 
 thy sins be forgiven thee," is the word that alone has 
 power, the absolution that alone finds a responsive echo 
 in the glad and grateful heart of the forgiven sinner. 
 But when God forgives, I notice in the next place, 
 he forgives only in one way ; that is, through a Media- 
 tor. God's concern for the fundamental principles of his 
 government, is the highest concern in his Divine nature. 
 God cannot forgive sin at the expense of his justice, his 
 holiness, or his truth. He tells you that there is no sin 
 that he will not forgive in one specific way ; but if you 
 ask forgiveness from the absolute God, that is, in another 
 way, or if you ask it because you deserve it, or if you 
 ask it in any other name, or through any other media- 
 tor, or without a mediator at all, in short, in any 
 way save in the name of Jesus Christ, God cannot 
 give it. 
 
 There is but one channel, and that channel is ever 
 accessible, and through that channel a rich flood of for- 
 giveness will pour down, that will cleanse the darkest 
 sin, and forgive the greatest criminal. The Jews were 
 taught this great and interesting lesson for four thousand 
 years. "What was the end of all the teaching of the 
 Jews ? Just to rivet and work into their hearts this great 
 truth : " Without shedding of blood there is no remission 
 of sins." Men say they wonder why God desired so 
 many sacrifices, and appointed so many bleeding victims, 
 among that people. It was just to teach this one lesson, 
 which was embodied in every sacrifice, impressed in 
 ever)- ceremony, preached by their priests, inculcated by 
 God himself; which, notwithstanding they forgot and 
 
322 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 renounced again and again. This great truth, that 
 through the blood of Christ alone there is forgiveness, is 
 still the truth preached from so many pulpits, reiterated 
 so often in your hearing ; and yet, how little do you feel 
 its force ! how little do you act upon it as a reality ! 
 how little in your consciences are you convinced that 
 only through the blood of the Lamb there is forgiveness 
 for the least sin that clings to our humanity ! Blessed 
 be God that Christ suffered ! Justice asked for the 
 sufferings of a man Christ rendered the sufferings of a 
 God. He needed no sufferings to atone for himself. 
 All his suffering was for us, and is accessible to us. 
 His susceptibility of suffering was just in the ratio of 
 his spotless purity. His was a depth of agony propor- 
 tionate to the grandeur and dignity of his person ; and 
 never shall we be able to see how great were the suf- 
 ferings of that suffering one, till w T e feel perfectly how 
 deep is the least sin of Avhich humanity is guilty. But 
 now, in Christ Jesus, God is faithful in his promise to 
 forgive us, just to his own law to forgive us ; his mercy 
 having provided to the utmost fulness the victim which 
 his justice needed and demanded. Thus God forgives 
 us. "What a precious truth ! Do we rise to an appre- 
 hension of the magnificence of this truth, that God 
 forgives us forgives us the moment that we ask it 
 delights in mercy ? Glorious truth ! God waits to 
 forgive us. Glorious truth ! There is forgiveness with 
 thee that thou mayest be feared. "Well may the prophet 
 exclaim, " Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth 
 iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant 
 of his heritage ? He retaineth not his anger for ever, 
 because he delighteth in mercy." 
 
 Did you ever notice, my dear friends, that the prophet 
 seems inspired by the Spirit of God to exhaust all the 
 resources of human speech, in order to show us what 
 free forgiveness is offered in the Gospel ? It would be 
 an interesting investigation for you to pursue at your 
 leisure, to count the expressions applied in Scripture to 
 the forgiveness of sins. It is called " the remission of 
 sins." God releases the prisoner kept in the prison of 
 
SIN", CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION. 323 
 
 condemnation by his sins. God says, in Hebrews, " I 
 will remember their sins no more." Among the Jews 
 there was remembrance made of sin every year; they 
 felt that sin ever needed a fresh sacrifice, but sin for- 
 given in Christ is remembered no more. It is so com- 
 plete, that God finds this expression only adequate to 
 embody the extinction of it, " I will remember their 
 sins no more." He calls it in another passage " not 
 imputing to them their trespasses." He treats our sin 
 as a nonentity, and accepts us through Jesus Christ just 
 as if we were innocent as to the untainted and unfallen 
 angels about the throne. Another expression that he 
 employs is, " covered;" just as the waters of the lied 
 Sea covered the drowned Egyptians just as the mighty 
 ocean covers the pebble that is dropped into its silent 
 bosom, so God's mercy covers our sin. It is called again, 
 " taking away ; " just as the goat let into the wilderness 
 bearing the sins of Israel was represented as taking them 
 away into a land not inhabited : so Christ, as the Lamb 
 of God, tukes away the sin of the world. It is called, 
 again, " blotting out : " " 1, even I, am he that blotteth 
 out thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins :" just as 
 a writing is expunged just as a stain is extinguished 
 by a chemical solution. No language is more fitted to 
 express the fulness of his forgiveness than, " The blood 
 of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." It is called, 
 again, in another place, " casting them behind his back." 
 The most awful passage in Scripture is, " Thou hast set 
 my secret sins in the light of thy countenance." We 
 ourselves cannot see our secret sins, because our heart is 
 so deadened by the hardening influence of sin ; for the 
 greater a sinner is, the less he sees his sins ; hence, if 
 you heard the holiest saint in the act of confessing his 
 gins, you would suppose he was the greatest sinner on 
 earth ; and if you heard the greatest sinner confessing 
 kis sins, you would probably imagine him the most ex- 
 cellent of mankind. It is when our vision is purged by 
 the unction of the Spirit of God, that we are enabled 
 plainly to see, that sins which in the world's eye are 
 microscopic, are in his eye deep as crimson, or as purple 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 in their colour. Our secret sins are thus set in " the 
 light of his countenance ;" but when God forgives them, 
 " he casts them behind his back." Another passage 
 speaks of removing them from us : " As far as the east is 
 from the west, so far hath he removed our sins from us." 
 He whom we have crucified, forgives us. He who is 
 the offended one, forgives the offenders. It is a royal 
 and entire forgiveness, not one charge is left behind, not 
 one sin is unpardoned. He will remember our sins and 
 our transgressions no more. It is an irrevocable forgive- 
 ness. When God forgives us, he forgives us completely 
 and irrevocably. God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. 
 He does not repeal his acts of forgiveness. He never 
 recals, he never revokes them. He forgives us fully, 
 freely, and for ever. And it is instant forgiveness. The 
 instant that an humble heart asks for forgiveness in the 
 name of Jesus, that instant it is forgiven : the Saviour 
 says, " Thy sins be forgiven thee." It is a cordial forgive- 
 ness. It is not a legal forgiveness ; so that we are not 
 merely lawfully forgiven, as if by justice ; but it is a 
 paternal forgiveness. If only legally forgiven by justice, 
 we should be admitted into heaven, as forgiven culprits, 
 and shunned as criminals returned from a penal settle- 
 ment. We should be as men lawfully forgiven, and 
 tolerated as deeply guilty. But this is not the forgive- 
 ness of the Bible. It is forgiveness in justice, and there- 
 fore it is legal ; but it is also forgiveness from a Father's 
 heart, and is therefore a cordial forgiveness. And there- 
 fore the sinner admitted into heaven is not only admitted 
 there as lawfully forgiven, but cordially welcomed : 
 "For this my sen was dead, and is alive again; was 
 lost, and is found." This forgiveness is an echo on earth 
 to the absolution that is pronounced from the throne. 
 The echo is an evidence of the original. If you are for- 
 given, do you recollect the day, the hour, and the place, 
 when you bowed the knee and sought forgiveness truly, 
 confessing your sins fully, and relying for an answer to 
 your prayer only on the blood of the everlasting cove 
 nant ? If you can say that from the very heart you 
 sought it, and that you sought it by Jesus as the only 
 
SIN, CONFESSION, AND ABSOLUTION. 325 
 
 way, then you are indeed forgiven, and it is sin, it is 
 misery to doubt it. Go forth at once, putting away all 
 suspicion, and henceforth rejoice in the blessedness of 
 him whose sins are forgiven, being confident in God, 
 relying on the riches of his mercy in Christ ; and him 
 that thus honours him, He will abundantly honour. 
 
LECTUEE XXII. 
 
 DANIEL 8 LITANY. 
 
 " Lord, hear ; Lord, forgive ; Lord, hearken 
 and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, my God : 
 for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.'' 
 DANIEL ix. 19. 
 
 I CLOSE my remarks on the extremely precious prayer, 
 which has been the subject of my exposition during the 
 last three lectures. I am sure we do not greatly need 
 any liturgy formed by man, if we have access to so beau- 
 tiful a litany as this is, inspired by God. At all events, 
 however beautiful may be the litanies of man, in true 
 beauty they cannot excel, and in comprehensiveness they 
 cannot exceed, the prayer which the Spirit of God 
 breathed into the heart of Daniel, and of which this 
 chapter is the eloquent and striking expression. How 
 earnest how intensely earnest, are such petitions as 
 these : "0 Lord, hear ; Lord, forgive; Lord, hearken 
 and do ; defer not, for thine own sake ; for thy city and 
 thy people are called by thy name." And again, how 
 striking these words : " Thou therefore, our God, 
 hear the prayer of thy servant, that the time, the set 
 time, to favour her, Lord, draw near." At this day 
 this is the prayer of the Jew. I can conceive no spec- 
 tacle more touching than the weary-footed wanderer of 
 Salem coming back to that city, in Avhich was the ark 
 of the covenant, and the cherubim of glory, that shone 
 upon the mercy-seat ; and beholding, with deep anguish, 
 the barefooted monk desecrating it in one place, by a 
 Christianity more superstitious than the Judaism of the 
 
DANIEL'S LITANY. 327 
 
 modern Jew, and the Moslem profaning it in another 
 place by the personation of a cruel and sanguinary im- 
 posture ; and his beloved city, which was once the joy 
 of the whole earth, the focus of all light, and the 
 central object of enthusiastic love, despoiled, degraded, 
 desecrated. Yet, in its deep desecration, its long-con- 
 tinued degradation, God has left inextinguishable yearn- 
 ings after restoration in the hearts of that striking race, 
 these living national phenomena, that exceed in gran- 
 deur all material phenomena, these living witnesses of 
 the truth of God's threats, and I believe not less so 
 witnesses of the truth of God's promises. Nothing is 
 more remarkable than to see the Jews crowding from all 
 lands, now that the restoration of Zion and the rebuild- 
 ing of Jerusalem draws nigh, kissing the very stones, 
 wetting them with their tears, and praying, it may be, 
 a prayer truly heard, for it is possible, shall we say 
 it is not improbable that the Jew who rejected Jesus 
 of Nazareth as pourtrayed by John the evangelist, may 
 unconsciously accept Jesus of Nazareth as pourtrayed by 
 Isaiah the prophet, and in the name of the true Messiah, 
 though that name is to him no music, he may lift up 
 Daniel's prayer to Daniel's God, in groups of grey- 
 haired pilgrims amid the debris and wreck of Jerusalem, 
 that God would arise and have mercy upon Zion, and 
 lift the light of his countenance upon her, and hasten 
 the advent of the set time to favour her. 
 
 In reading the whole of Daniel's prayer for Jerusalem, 
 we cannot fail to see that it is as appropriate in the 
 present day as it was before. I am anxious to notice 
 certain features in it, which must strike the Christian, 
 whether he peruse it or pray it. 1 have already shown 
 in what respects fasting and sackcloth are connected with 
 prayer. I have shown, in my next exposition, sin the 
 thing confessed, forgiveness the blessing sought for, and 
 confession a practice in which Daniel persevered. I now 
 proceed to develop some of the features of this prayer ; 
 next, the time at which it was offered ; and, in the 
 third place, the answer vouchsafed to it. The first 
 feature that strikes me, as kindling every clause with 
 
328 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 brightness and the warmth of heavenly fire, is the 
 intensity of the feelings and the expressions of Daniel. 
 Clearly the prophet felt deeply, and therefore he asked 
 so fervently. An instant token, as all are aware, of an 
 accepted sacrifice in the elder times, was the descent of 
 fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Even so 
 the first intimation to you that your prayer will bo 
 answered, is the intensity with which you pray that 
 prayer. When a man earnestly and intensely breathes 
 a prayer to God, in the name of Jesus, he has in that 
 intensity and earnestness a fore-pledge from God that he 
 is about to answer it exceeding abundantly above all 
 that he can either ask or think. Those eloquent prayers 
 which are beautifully worded by some, never rise above 
 the lips by which they are uttered ; but those broken 
 sentences, those simple petitions, when the full heart 
 feels so deeply and prays so earnestly, when it cannot 
 wait for unloading itself, in order to seek for fine words 
 or beautifully- formed sentences, these are the expres- 
 sions of an inner celestial fire that burns before the 
 Lord, and brings responses from the skies, laden with 
 everlasting benedictions. The intensity of Daniel's 
 prayer is one of its most striking characteristics ; the 
 incense which was used of old was already kindled in 
 the censer, before the smoke of it rose to the dome 
 of the temple ; and in the same way, prayers, to be 
 accepted by God, must not only be presented in the name 
 of Jesus, Avhich does not mean merely mentioning that 
 name, but feeling that only by one channel can prayer 
 ascend to God that only through one name can they 
 be heard, that is, in the name of Jesus, but prior to, 
 and in addition to this, the prayer itself, as conceived 
 and cherished in the heart, must be kindled from above. 
 In the old sacrifices, there must not only be no strange 
 altar, but also there must be no strange fire used for 
 consuming the victims on that altar. There must be 
 the right fire as well as the right altar. So we must not 
 only pray in the name of Jesus, but by the inspiration 
 and kindling of the Holy Spirit. This will explain 
 what is meant when it is said that the Holy Spirit 
 
329 
 
 within us " maketh intercession for us, with groanings 
 which cannot be uttered." Thus, if your petitions to 
 the throne of grace have no intensity spontaneously 
 arising from inward earnest feeling, created by a deep 
 sense of your wants and a keen perception of the excel- 
 lence of what you require, and these twain inspired and 
 elevated by the Spirit of God, they will die ere they 
 reach the mercy-seat. Let a coal, not from the grate, 
 but from the altar, kindle them. Let the affections not 
 be earthly, from and of the earth, but spiritual and 
 heavenly ; and such prayer so kindled and so presented, 
 it is as certain that God will hear and answer, not only 
 for ourselves but for others also, as that the sun rises, 
 and stars twinkle, and streams find a pathway onward 
 to the unsounded main. If we look at some of the ex- 
 pressions scattered throughout the Bible, in order to 
 describe this peculiarity of real prayer, we shall find 
 they all denote intensity. In one place- it is described 
 as importunity ; that is, not soon going away without 
 an answer, unweariedly persisting in asking. God 
 does not say, " Pray once, and I will answer you ;" 
 but he says, " Pray, and I will answer you." Pray 
 nine times, and he may not answer ; pray a hundred 
 times, and he may not answer; but pray the hundred 
 and first time, and he may answer. All that he has 
 said is, that he will answer; but how long, or how 
 often you may pray, that is not for you to know : it 
 remains with God alone, who knows what is really best 
 for you, and most for his glory. I do not believe, my 
 dear friends, that we have that confidence in the success 
 and efficacy of prayer which we ought to have. I do 
 not mean by prayer, artificial prayer ; that is, artificially 
 worded and constructed ; I do not mean reading or say- 
 ing a prayer, however scriptural and beautiful ; but I 
 mean the uplifting of the heart, the breathing forth of 
 desire, the elevation of the soul when no eye can see, 
 and no ear can hear, but God's. " I will not let thee go, 
 unless thou bless me." I doubt not that some of the 
 most successful prayers are uttered on the stones of the 
 Royal Exchange. Some of the most fervent prayers 
 
330 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 may be uttered behind a counter ; and the House of 
 Lords and the House of Commons are not without men 
 that pray, not only that they may devise right measures, 
 but that those measures may contribute to the stability 
 of their country and to the glory of God, and the ex- 
 tension of true religion. It is not the place that God 
 examines ; nor is it the words that God primarily re- 
 gards ; it is not the form in any sense that avails 
 it is the intense and ardent desire breathed from the 
 depths of the heart into the ear of God, which God 
 answers exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask 
 or think. 
 
 Shame, sorrow for sin, perfect abasement, are elements 
 of Christian prayer. Not one merit does Daniel plead ; 
 not one good deed does he commemorate : he lays his 
 hand upon his mouth, and his mouth in the dust, and 
 cries, "Unclean, unclean." It is the bowed heart, not 
 the bowed knee, that honours Jesus. It is the prostra- 
 tion of the soul, not the prostration of the body, that 
 constitutes prayer. The outward man is merely for 
 communication with man ; it is the inward soul that 
 communicates with God, and God regards it and deals 
 with it alone. The body is not the man. What the 
 body does is not always w^hat the soul thinks. Man's 
 body is often guilty of hypocrisy, but the soul never, at 
 least in the sight of God. To man it is the same 
 same whether you bow the knee, or stand, or fall flat on 
 the face ; for all these are Scriptural attitudes of prayer ; 
 the only unscriptural practice being that which prevails 
 very much in Scotland, when the people sit while wor- 
 shipping God, and singing his praises, for which there 
 is no precedent whatever. The form is not what God 
 looks at ; he looks how the heart beats, how the spirit 
 feels, what the soul desires, what is the intensity of 
 the feeling, what is the earnestness or apathy of the 
 man ; and by what the man thinks, desires, prays with 
 his soul, God estimates what the prayer is. It is not, 
 therefore, sprinkling ashes on the head, or clothing 
 the body with sackcloth, which are appreciated on high. 
 But if we see ourselves as we ought, and as Daniel saw 
 
DANIEL'S LITANY. 331 
 
 himself, we shall soon feel that inward and deep abase- 
 ment and humility which Daniel felt, and which urged 
 no plea save what it drew from God. It is ignorance 
 of ourselves, and distance from God, which is the cause 
 of that ignorance, that makes any man proud or self- 
 righteous. The moment that a man sees God as he is, 
 he sees in the reflected light himself, just as he himself 
 is also : hut as long as he does not know God, so long 
 he will think himself very great and very good. In 
 God's light we see our darkness ; in God's fulness our 
 wants ; in God's majesty our insignificance ; our shame 
 in his glory ; our sin in his holiness : and thus, when 
 Job saw God, he exclaimed, " Now mine eye seeth him ; 
 therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." 
 And when Isaiah saw the glory of God, beholding him 
 seated upon a throne, high and lifted up, his first 
 emotion was to cry, ' Woe is me, for I am a man of 
 unclean lips, and I live in the midst of a people of 
 unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord 
 of Hosts." Elijah covered his face with his mantle 
 when the glory of the Lord swept by, and the apocalyptic 
 elders fell down and covered their faces whilst they 
 crieJ, " Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of Hosts." 
 Pride in man is invariably associated with ignorance of 
 God. But when we see what God is, as he is revealed 
 in grace pourtrayed in the Bible unveiled all that ho 
 has done, we then see as we never saw, what we our- 
 selves are, and how deep is the depth of our fall ; and 
 thus it comes to pass, that we shall pray under a sense} 
 of abasement, not the less intensely, but the more 
 humbly, because our eyes have seen the Lord of Hosts. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, too, in this beautiful prayer, 
 that all the pleas urged by Daniel arc pleas drawn from 
 God ; not from anything in himself, or any excellence 
 in his people. Thus he says, in one verse, " All Israel 
 have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they 
 might not obey thy voice ; therefore the curse is poured 
 upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses 
 the servant of God, because we have sinned against him." 
 " Lord, according to thy righteousness, I beseech 
 
332 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from 
 thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain : because for our 
 sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and 
 thy people are become a reproach to all that are round 
 about us. Now, therefore, our God, hear the prayer 
 of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face 
 to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the 
 Lord's sake." Every plea he presents is drawn from 
 God ; the foundation of his hopes is in Deity ; our 
 expectation, also, and our merit, are there; the good of 
 man is inseparable from the glory of God. God cannot 
 reverently be it spoken bless a man except that 
 blessing shall reflect his own glory. To unfold himself 
 is the great end of all God's creation, Providence, and 
 grace; and to promote his own glory by making himself 
 known to us, is the reason why he answers prayer and 
 makes his people happy ; and blessed be his name, his 
 glory is best promoted when his goodness and his mercy 
 are most realised by his people. "Who does not recollect 
 the petition of Moses, " Show me thy glory ?" and the 
 Lord's answer, " I will make all my goodness pass before 
 thee?" God's goodness was pronounced by God to be 
 his glory. And what was God's glory? Here it is: 
 " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- 
 suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
 covenant and mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, 
 transgression, and sin." What a blessed fact is this, 
 that God is arrayed in richer glory when he stoops to 
 forgive a sinner, than when he stoops to create a world ! 
 Jesus, when he said upon the cross, to the thief who 
 hung in agony at his side, " To-day shalt thou be with 
 me in paradise," spoke more majestic words than when, 
 standing on the confines of the universe, He said, " Let 
 there be light, and there was light." We ask God to 
 forgive us our sins, and express his love ; we ask him 
 also to manifest his justice, for he is "faithful and just ;" 
 but we may also say, " God, glorify thy name in. 
 forgiving the sins of me a sinner." 
 
 We cannot but notice, in this prayer of Daniel, in the 
 next place, the complete unselfishness, if I may use that 
 
DANIEL'S LITANY. 333 
 
 expression, that runs through the whole of it. He did 
 not ask mercies for himself ; he did not pray thus in- 
 tensely, thus humbly, that he alone might have all the 
 good, though God might have all the glory ; but he 
 implored mercies for " thy people Israel," " thine 
 ancient city Jerusalem, because it was desolate." A 
 man never prays aright who prays only for himself. 
 That prayer is not inspired by the Spirit of God that 
 ends with the salvation or the sanctification of self. 
 Hence our Lord, in giving us a model of prayer, has 
 made it impossible to pray for a blessing on ourselves 
 without praying for a blessing on others also, as if in our 
 very prayers our blessed Lord would make us pray as he 
 makes us love, embracing in both our neighbour as well 
 as ourselves. He says, "After this manner pray ye;" 
 not, "My Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy 
 name, &c., give me this day my daily bread." Such is 
 the cry of unsanctified humanity ; but, " Our Father . . . 
 give us this day our daily bread," &c. And so Daniel 
 here prays ; and so will every true Christian pray. He 
 will pray for his children his relations his congrega- 
 tion his church his country ; and more comprehen- 
 sively still, he will pray for all mankind. There is a 
 petition which occurs in the Litany of the Church of 
 England, at the conclusion of prayers for many distinct 
 classes of people, "That it may please thee to have 
 mercy npon all men!" which is to my mind singularly 
 beautiful. Let us not rest in our petitions for class after 
 class till our prayers spread in their catholicity to the 
 very circumference of the globe, and we pray God, 
 " that it may please him to have mercy upon all men." 
 ]n the next place we may notice, in this prayer, what 
 runs through it no less evidently, the thorough patriotism 
 of it. Because Daniel was a Christian, he did not cease 
 to be a Jew ; because he loved the temple of his God he 
 did not the less love the country of his fathers ; 'Daniel 
 sympathised with and was ready to make every patriotic 
 sacrifice, in order to benefit and bless his county ; but 
 he felt at the same time that it never could be prosperous 
 as a country until its Great Eestorer should have mercy 
 
334 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 upon it, and forgive the sins of his people, and, to use 
 the language of the prayer, cause " his face to shine upon 
 it." Not the greatest patriots are those that make the 
 loudest profession ; not the least patriots are those who 
 only pray because prayer is all they can present. Our 
 armies may strike a successful blow, our legislature may 
 pass an excellent measure, but the blessing of God, for 
 which Christians pray, is that which will make the blow 
 of the one permanent, and the measure of the other 
 practical and extensively useful. And hence it has been 
 well said 
 
 " Our country owes 
 
 Her sunshine and her rains, her blooming springs, 
 And plenteous harvests, to the prayer he makes, 
 Where Enoch, like the solitary saint, 
 Walks forth to meditate at eventide, 
 And think on her who thinks not on herself." 
 
 Thus there may be patriots in cellars, whose name the 
 newspaper does not trumpet forth ; there may be men 
 who contributed to the victory of Waterloo, or to the 
 decisive blow of Trafalgar, and who still contribute to 
 the loyalty of our people, the stability of our commerce, 
 and to the riches and increasing prosperity of our agricul- 
 ture, who never u^ed a pen, or wielded a sword, or 
 marched to victory beneath our banners, but who pray 
 that old England's God would cause His face to shine 
 upon England's throne, and altars, and people, and 
 magistrates, and rulers; and they, it will be found, 
 when this world is all laid bare, and its history made 
 patent, contributed more than all to our national stability 
 and social prosperity, and were the conductors of bless- 
 ings from the skies to her cities. Thus the prophet 
 prayed for his country, and thereby showed himself no 
 less the patriot because he was the Christian. 
 
 But Daniel strikingly combined with his prayer deep 
 research and personal labour. Eor you observe that he 
 states in verse 2, "In the first year of his reign, I 
 Daniel understood by books the number of the years, 
 whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the 
 prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the 
 
DANIEL'S LITANY. 335 
 
 desolations of Jerusalem." He had therefore been a 
 hard student, as well as a spiritually-minded and pray- 
 ing man. He combined, what some of our lie formers 
 said it was so vitally important to combine, "prayer 
 and pains-taking." 
 
 We too are to engage in any great Christian work, 
 the support of our schools, for instance, or of our mis- 
 sions, the Bible Society, the extension of the Gospel, in 
 the exercise of all the liberality, zeal, and fervour, 
 which we possess, or can command, just as if all de- 
 pended on what we each do ; and yet we are to implore 
 the blessing of God, with that deep sense of dependence, 
 that consciousness of insufficiency on our part, which 
 prompts the persuasion that God must do all, or nothing 
 will be well done. It seems a paradox to unenlightened 
 minds, and a contradiction to the wise of this world, 
 but it is not so: the farmer feels justly in his matters 
 what the Christian should feel here : he knows quite 
 well that, unless God give sunbeams and dewdrops, 
 and fertility to the soil, it will be no use for him to sow ; 
 and he knows just as well, that in vain God gives sun- 
 beams and dewdrops, fresh air, and a fertile soil, unless 
 he sows. Therefore, he does sow ; and thus, what with 
 some, in the exercise of a perverse mind, at first seems 
 a reason why he should not sow, is with him the 
 greatest inducement to do so, because he knows that 
 God will send " the former and the latter rain in his 
 season," and that He has promised, since the deluge, 
 " that seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and 
 summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease." 
 
 But Daniel's study was not only the study of the 
 Bible and books, as the grand depository of truth, but 
 it was also special study of the prophetic scriptures. 
 He thus presents a complete reply to those Christians 
 who say that we are not called upon, or even authorised, 
 to study unfulfilled prophecy. Daniel did not think so ; 
 he studied predictions of the future, and found out by 
 books that God would accomplish seventy years in the 
 desolation of Jerusalem. He not only discovered that 
 God would terminate this desolation, but he found out 
 
330 PROPHETIC STUDIES 
 
 the very period of time that this desolation would last ; 
 and yet if a Christian minister professes, not dogmati- 
 cally to pronounce;, where confessedly there are many 
 difficulties, but to express his belief from this book and 
 the apocalyptic records, that the time draws near that 
 the dispensation is in its eve it will be told him, 
 " You have no right to study this book, you have no 
 right to read the apocalypse at all : you had better 
 shut it up : let it alone, or you will get into difficulties." 
 Why did God give it ? I ask those who say so. Why 
 did God write it ? You say it was that infidels may be 
 afterwards converted by witnessing in history the fulfil- 
 ment of prophecy : but half of that will not be fulfilled 
 till the millennium, when there will be no infidels to 
 be converted. This is not its only use. It is for us to 
 study, and to try to expound it. But God Himself has 
 said what terminates the dispute, " Blessed is he that 
 readeth the words of the prophecy of this book;" and 
 in my own case I may say that I have found as rich a 
 blessing from reading and studying the Apocalypse, as 
 in studying any other portion of the Bible. Ponder and 
 pray over all that God has written. The Protestant's 
 rule of faith is not the Bible without the Apocalypse, 
 but it is the Bible and the Apocalypse, the whole word 
 of God. Here you have the example of Daniel studying 
 numbers before those numbers had terminated in actual 
 accomplishment ; and what Daniel did with acceptance 
 then, I do not see why we may not try to do, with 
 humble prayer for the teaching of the Spirit of God, and 
 with his blessing now. 
 
 Let us notice, in the next place, the time at which 
 Daniel prayed. It was the time of the evening obla- 
 tion. The answer came at that hour, and the presump- 
 tion is that the prayer was then being offered up. But 
 why did Daniel select this season for prayer ? Because 
 Daniel felt just what you well know, that, dissociated 
 from the sacrifice of Jesus, and detached from his name, 
 no prayer can be accepted of God. This great truth is 
 the very substance of the Gospel. Your prayers should 
 be offered in the name of Christ ; in him they should 
 
DANIJEL'S LITANY. 337 
 
 begin, in Christ they should continue and close. By 
 him alone is the way to rise to God. By him alone, as 
 the way, can an answer come down from God. It 
 matters not where you pray, if you pray in the name of 
 Jesus. The Christian economy has abolished all the 
 distinctions of time and place. What is decent, what 
 is orderly, what is convenient, these, and the conside- 
 ration of all these, are most right ; but if you say that 
 an oratory in your house is better for family worship 
 than your drawing or your dining-room, because it has 
 been consecrated by a presbyter or a bishop ; or if you 
 say that God will hear a prayer in Latin that he will 
 not hear in Hindostanee or in English, or that he will 
 hear in a chapel what he will not hear in a private 
 house ; if these be your sentiments, you are far gone in 
 Komanism ; or, rather, your creed is more ancient than 
 that of Romanism, it is that of Levi, a reflex to Judaism : 
 prayers under that dispensation must have been made 
 in one place in order to be accepted ; sacrifice must then 
 have been offered on one particular altar ; but now, 
 wheresover, on mountain crag, in valley, on the sea, on 
 the shore, in the dungeon, or in the palace ; in cathe- 
 dral, church, or chapel ; in chancel or in cellar ; Avith 
 bowed knee, or standing, or prostrate, or with none of 
 them if there be prayer inspired by the Spirit of God, 
 intensely felt, and addressed in the name of Jesus, and 
 lifted up to our Father, there God hears, and there God 
 will answer. 
 
 But there may have been another reason for Daniel's 
 praying at evenings. The Psalmist says, " At morning, 
 and at evening, and at noon will I praise thee." Even- 
 ing seems the most solemn hour of the day, and so far a 
 suitable time, for individual retrospection and com- 
 munion with God. Then the noise of the world grows 
 fainter ; the air becomes still ; the excitement of lite has 
 passed over ; the fever of human strife is laid. Our 
 heart can rise, in the stfllness of evening, to intercourse 
 and fellowship with God. The dews that then fall to 
 saturate the earth should remind us that our hearts need 
 the softening, fertilising influence of the Spirit of God. 
 
338 PKOPHETIC STUDIES, 
 
 The stars that come forth to beautify the sky, and send 
 down their pale sheen upon us, ought to remind us of 
 that bright and morning star, the rising of that sun that 
 shall never set. And if there be an evening each day, 
 forget not that there is also an evening of life, Avhen 
 specially we should pray; when all the tints and the 
 lights of youth are gone, Avhen the noontide passions of 
 manhood are quelled, and there comes the solemnity, if 
 I may so call it, of grey hairs, and tottering limbs, and 
 an enfeebled body; when the curfew-bell, that announces 
 as it were the extinction of all earthly fires, is heard in 
 every heart; then should we pray, as Daniel prayed, 
 that the twilight of the evening which is now falling 
 may, in our case, mingle in th*e twilight of that bright 
 day which is fast approaching, when the sun shall rise, 
 ascend his meridian, and set no more. It was at this 
 season that Daniel prayed. He was an aged man at this 
 period, of about ninety years of age. 
 
 At other times too should we pray. When our com- 
 munion season comes round we should pray as we ap- 
 proach the table of our Lord, that we may go there in a 
 right spirit. I know not a more beautiful festival than 
 the communion; I. wish only it were of more frequent 
 recurrence. But I do not believe that there should be 
 at that time a special preparation, and, when it is passed 
 by, a more thorough participation in the cares, the 
 anxieties, and the follies of the world. Our hearts should 
 always be ready for it. I believe in the early Church 
 they received the Lord's Supper every time they met for 
 public worship. I fear the infrequency of the celebra- 
 tion of the communion has generated a feeling, especially 
 in the north., that there is something awful in it. I have 
 noticed in some parts of Scotland, that on this occasion 
 men put on their gloomiest apparel, and feel as if they 
 were about to undergo some heavy calamity, or as if they 
 were coming to some dread sacrifice, some awful expia- 
 tion that they are about to make. I do not say that 
 enlightened men thus feel, but I know that many regard 
 it with such feelings. And I know that in speaking 
 with my own countrymen about coming to the Lord's 
 
DANIEL'S LITANT. 339 
 
 table, many of them have received in the north in 
 their early years such impressions of the terrible and 
 the awful, in connexion with the Lord's Supper, as 
 they cannot cast off in maturer and more enlightened 
 age. 
 
 My dear friends, there is nothing awful in that com- 
 munion : Jesus took all the awful to himself, and has 
 left to us nil the pleasant. He made the sacrifice ; we 
 taste the feast that succeeds the sacrifice. He took all 
 the agony ; we receive all the blessing. And if there 
 be any festival to which we should come with glad hearts, 
 it is to the Communion-table ; our Jubilee, our congre- 
 gational festival ; that Easter-day when we specially 
 commemorate the fact " the Lord is risen ;" that bright 
 and happy day when we look forward to the other truth, 
 that He that rose and reigns will come again ; that 
 glad festival in which we sit down at the table of our 
 blessed Lord, and thus actualise the words of the Creed, 
 " the communion of saints." We think too of those 
 that were here before ; who are now surrounding a better 
 table, enjoying a brighter fellowship ; and we give God 
 thanks for what he has made us, and for what he made 
 them ; and we look forward to that happy day when we 
 shall join their loftier communion, and seat ourselves at 
 a table that never shall be drawn. I have noticed my- 
 self, during the sixteen years I have ministered in this 
 pulpit, that the communion-table every quarter presents 
 a new aspect ; I miss grey hairs, and venerable ones I 
 have often beheld. I miss too once young, and bound-- 
 ing, and hopeful hearts that were once there also. I see 
 new faces taking the place of old ones ; and nothing so 
 vividly reminds me within these walls that this is not 
 our home, and that we are pilgrims and strangers, look- 
 ing for a better city, than our recurring communion- 
 table. When I say our communion-table, it is not 
 mine, it is the Lord's; and if there is any one spot 
 where I rejoice to see all true Christians, whatever be 
 the party to which they belong, it is there. It is not 
 the monopoly of a sect ; on it is written, "Do this in 
 remembrance of me ; for as often as ye eat this bread 
 
 z2 
 
340 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death 
 till he come." 
 
 While I thus show my Catholic feeling in this respect, 
 yet at the same time I must say that I prefer our own 
 Scottish form : it is so simple, so beautiful, that the 
 longer I see it the more am I impressed with its simple 
 grandeur, its severe, and, as some would call it, its 
 stern simplicity. But it matters little whether we 
 kneel, or sit, or stand, if it is at a table surrounded by 
 glad and thankful hearts, who eat this bread and drink 
 this cup because Jesus has suffered that we might suffer 
 no more. 
 
 In the next place, I wish to observe, in closing my 
 remarks upon this prayer of Daniel, that the answer 
 was immediate. " Whilst I was speaking," he says, 
 " Gabriel came and touched me." What a striking inci- 
 dent is this ! There is a text in the Bible that seems to 
 me expressive of a greater marvel than even the electric 
 telegraph. You know that a question asked at one end 
 may be answered almost instantly two hundred miles 
 away. But there is a text that anticipates the marvel : 
 " It shall come to pass, saith the Lord, that before they 
 call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I 
 will hear." A quicker communion with God have we 
 than even that suggested by the wondrous electric tele- 
 graph ; for God hears us while we speak, answers us 
 before we ask, and in every case " exceeding abundantly 
 above all that w r e can ask or think." 
 
 My impression is, that this Gabriel who was sent to 
 Daniel was not an angel, but the Holy Spirit of God. 
 This conclusion, to which bishop Hebcr came, is founded 
 on the derivation of the word, and also upon a passage 
 that occurs in the Gospel of Luke. The word Gabriel 
 means simply " the power of God." Compare Luke i. 
 19 : " I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God ;" 
 and ver. 26, " Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin 
 espoused to a man whose name was Joseph ;" and ver. 
 35, " The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy 
 Ghost shall come upon thec, and the power of the 
 Highest shall overshadow thee ;" which if literally 
 
DANIEL'S LITANY. 341 
 
 translated into Hebrew, will be, "and Gabriel shall 
 overshadow thee." It may mean therefore in this place 
 also, the Holy Spirit of God, who takes of the things of 
 Christ and shows them to us. And it seems the more 
 likely, because it was this Gabriel who came and in- 
 structed Daniel on a subject on which the Spirit teaches ; 
 for what was the nature of his instruction ? About 
 Messiah, the Prince. And what is the great office of 
 the Holy Spirit? "He shall take of the things of 
 Christ, and shall show them unto you." It may, how- 
 ever, have been an angel, for as the Apostle teaches us, 
 " angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to 
 them who shall be heirs of salvation." And if Gabriel 
 was a mere angel, he was sent not to claim for himself 
 our adoration, but to execute God's message, and to 
 minister to Daniel. The message was made to Daniel as 
 "Daniel greatly beloved." The acceptance of the per- 
 son takes place before the answer to the prayer is given. 
 We must first be accepted as Christians before we can 
 pray as Christians. God accepts us first, and then our 
 prayers, to which he sends down an answer. 
 
LECTURE XXIH. 
 
 MESSIAH'S DEATH. 
 
 " And after threescore and two weelcs shall Messiah be cut 
 off-} hit not for himself: and the people of the prince that 
 shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary ; and 
 the end thereof shall be wiili a flood, and unto the end 
 of the war desolations are determined" DAXIEL ix. 26. 
 
 I DEFER in this lecture all chronological discussion 
 respecting the epoch which the prophecy plainly in- 
 timates. I assume the fact, which cannot be denied, 
 because it has been irresistibly proved, that this relates 
 to the death I add, the sacrificial death of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. "Whether we take the grounds of chro- 
 nology, or the descriptive language of the passage, it is 
 impossible to come to the conclusion that any other is 
 pointed at here than the Redeemer. I assume, there- 
 fore, that this is a prophecy of Christ, as well as the 
 statement of his death, and, by implication, the natiire 
 and direction of that death. It was his shame that he 
 was " cut off;" it was his glory that it was "not for 
 himself." It was the evidence that he was man that he 
 died ; it was the demonstration that he was more than 
 man, and so his death, very different from ours, that he 
 died not for himself. The death of Christ is the sub- 
 ject of extended prophecy. Isaiah liii. is an exposition 
 of Daniel ix. 26. That wonderful chapter of the evan- 
 gelical prophet may be called the true crucifix. It 
 describes his death, the nature of his death, the results 
 of his death. It is expressly applied by an inspired 
 Apostle to the death of Christ ; and therefore, about its 
 application, in a Christian's mind, there can be no doubt 
 whatever. "When Peter says : " Who did no sin, neither 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 343 
 
 was guile found in his mouth : who, when he was 
 reviled, reviled not again ; when he suffered, he threat- 
 ened not ; but committed himself to him that judge th 
 righteously : who his own self bare our sins in his own 
 body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live 
 unto righteousness : by whose stripes ye were healed. 
 For ye were as sheep going astray ; but are now returned 
 unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls," all this 
 is just the echo of the language of Isaiah, and therefore 
 evidence that Peter clearly understood the 53rd of Isaiah 
 to refer to our blessed Lord. 
 
 Now, the important truth I am anxious to establish 
 as the testimony of the Spirit is the sacrificial, or the 
 atoning nature of the death of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ ; and in order to do so, I will bring forward 
 less the argument of man, and more the simple, but 
 conclusive testimony of the Spirit of God. 
 
 Let me notice, however, preliminary to the introduc- 
 tion of the passages that clearly indicate the expiatory, 
 or atoning, or sacrificial, or vicarious nature of the death 
 of Christ, for all these words have one leading idea 
 running through them, that in the New Testament, 
 whether in the Gospels or in the Epistles, there is a 
 constant reference made to the death of the Lord Jesus, 
 and far more frequently than to his birth, his life, his 
 example, or to his aboriginal dignity. "When he speaks 
 of himself he says : " The Son of man goeth, as it is 
 written of him;" that is, he is about to die, as it has 
 been predicted of him in the prophets. And he alludes 
 again and again in the minutest particulars to this 
 event, as the fulfilment of ancient prophecy. " A bone 
 of him shall not be broken." " They pierced my hands 
 and my feet." " They parted my raiment, and east 
 lots for my vesture." All of these are references to his 
 death, the peculiar accompaniments of that death, and 
 to that death as the burden of ancient prophecy, the 
 great central point to which and about which all ancient 
 predictions converge. The death of Jesus, so singularly 
 painful, is represented throughout Scripture, as that of 
 a perfectly innocent being. His own crucifiers could 
 
344 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 prove nothing against him. A voice from neaven said, 
 with unearthly majesty, " This is my beloved Son, in 
 whom I have been, am, and shall be, well pleased." 
 Judas himself said, " I have betrayed innocent blood." 
 Pilate said, " I find no fault in him." Satan was equally 
 unsuccessful. 
 
 If the objectors to the atonement say, " It is not 
 reasonable that the just should die for the unjust," they 
 might say, with still greater force, it is not reasonable, 
 on the same grounds, that the just should die at all. 
 Here then, is the phenomenon, the strange phenomenon 
 that a being, pronounced by God to be innocent, 
 proved from the silence of his enemies, the contradic- 
 tions of his accusers, and the personal and protracted 
 experience of his friends and followers, to be an innocent 
 being, is found to have been the greatest sufferer of the 
 greatest agony of any that ever bore a cross, or perished 
 from the earth. 
 
 It was a perfectly voluntary death ; it was not forced 
 upon him contrary to his will ; it did not overtake him 
 by surprise. He pointed it out as the ultimate stage of 
 his journey; he predicted it as a fact that must of 
 necessity be. He said of himself, " I lay down my 
 life ; no man taketh it from me." He chose to die, and 
 chose to die not because he loved death, but because he 
 loved us. It was for the joy set before him that joy, 
 the restoration of sinners that he endured the cross, 
 and despised the shame. If Christ's death be not 
 atoning, the fact that he, the innocent, thus died volun- 
 tarily, and by choice and preference, is an inscrutable 
 mystery, an inexplicable fact. 
 
 Again : while his death was voluntary in this respect, 
 it was, in another respect, the result of Divine prede- 
 termination and decree. The Father is said to have 
 " sent" him, and to have " given" him. In the Acts 
 of the Apostles, it is said that " he was delivered by the 
 determinate council and foreknowledge of God." And 
 again : " Against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast 
 anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the 
 Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered to- 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 345 
 
 gether, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel 
 determined before to be done." It is worthy of notice, 
 that what God predetermined is not said to have been 
 the teaching of Jesus, the mission of Jesus, or the 
 example of Jesus, but the death of Jesus. Unless, 
 therefore, there be something emphatic, peculiar, dis- 
 tinctive in that death, we cannot understand how it 
 should be that of an innocent being, perfectly volun- 
 tary an his part, and yet predetermined by God the 
 Father. 
 
 Jesus was put to death, charged with the blasphemy 
 of assuming to be God, while his enemies protested he 
 was not God. He claimed equality with God of this 
 there is no doubt and when told that he had done so, 
 he admitted and justified the claim. Now, if those who 
 deny the atoning nature of the death of Christ believe 
 that he was a Divine teacher sent from God, ever speak- 
 ing truth, and incapable of assuming what was not his 
 right, they must feel that when he claimed to be God, 
 he stated what was true, and assumed what was perfectly 
 due to him ; and that, therefore, he was God. Here, 
 also, the mystery of his death accumulates. "We have 
 not only the strange mystery of an innocent being 
 suffering death, a voluntarily-chosen death, a death 
 predetermined- and decreed by God ; but a Divine Being 
 in our nature suffering that death. Must there not 
 have been something peculiar, significant, emphatic, in 
 the death of Jesus, such as is not in the death of the 
 most sainted martyr that ever lived and died ? 
 
 What accompanied the Saviour's death is also very 
 peculiar ; so much so as to have been the accompaniment 
 of no other death. That awful and mysterious agony in 
 the garden of Gethsemane ; that still more mysterious 
 ciy upon the cross, " My God, my God, why has thou 
 forsaken me?" and in the midst of that terrible for- 
 sakenness to which he gave so poignant an expression, 
 the putting forth of the sublime power of saying to the 
 thief upon the cross, " To-day shalt thou be with me 
 in paradise ;" surely, surely this was not the death of 
 an ordinary missionary, nor of even the holiest martyr. 
 
346 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 All this stamps the death of Jesus as something unique, 
 totally different from the death of any other recorded in 
 the annals of the sufferers of mankind. 
 
 Then mark the other fact. Jesus suffered, as he in- 
 dicated himself, what no holy martyr ever suffered. He 
 cried, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" JSTo Christian 
 Avas ever forsaken at his death by God. Is it not God's 
 own promise? "I will never leave thee nor forsake 
 thee." This is promised to every believer. Never yet 
 w r as a true Christian forsaken of God in the agony of 
 death. Yet Jesus was. " Why hast thou forsaken me ?" 
 Does not this indicate something in this death more 
 than in the death of a good man setting an example of 
 patience ? Is it not a death in its nature clearly dis- 
 tinguished from all other deaths, and indicating an end 
 which is not exhausted by what the Socinian, or the 
 Unitarian, or the mere moralist, pronounces concerning 
 Jesus ? 
 
 The death of Jesus was also accompanied with 
 miracles, and these very remarkable ones. We are 
 told, that from the sixth hour there was darkness over 
 all the land until the ninth.hour. This never accom- 
 panied any other death. We are told, again, that " the 
 veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the 
 bottom : significative, as explained by the Apostle in 
 his Epistle to the Hebrews, of access to the holiest of 
 all. We are told that "the earth did quake, and the 
 rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many 
 bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of 
 the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy 
 city, and appeared unto many." We read, also, that 
 "when the centurion, and they that were with him, 
 watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things 
 that were done, they feared greatly, saying [from the 
 overwhelming demonstration nature was rendering to 
 the significance of this death], Truly this was the Son 
 of God." 
 
 Lastly, what is equally peculiar and distinctive, Jesus 
 instituted a memorial, celebrated in every sanctuary, 
 every day of the year somewhere, called the Supper of 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 347 
 
 the Lord, or the Eucharist ; having a retrospective 
 reference to the fact that he died upon the cross. 
 
 Now I ask, Why did not Jesus select his baptism to 
 be commemorated ? Why not his birth, when angels 
 broke the silence of the night, and proclaimed peace on 
 earth, glory to God, and goodwill among mankind? 
 Why did he take that very fact in his history which is 
 still the most offensive to the Jew, the most incredible 
 to the Gentile, the greatest evidence of his humiliation, 
 his degradation, and his shame ? Why did he take that 
 one fact in preference to the more majestic facts of his 
 biography, to be the subject of a ceaseless memorial in 
 every congregation throughout the world, and to the 
 end of time ? Do not, I ask, all these things indicate, 
 nay, demonstrate, that there was in the death of Jesus 
 that which was not in the death of Paul, Peter, or 
 Polycarp, or Ignatius, or of sainted sufferers or devoted 
 martyrs, from the beginning to the present hour ? 
 
 Having indicated these facts, I now proceed to trans- 
 fer from the pages of the New Testament the leading 
 descriptions of the death of Christ, in order that you 
 may have, not my reasoning, or my inferential conclu- 
 sion, but God's own testimony respecting the signifi- 
 cance, the nature, the issues, and the effects of the death 
 of Jesus. For this purpose I have taken from the 
 " Biblical Repository " for April, 1850, a collection of 
 texts which strike me as extremely conclusive, in their 
 combined bearing, on the nature of the death of Christ. 
 I present, first of all 
 
 HISTORICAL APPELLATIVES OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 1. QavaroQ Death. 
 
 Rom. v. 10. ... We were reconciled to God by the death of his 
 
 Son. 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 26. . . Ye do show the Lord's death till he come. 
 Philip, ii. 8. ... And became obedient unto death, even the death 
 
 of the cross. 
 Col. i 21, 22. . . Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his 
 
 flesh through death. 
 
348 ^ PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Heb. ii. 9 ..... Made a little lower than the angels for the suf- 
 
 fering of death. 
 
 ii. 9. . . t . Should taste death for every man. 
 ii. H ..... That through death he might destroy him that 
 
 had the power of death. 
 ix. 15. ... He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that 
 
 by means of death for the redemption of the 
 
 transgressions. 
 
 2. 'ATroQvrjVKw Die. 
 Rom. v. 6 ..... In due time Christ died for the ungodly. 
 
 v. 8 ..... While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
 vi. 10. ... For in that he dii.d, he died unto sin once. 
 xiv. 15. . . Destroy not him . . . for whom Christ died. 
 
 1 Cor. viii .11. . . The weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. 
 
 xv. 3. ... How that Christ died for our sins. 
 
 2 Cor. v. 14. ... That if one died for all, then were all dead. 
 
 v. 15. ... But unto him which died for them. 
 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. To obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who died for us. 
 
 3. Zravjoof Cross. 
 
 1 Cor. i. 17. ... Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none 
 
 effect. 
 i. 18. ... For the preaching of the cross is to them that 
 
 perish. 
 
 Gal. v. 11 ..... Then is the offence of the cross ceased. 
 vi. 12 ..... Persecution for the cross of Christ. 
 vi. 14 ..... Glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ. 
 Eph. ii. 16 ..... Reconcile both unto God in one body by the 
 
 cross. 
 Philip, ii. 8. ... Became obedient unto death, even the death of 
 
 the cross. 
 Col. i. 20 ...... Made peace through the blood of his cross. 
 
 Heb. xii. 2 ..... For the joy that was set before him endured the 
 
 cross. 
 
 4. Zravpow Crucify. 
 
 1 Cor. i. 13. ... Was Paul crucified for you ? 
 1 Cor. i. 23. ... But we preach Christ crucified. 
 
 ii. 2. ... Save Jesus Christ and him crucified. 
 Gal. iii. 1 ..... Evidently set forth, crucified among you. 
 
 5. 20arru> Slay. 
 Rev. v. 6 ...... Stood a Lamb, as it had been slain. 
 
 v. 9 ...... For thou wast slain, and has redeemed us to 
 
 God by thy blood. 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 349 
 
 Rev. v. 12 Worthy is the Lamb that icas slain. 
 
 xiii. 8. ... The Lamb stain before the foundation of the 
 world. 
 
 6. ndax< Suffer. 
 Mark viii. 31. . . The Son of Man must suffer many things, and 
 
 be rejected. Matt. xvi. 21 ; Luke ix. 2'2. 
 Lukexxii. 15. . . I have desired to eat this passover with you 
 
 before 1 suffer. 
 Luke xxiv. 26. . Ought not Christ to have suffered these things ? 
 
 xxiv. 46. . It behoved Christ to suffer. 
 Acts iii. 18. ... God before had showed . . . that Christ should 
 
 suffer. 
 
 xvii. 3. ... Christ must needs hare suffered. 
 Heb. ix. 20. ... For then must he often have suffered. 
 1 Pet. ii. 21. . . . Christ also suffered for us. 
 
 iii. 18. .. Christ also hath once suffered for sins. 
 
 iv. 1. . . Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us. 
 
 7. UdOrjfia Suffering. 
 
 Heb. ii. 9 A little lower than the angels for the suffering 
 
 of death. 
 
 ii. 10 Perfect through sufferings. 
 
 1 Pet. i. 11. ... Testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ. 
 v. 1 A witness of the sufferings of Christ. 
 
 8. AluaJJlood. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 28. . This is my blood of the New Testament, which 
 is shed for many for the remission of sins. 
 Mark xiv. 24 ; Luke xxii. 20. 
 
 Acts xx. 28. ... Which he hath purchased with his own blood. 
 Rom. iii. 25. ... Through faith in his blood. 
 
 v. 9. ... Being now justified by his blood. 
 1 Cor. ii. 25. . . . This cup is the New Testament in my blood. 
 
 Eph. i. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood. 
 
 ii. ] 3 Are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 
 
 Col. i. 20 Having made peace through the blood of his 
 
 cross. 
 
 Heb. ix. 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ . . . 
 
 purge your conscience. 
 
 x. 19 Boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the 
 
 blood of Jesus. 
 
 x. 29 Hath counted the blood of the covenant an 
 
 unholy thing. 
 
 xiii. 12. . . Sanctify the people with his own blood. 
 xiii. 20. . . . Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. 
 1 Pet. i. 2. ... Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. 
 
 i. 9 (redeemed) with the precious blood of Christ. 
 
$50 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 1 John i. 7. ... The blood of J<^us Christ his Son cleanseth us 
 
 from all sin. 
 Rev. i. 5 ...... Washed us from our sins in his own blood. 
 
 v. 9 ...... Hath redeemed us to God by thy blood. 
 
 vii. 14. . . . Made them white in the blood of the Lamb 
 
 Matt. xx. 28. . . To give his life a ransom for many. 
 John x. 15. ... I lay down my life for the sheep. 
 1 John iii. 1G. . . Because he laid down his life for us. 
 
 10. Karotpd Curse. 
 Gal. iii. 13 ..... Being made a curse for us. 
 
 Now take all the passages, bearing on and descriptive 
 of the death of Christ, and what must be the inference ? 
 Is this the death of an ordinary martyr ? Why is the 
 death of Jesus thus selected, thus dwelt upon, the 
 whole stress of the Gospel, as it were, being laid upon 
 it ? Why does the Apostle pronounce " Christ crucified," 
 and not " Christ baptised," as the epitome of the Gospel ? 
 Why does he say, "God forbid that I should glory, save 
 iii the cross of Christ," and not rather, " God forbid that 
 I should glory, save in the crown, or in the manger, or 
 in the example, or in the life of Christ r" Why is it in 
 the whole apocalyptic song not, the Lamb that was 
 baptised, that was born, that lived so holy, that died so 
 meekly, but "the Lamb that was slain?" Why is so 
 much said about the blood of Christ that which cannot 
 be said about any other shed blood upon earth ? The 
 answer must be, that there is something in the death of 
 Christ so peculiar, so singular, so unlike, in its meaning 
 and its application, to the death of any other, that we must 
 conclude that we do not exhaust its meaning when we say 
 it was an atonement made by the just for the unjust, that 
 sin may be forgiven and sinners may be saved. 
 
 The next class of phrases may be called 
 
 COMMERCIAL APPELLATIVES. 
 1. Avrpow Redeem. 
 
 Tim. ii. 14 ..... That he might redeem us from all iniquity. 
 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. . Ye were not redeemed with corruptible "thing-, 
 . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 351 
 
 2. Avrpov Ransom. 
 
 Mai. xx. P8 ... The Son of Man came ... to give his life a 
 ransom for many. Mark x. 45. 
 
 3. AvriXvrpov Ransom. 
 1 Tim. ii. 6. ... Who gave himself a ransom for all. 
 
 4. AvrpuaiQ Redemption. 
 
 Heb. ix. 12. ... By his own blood he entered in once into the 
 holy place, having obtained eternal redemp- 
 tion for us. 
 
 LQ Redemption. 
 
 Rom. iii. 24. . . . Justified freely by his grace, through the re- 
 demption, that is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 1 Cor. i 30. . . . Who of God is made unto us ... redemption, 
 
 Kph. i. 17 ..... In whom we have redemption through his blood. 
 
 Heb. ix. 15. ... That by means of death for the redemption of 
 the transgressions. 
 
 6. AyOjOao> TI^TI Buy Price. 
 
 1 Cor. vi. 20. . . For ye are bottyht with a price. 
 
 2 Pet. ii. 1 ..... Denying the Lord that bouglit them. 
 Rev. v. 9 ...... Has redeemed us to God by thy blood. 
 
 xiv. 3. ... Which were redeemed from the earth. 
 xiv. 4. ... These were redeemed from among men. 
 
 7. 'Eayo|0aa> Redeem from. 
 
 Gal. iii. 13 ..... Christ Jiath redeemed us from the curse of the law. 
 iv. 5 ..... To redeem them that were under the law. 
 
 8. Tlepnrodofiai Purchase, or acquire. 
 
 Acts xx. 28. ... Which he hath purchased with his own blood. 
 
 9. TIepnroir)<ji Purchased possession. 
 
 Eph. i. 14 ..... Until the redemption of the purchased pos- 
 
 session. 
 1 Pet. ii. 9 ..... A peculiar people (literally, of acquirement to 
 
 himself.) 
 
 Hero is another class of expressions which again show 
 that the death of Christ must have something very 
 peculiar and significant in it. They tell us what we are 
 purchased from from " all iniquity," from " the curse 
 of the law," from " condemnation." We are told, too, 
 what we are purchased with with his life, his blood, 
 
352 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 himself ; not by his example, not by his teaching, not 
 by his miracles, not by his walk : we arc purchased, re- 
 deemed, washed, justified, accepted, through his death. 
 Again I say, there must be something very peculiar 
 about the death of Christ to warrant the application of 
 such phraseology to it. 
 
 The third class of expression may be called 
 
 SACRIFICIAL APPELLATIVES. 
 1. 'Apxuptvg Hifjli Priest. 
 
 Heb. ii. 17 That he might be a merciful and faithful Hiyh 
 
 Priest. 
 
 iii. 1 High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. 
 
 iv. 14. ... We have a great High Priest that is passed 
 unto the heavens, Jesus the son of God. 
 
 v. 1 For every Hiyh Priest taken from among men, 
 
 is ordained for men in things pertaining to 
 God, that he may offer both gifts and sacri- 
 fices for sins. 
 
 v. 10 Called of God a Hiyh Priest after the order of 
 
 Melchisedec. 
 
 vii. 26. . . . For such an High Priest became us. 
 
 viii. 1. ... We have such an Hiyh Priest, who is set on 
 the right hand of the throne of the majesty in 
 the heavens. 
 
 2. 'ItjOti'f Priest. 
 
 Heb. v. 6 Thou art a priest for ever. 
 
 vii. 11. ... Another priest should rise after the order of 
 
 Melchisedec. 
 x. 21 An hiyh priest over the house of God. 
 
 3. 'Itpoxrvvrj - Priesthood. 
 Heb. vii. 4. ... Hath an unchangeable priesthood. 
 
 4. 'iXaoTcojwni Reconcile ly expiation. 
 
 Heb. ii. 17 A merciful and faithful high priest in things 
 
 pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for 
 the sins of the people. 
 
 5. 'iXaerjutif Propitiation. 
 
 1 John ii. 2. ... He is the propitiation for our sins. 
 
 iv. 10. . . . Sent his son to be die propitiation for our sins. 
 
 6. ' J \affrfipiov Propitiation. 
 
 Rom. iii. 25 ... Whom God has sent forth to be & propitiation 
 through faith in his blood. 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 353 
 
 7. 'Aftvbt; Lamb, 
 John i. 29. . . . Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away 
 
 the sin of the world. 
 1 Pet. i. 19. ... Blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish 
 
 and without spot. 
 
 8. 'Apviov Lamb. 
 
 Rev. v. 12 ..... Worthy is the Lamb that was .^la'n. 
 vii. 14. ... White in the blood of the Lamb. 
 xiii. 18. ... The Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
 world. 
 
 9. Qvi>) 7rdfTx a To Sacrifice Passover. 
 1 Cor. v. 7. ... For even Christ ourpassorer is sacrificed for us. 
 
 10. Qvffia A Sacrifice. 
 Eph. v. 2 ..... Hath given himself for us an offering and a 
 
 sacrifice to God. 
 Hcb. ix. 26. ... Hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice 
 
 of himself. 
 x. 12 ..... After he had offered one sacrifice for sins. 
 
 11. Tlpo(T(popa An Offering. 
 Eph. v. 2 ...... Hath yiven himself an offering and a sacrifice to 
 
 to God. 
 Heb. x. 10. ... Through the offering of the body of Jesus once. 
 
 x. 14 ..... For by one offering he hath perfected. 
 
 12. 
 
 Heb. ix. 14. ... Who through the eternal Spirit offered himself 
 
 without spot to God. 
 
 ix. 35. . . . Nor yet that he should offer himself often. 
 ix. 28. ... So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
 
 many. 
 x. 12 ..... After he had offered one sacrifice for sins. 
 
 13. 'Ava^epw Bear. 
 Heb. ix. 28. ... So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
 
 many. 
 vii. 27. ... For this he did once when he offered up himself. 
 
 14. 'EvTvyx av<>) To make intercession. 
 Heb. vii. 25. ... Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for 
 
 them. Isa. liii. 12. 
 
 ix. 24. ... But into heaven itself, now to appear in the 
 presence of God for us. 
 
 1 5. HapaK\JiTOG A n A dvocate. 
 
 1 John ii. 1. ... We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ the righteous. 
 
 A A 
 
354 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Now what do all these passages show ? That the 
 idea of atonement or sacrifice is inseparable from the 
 death of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are phrases bor- 
 rowed from the ancient Jewish economy. Was that 
 economy distinguished by sacrifices ? Was the idea of 
 an atonement at all impressed and inculcated upon that 
 people? Let us look at their sacrifices. In every 
 sacrifice of an expiatory kind offered by the Jew, there 
 was first a transgressor, somebody who was morally or 
 ceremonially unclean. There was, secondly, a victim, 
 a goat, a lamb, or a bullock, the blood of which was shed 
 and sprinkled on the altar. There was next a priest 
 who slew the victim, shed its blood, and sprinkled it on 
 the altar. And there was, lastly, the imposition of 
 hands upon the head of the victim. The idea inculcated 
 was that the guilt of him who laid on his hands was 
 transferred directly or indirectly to the victim that was 
 slain, or the goat that was dismissed and sent away into 
 the wilderness. No one, therefore, can deny that the 
 whole Jewish economy was pervaded by the idea of ex- 
 piation that the great lesson inculcated in every act 
 was, without shedding of blood there was no remission 
 of sins. Now every one of these expressions is applied 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our propitiation, our 
 priest, our sacrifice, our altar, our atonement. He sub- 
 stituted himself, the just in the room of the unjust ; and 
 pardon, forgiveness, and acceptance are associated with 
 his so substituting himself and so being a sacrifice for 
 our sin. The idea, then, accumulates in evidence that 
 Jesus died, not an example how the good should meekly 
 suffer, but an atonement by which the sins of the guilty 
 might be forgiven. 
 
 The next class of expressions are 
 
 TERMS OF OBJECTIVE, OCCASIONAL, AND PERSONAL 
 RELATION. 
 
 1. 'Afiapria Sin. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 28. . Which is shed for many for the remission of sin. 
 John i. 29 .... The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
 the world. 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 355 
 
 Acts xiii. 38. ... Through this man is preached unlo you the 
 
 forgiveness of sins. 
 Horn. vi. 10. ... In that he died, he died unto sin once. 
 
 viii. '6. ... In the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con- 
 
 demned sin in the flesh 
 
 1 Cor. xv. 3. ... That Christ died for our sins. 
 
 2 Cor. v. 21. . . . Hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no 
 
 sin. 
 Col. i 14 ...... Redemption thr rgh his blood, even the for- 
 
 giveness of sins. 
 Heh. i 3 ...... Had by himself purged our sins. 
 
 ii. 17 ..... To make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 
 
 ix. 26. ... To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 
 
 ix. 28. . . . Once offered to bear the sins of many. 
 
 x.'12 ..... After he had offered one sacrifice for sins. 
 I Pet. ii. 24. . . . Bare our sins in his own body on the tree. 
 
 iii. 18 ..... Hath once suffered for sins. 
 
 1 John i. 7 ..... The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
 from all sin. 
 
 ii. 2. .... He is the propitiation for our sins. 
 
 iii. 5 ..... Manifested to take away our sins. 
 
 iv. x ..... Sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 
 
 2. 'AiaTrjJia Sin. 
 
 Horn. iii. 25. ... Set forth to be a propitiation through faith in 
 his bloorl, to declare his righteousness for the 
 remission of sins that are passed. 
 
 3. Haf>a.Trr(op,a Offence, Trespass, Sin. 
 Rom. iv. 25. ... Who was delivered for our offences. 
 
 Eph. i. 7 ...... Redemption through his blood, forgiveness of 
 
 sins. 
 
 4. JlapdpaffiG Transgression. 
 
 Heb. ix. 15. ... That by means of death for the redemption of 
 the transgressions that were under the first 
 testament. 
 
 5. 'Avofiia Iniquity. 
 Tit. ii. 14 ...... That he redeem us from all iniquity. 
 
 6. 'AfiapTuXbs Sinner. 
 
 Rom. v. 8 ..... While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
 1 Tim. i. 15. ... Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 
 
 7. "Ac-/3/7C Ungodly. 
 
 Rom. v. 6 ..... In due time Christ died for the ungodly. 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 EBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 8. *AIKOG Unjust. 
 
 1 Pet. iii. 18. . . For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the 
 just for the unjust. 
 
 9. 'Ex0|00 Enemy. 
 
 Rom. v. 10 ..... When we were enemies, we were reconciled to 
 God by the death of his Son. 
 
 10. Tot<e virb vo\iov Those under the laic. 
 Gal. iv. 5 ...... To redeem them that were under the law. 
 
 11. TIpofictTov Sheep. 
 John x. 15. ... I lay down my life for the sheep. 
 
 12. 'EKicXrjaia Church. 
 
 Acts xx. 28. ... The church of Gcd, which he hath purchased 
 
 with his own blood. 
 Eph. v. 25 ..... Christ also loved the church, and gave himself 
 
 for it. 
 
 13. Att6f People. 
 
 Heb. ii. 17 ..... To make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 
 xiii. 12. ... Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the 
 people with his own blood, suffered without 
 the gate. 
 
 14. IloXXot Many. 
 Matt. xxvi. 28. . Which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 
 
 xx. 28. ... To give his life a ransom for many. 
 Heb. ix. 28. ... So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
 many. 
 
 15. Ilac. TTUVTSQ - Every one all. 
 
 2 Cor. v. 14. ... If one died for all. 
 
 v. 15. ... And that he died for all. 
 1 Tim. ii. 6. ... Gave himself a ransom for all. 
 Heb ii. 9 .... That he, by the grace of God should taste death 
 for every man. 
 
 16. 
 
 John i. 29 ..... The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
 
 the world. 
 vi. 51. ... And the bread that I will give is my flesh, 
 
 which I will give for the life of the world. 
 1 John ii. 2. ... And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not 
 
 for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
 
 world. 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 357 
 
 Is not the thought still more clearly impressed that 
 the atonement of Jesus was of an expiatory nature, when 
 all the phraseology and usages of the ancient Levitical 
 economy are applied to that death ; and when Christ is 
 said to have died rjTrto for nvn instead of, and TTfot in 
 behalf of, or concerning us ? Does it not prove that 
 sin is in some way removed by his death, and that 
 sinners are in some way benefited, as the blessed and 
 glorious issue ? 
 
 TERMS OF REMOTE RELATION, OR FINAL DECISION. 
 
 1. 2ww Save. 
 Matt, xviii. 11. . For the Son of man came to save that which 
 
 was lost 
 John iii. 17. ... That the world through him might be saved 
 
 xii. 47. ... I came not to judge the world, but to save the 
 
 world. 
 1 Tim. i. 15. ... Christ Jesus came into the world to sare sinners. 
 
 2. 2o*rj/p Saviour. 
 
 1 John iv. 14. .. The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
 the world. 
 
 3. "AtyEffiQ Remission, Forgiveness 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 28. . Wlvch is shed for many for the remission of sins. 
 Acts v. 31 ..... Him hath God exalted ... to give repentance 
 
 to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 
 xiii. 38. ... Through this man is preached unto you the 
 
 forgiveness of sins. 
 Eph. i. 7 ...... In whom we have redemption through his 
 
 blood, the forgiveness of sins. Col. i. 14. 
 
 4. TIapemg Pretermission. 
 
 Rom. iii. 25. . . . For the remission of sins that are past. 
 5. At/ca/w Justify. 
 
 Acts xiii. 39. . . By him all that believe are justified. 
 
 Kom. iii. 24. ... Being justified freely by his grace through the 
 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 
 v. 9 ..... Being \\v\v justified by his blood. 
 Gal. ii. 17 ..... But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ. 
 
 6. AiKaioffvvrj Righteoitsness. 
 
 Rom. iii. 25. ... Set forth to be a propitiation ... to declare 
 his righteousness, that he might be just, and 
 the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 
 
358 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Rom. x. 4 Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to 
 
 every one that belie veth. 
 2 Cor. v. 21. ... For he hath made him to he sin for us, who 
 
 knew no sin, that we might be made the 
 
 righteousness of God in him. 
 
 7. KaraXXay/} Reconciliation. 
 
 Rom. v. 11. . . . By whom we have received the atonement. 
 8. KaraXXor<7w Reconcile. 
 
 Rom. v. 10. ... We were reconciled to God by the death of his 
 
 Son. 
 2 Cor. v. 18. . . . Who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ 
 
 Jesus. 
 v. 19. .... In Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, 
 
 not imputing their trespasses unto them. 
 
 9 'A7roKnrXXarrw Reconcile. 
 
 Eph. ii. 16 That he might reconcile both unto God in one 
 
 body by the cross. 
 
 Col. i. 21 Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his 
 
 flesh through death. 
 
 We have thus the end which Christ came to accom- 
 plish. He came to put away sin, and to save sinners. 
 The nature of that result is described as salvation, for- 
 giveness, remission of sins, justification, righteousness, 
 reconciliation. Does not this still more strongly incul- 
 cate the idea I am now teaching, that Christ's death was 
 expiatory, vicarious, or atoning ? 
 
 TEEMS EXPRESSIVE OF DIVINE ACTION. 
 
 1. AI'^WJUI Give. 
 
 John iii. 16. ... For God so loved the world that he gare his 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 in him should not perish, but have everlastin^ 
 life. 
 
 2. TLapafiiBwfJii Give tip, deliver. 
 Rom. iv. 25. ... Who was delivered for our offences. 
 
 viii. 32- ... He that spared (tytiaaro) not his own Son, 
 but delivered him up for us all. 
 
 3. "EKtioro Delivered up. 
 
 Acts ii. 23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel 
 
 and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and 
 by wicked hands have crucified and slain. 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATE. 359 
 
 4. HpoopiZo) Determine before. 
 
 Acts iv. 28 ..... For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel 
 determined before to be done. 
 
 5. 'ATroorlXXw Fend. 
 
 John iii. 17. ... For God sent not his Son into the world to 
 condemn the world, but that the world through 
 him might be saved. 
 1 John iv. 9. ... Sent his only begotten Son into the world, that 
 
 we might live through him. 
 
 *-v. 10. .. Sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 
 iv. 14. .. The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the 
 world. 
 
 6. TlpOTiOnfMi Set forth, appoint. 
 Rom. iii. 25. ... Whom God ha'h set forth to be a propitiation. 
 
 7. Hodu) afiapriav Made sin. 
 
 2 Cor. v. 21. ... For he hath made him to be sin for us, who 
 knew no sin, that we might be made the 
 righteousness of God in him. 
 
 I have given you these specimens of all the expres- 
 sions associated with the death of Christ contained in 
 the New Testament Scriptures. I first ask you to 
 notice the enormous stress that is laid upon his death ; 
 how justification, acceptance, forgiveness, are all asso- 
 ciated, not with his baptism, not with his example, but 
 with his death ; how the great end for which God sent 
 him into the world was not, as here declared, to set a 
 beautiful example, but to die. I ask you to notice how 
 that death is connected with all the institutions of Lovi, 
 which were intended confessedly and professedly to in- 
 culcate the idea of the atonement ; and how, in the next 
 place, it is associated with our sins and their removal, 
 and with sinners and their acceptance before God. 
 
 Now, with regard to these passages, the very eloquent 
 but deeply deceived Dr. Charming, whose dying creed it 
 is said was very dilferent from his living creed, re- 
 nouncing the Socinianism which could not save, and 
 accepting the Christianity which alone proclaims the 
 atonement and the forgiveness of sins, states, in vol. iii. 
 of his works, after referring to some of these extracts 
 
360 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 from the New Testament Scriptures, and speaking of the 
 body of which he was so eloquent and gifted an expo- 
 nent : " Many of us are dissatisfied with this explana- 
 tion of the death of Christ (' that it procures forgiveness 
 by leading to that repentance and virtue which is the 
 great and only condition on which forgiveness is 
 bestowed'), and think that the Scriptures ascribe the 
 remission of sins to Christ's death with an etnpkatu so 
 peculiar, that we ought to consider this event as having a 
 special influence in removing punishment" Here is a ray 
 of light entering into that great man's mind, and show- 
 ing how dissatisfied he was with the popular theology of 
 his body ; and thus inducing us to believe what was 
 reported of him was true, that he died renouncing his 
 Uriitarianism, and accepting the precious blood of Jesus 
 as that which cleanseth from all sin. 
 
 Suppose you wished to convey the idea which 
 Channing dimly saw, but which we rejoice to have the 
 privilege and joy of fully accepting, the expiatory and 
 atoning nature of the death of Jesus, I defy you, or 
 even the eloquent author whom I have quotwd, to select 
 verbs, nouns, adjectives, epithets, and appellatives, that 
 more emphatically, directly, and fully declare that the 
 death of Jesus was expiatory and atoning. If you will 
 read those extracts which I have given, and Avill try to 
 find language more definite, more decided, more clearly 
 explanatory of your meaning, that Christ died as an 
 atonement, you will find it impossible to do so. The 
 Apostles have exhausted language in order to convey 
 this idea. If they did not understand that Christ died 
 as an atonement, they have purposely, deliberate!}', and 
 designedly deceived mankind. It is impossible to sup- 
 pose that men who understand the use and the meaning 
 of language that weapon of great power could ever 
 have used such phraseology so often, in such changes of 
 circumstances, in such variety of construction, on so 
 many occasions, out of so many incidents, except they 
 had intended to convey this great idea, that the death of 
 Jesus was an atonement made on behalf of sinners, and 
 for the remission of the sins of them that believe. 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 361 
 
 Therefore we infer that the system of Unitarianism, 
 which alleges it is not a sacrifice, is simply the creed 
 and misconception of man ; that the system of supersti- 
 tion, which says it was not a complete sacrifice, but 
 needs to be added to, is simply the system of the priest ; 
 and that that creed is the true one, because the Divine 
 one, which declares that he died, the just in our room, 
 the holy one in the room of the unholy ; that the spot- 
 less Lamb wore our tainted fleece, that we, the fallen 
 and stray sheep, might be clothed with his glorious 
 righteousness ; that he paid all we owed to God, and 
 secured from God far more than God owed to us ; that 
 his blood cleanseth from all sin, and that in him, and by 
 him, and through him, to the exclusion of all repent- 
 ance, all good deeds, all sufferings, all prayers of saints 
 and intercessions of angels, everything in heaven or 
 earth, however excellent or however bad, that in him 
 and through him alone, we have forgiveness of sin and 
 justification in the sight of God. Blessed truths are 
 these ! Blessed be the God that has revealed them. We 
 have not to climb to heaven by the penitential stairs our 
 imaginations may construct, nor to purchase our entrance 
 into heaven by a draft on the funded merit or virtues of 
 any church or corporation whatever. We have not to do 
 something in order to deserve heaven : God gives us 
 heaven as a birthright, and bids us, conscious of the gra- 
 titude we owe him, go forth and show that we are his, 
 and manifest our devotion to his will, by living to his 
 glory and his honour, in doing his commandments. It is 
 not for us to speculate whether God could have saved us 
 by any other process. No speculation, I conceive, can 
 be more foolish. It is matter of fact, that there is none 
 other name but One by which we can be saved that 
 there is but one process of restoration revealed unto us ; 
 and instead of speculating whether we could have been 
 saved by any other process, it is the safer, it is the truer 
 way, it is the only one, earnestly to study what God has 
 said, and to seek to be saved in the way of his own 
 appointment. 
 
 This atonement was not made to make God love thos:> 
 whom he otherwise hated. This is not the accepted 
 
362 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 view of any enlightened auditory, nor is it sanctioned 
 in Scripture. The atonement was offered not to create 
 in God a love that was not, but to be the exponent and 
 evidence to us of a love that was and is : and it is not 
 true that God so hated us that Christ, to intercept his 
 wrath, interposed to save us ; but he so loved us, that 
 he gave, as an expression of that love, Christ to die for 
 us. It is not the proposition of the Bible that God loves 
 us because Christ died for us : the converse is its decla- 
 ration, that God so loved us that Christ died for us. 
 The death of Christ was provided by the mercy of him 
 against whose justice we had sinned, that that mercy 
 might reach us with all its pardoning fulness, in perfect 
 harmony with that justice which we had insulted; so 
 that God should appear the most just when he exercises 
 the richest mercy, and should be arrayed in the brightest 
 glory when he forgives the chiefest of sinners through the 
 blood of Jesus. If this be so, how little reason have we 
 to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Well and truly 
 did an Apostle say, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel 
 of Christ." In the death of Jesus was a real and in- 
 trinsic grandeur. He died, the evidence that he was 
 man ; but he atoned in that death, the demonstration 
 that he was more than man. He that died for us was 
 the Lord of Glory. That dead Christ was the Prince of 
 Life. That babe in the manger was the Mighty God. 
 He that said, " The foxes of the earth have holes, and 
 the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
 hath not where to lay his head," was he that stretched 
 out the firmament and scattered over it its ever-burning 
 stars. And that cross, which to the world was the 
 symbol of shame, is to us glorious as the Shekinah 
 between the cherubim. Christ crucified is emphatically 
 the hope, the trust, the confidence of all believers. 
 
 Thus we see the nature of the death which Christ 
 died for us. Its vicarious nature is indisputable. It 
 was not the patient example of a saint's dying, but the 
 atoning suffering of a Divine victim. Have you ac- 
 cepted it as such ? Have you closed with God's offer of 
 mercy in Christ Jesus ? If you have not, why not ? I 
 know not a guilt more heinous than that of the man 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 363 
 
 who hears of the occurrence of such a fact, and retires 
 unconscious of its importance, unimpressed by u sense 
 of responsibility, unattracted to God the Father mani- 
 festing his love in the death of Christ the Redeemer. 
 If you are not justified and accepted through him, let 
 me ask you, as I have often done, why ? Is God un- 
 willing to receive you ? At this moment he waits for 
 you ; and if you should wait a thousand years, you will 
 not be more willing to go to God, and he will not be 
 more willing to accept you in the name of Jesus, and 
 the way will not be more easy. God waits to be gra- 
 cious ; he has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but 
 rather that he should turn from his wickedness, repent, 
 and live. Do you answer, "the provision is insuf- 
 ficient?" Is such an objection consistent with the 
 passages I have quoted ? I announce the good news, 
 when I proclaim, as God's ambassador, there is not one 
 sin, be it the most heinous, the most offensive before 
 man, and the most terrible and criminal in the sight of 
 God, for which there is not forgiveness in the blood of 
 Christ. The efficacy of that blood is not diluted by 
 years, or exhausted of its virtue by the number to which 
 it is applied. There is as much forgiveness, and as free, 
 and as full, and as complete and irreversible, in the year 
 1850, as there was for them who had dyed their hands 
 in the crucifixion of Jesus, and shouted, with atheistic 
 blasphemy, " Crucify him, crucify him;" and who were, 
 in spite of their sins, and through the sufficiency of the 
 blood of Jesus, afterwards received by faith, the very 
 first-fruits of his death, on the day of Pentecost. If, 
 therefore, you are not pardoned, it is plainly not because 
 God is unwilling, or the provision insufficient. Arc there 
 not motives strong enough to influence you ? Is not the 
 hope of a glorious kingdom, that never can be moved, a 
 hope stimulating enough ? Is not the possibility of 
 escape from condemnation and everlasting ruin a reason 
 urgent and eloquent enough ? Look down into the 
 depths of the ruin which you have not reached, but to 
 which our sins must drive us, if unforgiven ; and then 
 look to the heights of that glory which we have for- 
 feited, and so often turned our backs on, and which the 
 
C64 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 sufferings, the agony, and the blood of Jesus alone have 
 retrieved for us ; and say, if there are not motives 
 enough, in the position in which you now stand, in the 
 danger you may avert, in the glory you may reach, why 
 you should flee to the refuge set before you, and seek 
 now, once for all, acceptance and forgiveness before God. 
 
 But do you think, as some most erroneously do, that 
 all will be saved ? My belief is, that the dogma enter- 
 tained by a few is the feeling cherished in the hearts of 
 nine out of every ten of the unconverted, that some- 
 how or other they will get an interest in the mercy and 
 forgiveness of God, and that they need not trouble them- 
 selves about it now. They know not how, they cannot 
 say when ; but they are pretty sure that that mercy will 
 be shown them when they stand in need of it. This is 
 not the theology of the Bible. It tells you that God's 
 mercy is to be obtained only in one way, only by 
 knocking at the one door, only by pleading in one 
 name, only by asking through one channel. If it be 
 not asked through that name, through that channel, and 
 for the sake of him who died that it might reach us, it 
 will never be obtained at all. 
 
 Here forgiveness is not the sole result of the death 
 of Jesus. He died, not only that sin may be removed, 
 but that human nature might be restored, re-bcautilied, 
 reconstructed from its ruins, and made fit for, as well 
 as entitled to, the presence of God. It is as necessary 
 that you should be sanctified as justified. Justification 
 and acceptance are but the commencement, not the 
 close : they are not (to use the language of schoolmen) 
 the terminus ad quod, but the terminus a quo ; not 
 the end towards which you move, but the starting- 
 place from which }'ou run the race that leads to honour, 
 glory, and immortality. If you were a heathen, and 
 had never heard the Gospel, and if in the agonies of 
 death Christ upon the cross were pointed out to you 
 clearly and distinctly, I would not despair, but believe 
 that then and there; there would be forgiveness for you. 
 But you occupy a different position. You have heard, 
 this day, what lifts you out of that position for ever. 
 You have heard that God waits, that God is now 
 
MESSIAH'S DEATH. 365 
 
 willing; and that it is your privilege, your duty, and 
 safety, to come instantly to God. Therefore, if you 
 adjourn your acceptance of the truth, it must be amid 
 the consciousness of a duty you wilfully neglect; it 
 it is adjourning to a day for which God has given no 
 promise ; in other words, it is confessing your sins 
 first, arid then going forth to do that sin ; it is admit 
 ting that you know your duty, but, for reasons best 
 known to yourself, you procrastinate that duty. 
 
 But I believe the great reason why so few think 
 deeply, and so few are interested in this precious sacri- 
 fice, is, that they do not think at all about the subject. 
 The mass of mankind have their hearts so filled with 
 thoughts about this world, that they have not one hour 
 for solemn thoughts about eternity. The morning is 
 for breakfast, the forenoon for business, the evening for 
 dinner, the night for sleep, not one moment for the 
 soul, for God, for the Bible, the judgment- seat, eternity! 
 They hear the funeral- bell, but they never think it will 
 one day toll for them. They see the funeral procession, 
 but they forget that they will be the main object of 
 another similar procession one day. They hear of death 
 here, and sickness there ; but they never think it pos- 
 sible for them to die. Life is the most precarious thing, 
 the most frail thing. The strongest and healthiest have 
 only a lease for the time that is occupied by a single 
 pulse of the heart ; and as soon as that heart has beaten, 
 the lease is over : God in his grace may renew it, and 
 does renew it ; but each beat is the end of a lease. Soon 
 the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise ; and if 
 that be not so soon, very soon we shall lie down upon a 
 death -bed ; and if you could only see what I have often 
 witnessed, how pale the splendour and grandeur of the 
 world looks then, how poor, worthless, and valueless its 
 honours, its wealth, its dignity, weigh then, if you 
 could only realise now what you then and there feel, 
 you would rise and go to your Father, and instantly, in 
 the name and through the merits of Jesus, seek that 
 forgiveness which is waiting for every sinner in this 
 assembly that will. 
 
LECTTJKE XXIY. 
 
 THE GEE AT SACRIFICE. 
 
 " And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut 
 off, but not for himself: and the people- of the prince 
 that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary ; 
 and the end thereof shall be with, a flood, and unto the 
 end of the war desolations are determined" DANIEL 
 ix. 26. 
 
 Ix my previous Lecture I collected some not some, 
 but many of the remarkable texts of Scripture, which 
 describe or allude to the death of our Blessed Lord; 
 and I showed, that if all these texts be collected to- 
 gether, and their scattered rays made to converge, as it 
 were, in one focus, it is impossible to fail to see that the 
 death of Jesus was more than that of a mere patient 
 martyr, and that it is neither unnatural nor illogical to 
 conclude, that his was the death of an atoning Victim, 
 of one " cut off, but not for himself. "- 
 
 I proceed in this lecture to show, not from the texts 
 which I formerly collected and collated, but rather from 
 certain principles indicated in Scripture, and fairly 
 deducible by our own minds from the language of Scrip- 
 ture, that the death of Christ, in order to constitute the 
 substance, or have a claim to the character, of the 
 " good news," to be of any personal, present, and 
 everlasting virtue to us, as sinners, must have been an 
 atonement made, an expiation and sacrifice presented, 
 by the substitute for the sinner. I showed you what 
 I am sure you must feel to be perfectly conclusive 
 that the texts I quoted are inexplicable (if those who 
 wrote them understood the use of language) except on 
 the supposition that Christ's death was expiatory, atoning, 
 or a sacrifice propitiatory for the sins of all that believe. 
 
 Let me now look at three great propositions which 
 
THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 367 
 
 seem to me to necessitate the description of death which 
 I have attributed to Jesus, namely an atonement for 
 our sins. 
 
 Let us look, first, at the law of God. "What is the 
 law ? It is not holiness created, but holiness simply 
 made known. " Holiness is perfect happiness, sin is 
 perfect misery," would have been true if the sentiment 
 had never been revealed in human speech. " Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy 
 neighbour as thyself," was not made when the law was 
 given ; it was only proclaimed. The proclamation of 
 the law is mercy, the expression of goodness itself, 
 for it lets the creature know what the Creator ever 
 does, ever must, and ever will, exact of that creature. 
 
 This law, thus clearly revealed to man, has been 
 broken by us ; conscience unequivocally says so : I 
 have failed in obedience to it; every thought in my 
 mind, every affection in my heart, every record in my 
 memory, every pulse in my being, tells me I have 
 broken that law, in thought, or in word, or in deed. 
 I have not trodden the path that leads to happiness ; 
 I have not paid the price of which everlasting joy is 
 the reward ; I have not done the work of which heaven 
 is the wages. That law clearly and unequivocally tells 
 me : " As far as I, the law, am concerned, I can hold 
 out no hope of a passport to glory to you, no prospect 
 of everlasting joy, for ' cursed is every one that con- 
 tinueth not in all things that are written in the law, to 
 do them.' " These words just describe the condition of 
 every one. Under the curse is that state in which we 
 are born the cold shadow under which we lie. We 
 do not need .to perpetrate some terrible violation of 
 God's law in order to be condemned : we are born con- 
 demned ; we are born in prison ; we are criminals by 
 birth we need no change in order to be lost, the change 
 must take place in order to our being saved, that thus 
 may be turned our terrible and downward procession, 
 and given us an impulse that will lift us from ruin to 
 a state of restoration, from enmity to God, to a con- 
 dition of reconciliation and friendship. 
 
368 PKOPHET1C STUDIES. 
 
 "Where, I ask, is there any disclosure by the law of 
 the possibility of life through our obedience to that law ? 
 We are satisfied that we have broken it ; we are satis- 
 fied, from its own lips, that we are condemned by it. 
 How shall we escape the consequences ? Is there any 
 crevice in the whole of Sinai out of which there is 
 emitted one word of the hope of restoration to the 
 guilty ? Is there any reasoning mind that will show 
 me that God can be merciful to the extent of forgiving 
 all my sins, and yet continue, what he proclaims him- 
 self to be, the infinitely holy, the infinitely just, the 
 infinitely true ? In other words, as long as I am deal- 
 ing with the law, and directed by its light only, having 
 no connexion with the Gospel, and without a rajf of its 
 glory, I ask, how low will the mercy of God descend in 
 pardoning? how high will the justice of God rise in 
 punishing ? Will he be merciful, and save all ? or 
 will he be just, and condemn all? Where will his 
 justice stop in condemning? Where will his mercy 
 stop in acquitting and forgiving ? Must he not be, as 
 far as human light can teach us, inconsistently merciful 
 in order to be just, and inconsistently just in order to 
 be merciful a God who is a composite of contradictions 
 and impossibilities, if so be that sin is to be forgiven 
 without an atonement, or an expiatory sacrifice ? Is 
 there one intimation, however faint, of forgiveness from 
 law ? Is there any hint, however dim, in nature ? is 
 there any rock on the earth, any star in the sky, any 
 flower on the field, any tree, or cloud, or created thing, 
 is there any page in memory, any pulse in conscience, 
 any intimation in the height or in the depths, any 
 exquisite analogy, any beautiful and fair revelation, in 
 the currents of Providence, that tells me that there is 
 forgiveness with God ? There is none. I can read or 
 hear none. Wind, and wave, and flower, and star, 
 earth and sea, memory and conscience, all are dumb, 
 hopelessly dumb ; they do not give the least hint of 
 forgiving mercy in that holy God against whom we 
 have sinned. 
 
 Let me look at another division of human nature, and 
 
THE GEE AT SACEIFICE. 
 
 we shall sec from it the necessity for that atonement of 
 which I have already treated. In every man's bosom 
 there is what is called a conscience ; and that conscience 
 responds to the moral, just as taste responds to the 
 beautiful, and reason to the true. Any one who will 
 speak honestly, or express his feelings honestly, will tell 
 you that his conscience, however seared, however dead- 
 ened, however it may have been bribed and stupified, 
 still responds, more or less distinctly, to the good, and 
 remonstrates, in more or less unequivocal terms, against 
 the evil. Does it not often speak to you in spite of you ? 
 Does it not often, indeed, excuse ? but does it not still 
 oftener accuse ? Do not its accusations, on the whole, 
 out-number its apologies ? Does it not talk to you in 
 your most silent and meditative moments of a right- 
 eousness that is wanting, of a Judge that is waiting, 
 and of a destiny far beyond, that will be for ever 
 blackened or brightened by what you are sad and 
 sorrowful, or radiant with joy and glory ? 
 
 Does not conscience often ask, in its calmest moments, 
 what was asked by the prophet of old: ''Wherewith 
 shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the 
 the High God ? Shall I come before him with burnt- 
 offerings, with calves of a year old ? "Will the Lord be 
 pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand? 
 of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my 
 transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my 
 soul ?" And in order to answer this question, you have 
 tried fastings, austerities, mortifications of the body ; 
 but none of these have satisfied you. You have fled to 
 the cell of the monk, to the solitude of the anchorite, 
 or, like Martin Luther, you have climbed on bare knees 
 the penitential stairs of St. Peter's ; but conscience, 
 unreached by these external penances, has smitten you 
 and accused you still. Or, perhaps, priests have ab- 
 solved }'ou popes have given you indulgences, councils 
 have proclaimed long and lasting jubilees ; but you 
 have found that neither in priest, nor pope, nor in 
 council, nor in absolution, nor in jubilee, nor in morti- 
 fications, nor in austerities, has there been any virtue 
 
 B B 
 
370 PEOPHKTJC STUDIES. 
 
 that could penetrate the soul, and touch and heal the 
 inner and sore part of the conscience ; it cries aloud 
 You are sinful ! and it concludes, on irresistible evi- 
 dence, that there is no remedy in law, or in nature, for 
 its malady. Thus, if we look at God's law uncom- 
 promising and undiluted law we see the necessity of 
 something being done to right us in relation to that law. 
 If we examine our own consciences, we feel the neces- 
 sity of something being done to give these consciences 
 peace. 
 
 If we examine, in the next place, the very nature of 
 sin, we shall see the necessity of some such stupendous 
 interposition as that of God in our nature, our sacrifice, 
 and our atonement. Sin is, in the history of the uni- 
 verse, a new thing, a strange phenomenon, an awful 
 interpolation hateful, frightful, destructive. We do 
 not see or feel it as it is. Our insensibility is propor- 
 tionate to our spiritual deadness. The more sin con- 
 taminates, the more it blinds us to its nature, its demerit, 
 and its effects. Sin is unlike every other thing. Not 
 its least awful characteristic is its endurance ; it stretches 
 into eternity, and acts for ever as a corrosive and con- 
 suming curse. There is no evidence that sin originates 
 its own cure. If there were evidence from analogy, or 
 from experience, or from history, that sin, like a fever, 
 exhausts itself, and not only leaves no injurious effect 
 behind, but lets the patient return to freedom and hap- 
 piness, one might conceive it possible to be eternally 
 happy without an atonement. But there is no evidence 
 in this world that sin exhausts itself, or leaves its victim, 
 or loses its virus ; and there is no evidence that in the 
 world to come the state of the lost shall be mitigated, or 
 their sufferings, the penal results of sin, mitigated, or 
 the curse that wraps them like a shroud ever put off. 
 Let me illustrate my meaning. Suppose a convict is 
 banished to a penal colony for a term of seven years. 
 If he spends the seven years, he exhausts his punish- 
 ment, and he is let loose, and he returns again to his 
 native land. But suppose that convict, in the course 
 of the seven years, commits a new offence, that again 
 
THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 371 
 
 he receives the sentence of other seven years : and sup- 
 pose that in the second term of banishment he commits 
 a fresh offence still : you can see a career of ceaseless sin, 
 and, therefore a course of ceaseless penalty. It is so, 
 my dear friends, with the lost. By the very nature of 
 their being, they are ever sinning, and ever suffering. 
 Sin in the realms of the lost is an eternal evil, never 
 working out its own cure, but ever working out its own 
 perpetuity. By their very instinct, by the very laws of 
 their nature, they go on sinning ; and by the law of 
 God they must go on suffering. Who knows but that 
 the awful characteristic of the sufferings of the lost may 
 be, that their sins and their sufferings accumulate for 
 ever, and that hell, in an arithmetical, or a geometrical, 
 or some dread ratio, goes on increasing in its terrors, as 
 the lost multiply their transgressions and their blasphe- 
 mies against God ? 
 
 It is thus that we see, whether we look at God's holy 
 law, or at man's own conscience, or at the nature of 
 sin, that some grand interposition man is incapable of 
 devising is needed, before that law can be magnified, 
 conscience pacified, sin expiated, extirpated, and put 
 away for ever. Only by these, and not in spite of these, 
 can man be saved. At this crisis we have the most 
 glorious tidings that ever sounded in the ear of man : 
 " The Messiah was cut off," there is the evidence he 
 was man ; " but not for himself," there is the proof 
 that he was something more than man. The 53rd of 
 Isaiah is the most brilliant commentary on Daniel ix. 26 ; 
 a commentary that has multiplied its echoes in varied 
 accents over all the Bible. " God so loved the world 
 that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believcth in him might not perish, but have eternal 
 life :" " might not perish," in spite of that law which 
 condemns him, in spite of that conscience which accuses, 
 in spite of that sin which ever works out its own per- 
 petuity. " In him we have redemption through his blood, 
 even the forgiveness of sin." " By him all are justified 
 from all things from which we could not be justified by 
 the law of Moses." After you have read the ten com- 
 
 BB 2 
 
372 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 mandments, and applied them in all their length and 
 breadth to your condition and conscience, what a glorious 
 fact that the chiefest of sinners can write down after the 
 tenth commandment, " The blood of Jesus Christ, his 
 Son, cleanseth from all sin." " Blessed are the people 
 that know the joyful sound;" "blessed are the people 
 that are in such a case." In the light of this Divine 
 revelation, through the provisions of this atonement, I 
 can clearly and rejoicingly see how God can pardon me, 
 whilst even I am sinning, and as he pardons me, draw 
 my heart off alike from the love, the power, and the 
 pursuit of sin. I can see through this glorious atone- 
 ment how God can retain all his justice, and present it 
 to us with a greater lustre ; all his holiness, and reveal 
 it to us in more august glory, and yet justify from all 
 their sins the ungodly that believe. I can see how this 
 law, which God did not create on Sinai but only revealed, 
 is magnified in his eyes, and before the universe, whilst 
 the greatest sinner is forgiven his greatest sins. Jesus, 
 I am told, thus cut off as our representative, bare our 
 curse and the consequences of our sin : he obeyed in 
 our stead the exactions of a holy law. In Christ I am 
 as if I had suffered and exhausted the penalty I have 
 incurred ; in Christ I am as if I had obeyed and ren- 
 dered perfect obedience to the law, which I cannot 
 perfectly obey. Our sins were on him, our infirmities 
 and agonies were in him. He was the spotless Lamb 
 arrayed in our tainted fleece ; and we the stray sheep 
 may now be clothed in his glorious righteousness. God 
 saw iniquity in Jesus where nobody else saw it ; and, 
 blessed be his name, at the judgment-day he will see 
 righteousness upon you and me where nobody else can 
 sec it. God hid his eyes from the innocence of Jesus, 
 because our sins were laid on him ; he will hide his 
 eyes from the guilt of sinners, because of the righteous- 
 ness of Jesus laid upon us. Jesus was condemned for 
 our sins, in which he had no share; we shall be justified 
 by his righteousness, in which we have had no personal 
 part whatever. Our sins laid upon him, brought upon 
 him the thunders and curses of the law ; his righteous- 
 
THE GEEAT SACRIFICE. 3 73 
 
 ness laid upon us will draw down upon us the blessings 
 of life everlasting. Such, then, is that atonement ex- 
 pressed in the words of Daniel : " Cut off, but not for 
 himself." He died, the just in the room of the unjust, 
 in order to bring us unto God. 
 
 But all that I have shown respecting the atonement 
 as yet is, that it opens up a possibility of forgiveness. 
 It may perhaps be, as far as I have yet shown, only a 
 loop-hole by which the sinner can escape from ruin and 
 and get access to heaven. It may be, as far as we have 
 yet advanced, a mode by which we can escape the 
 penalties of a violated law, and be introduced into 
 heaven and to the presence of God, but no evidence that 
 I shall be welcome there. I have, therefore, to intimate, 
 that the atonement is not only the provision of a way of 
 escape, but more, it is the highest, the intensest ex- 
 pression of the infinite and inexhaustible love that God 
 bare me ; it is not merely that I escape by the atone- 
 ment, that I am simply forgiven by it, but that I am 
 accepted by it. If the atonement were a mere cscape- 
 way from the curse, I might just be admitted into 
 heaven when I die, exactly as the criminal to whom I 
 have referred, when he has finished his seven years of 
 banishment, comes back to his native place, and is 
 admitted to citizenship : he is not cordially welcomed ; 
 he is looked on with suspicion, and his brand never 
 leaves him ; he remains a marked character ; you tole- 
 rate him, but you do not admit him to your friendship, 
 to your family, or to your bosom. It might be, if the 
 atonement is a mere provision for the escape of sinners 
 from hell, that I should be admitted into heaven and 
 tolerated there, that I should be merely admitted there, 
 that I should be borne and forborne with there. If 
 this were all, it w r ould not satisfy me. I want not 
 merely that God should let me go, but that he should 
 take me back ; I want not only to be lifted from the 
 curse, bat to be placed in the sunshine of God's counte- 
 nance ; I want not simply to be admitted to heaven, but 
 to be welcomed to heaven not to be tolerated as a 
 pardoned criminal, but to be welcomed as an accepted 
 
374 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and beloved son. Blessed be God ! this atonement, this 
 " cut off, but not for himself," this sacrifice of Jesus, is 
 not only precious for what it does, but for what it ex- 
 presses : it proves to me not only that God can save me 
 because a provision has been made, but that he saves 
 me because he loves me; not only that he will forgive 
 me, but that he will also take me back ; that not only 
 is the Legislator satisfied to admit me into heaven, but 
 that the Father waits at the threshold to welcome me to 
 his bosom. " God so loved the world that he gave his 
 only begotten Son." Therefore, the atonement is not 
 merely, as many people drily and coarsely regard it, a 
 legislator making provision for the possibility of crimi- 
 nals escaping a curse, but it is a Father making a channel 
 for the outflow of his infinite love, that the prodigal 
 may again be his restored son, that the dead may live, 
 that the lost may be found, and all heaven rejoice that 
 it is so. Never, then, my dear friends, forget or merge 
 this blessed and delightful view of the atonement, that 
 it is precious not only for what it does, but for what it 
 expresses ; not only as the provision of a way of forgive- 
 ness, but as the expression of the infinite love that God 
 bears to you and to me, his believing and accepted 
 family. 
 
 If, then, this atonement, thus precious and needed as 
 I have shown it to be, was made by our blessed Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ, I think it is impossible to 
 escape the inference that he that made it must have 
 been more than man ; that he is, as all evangelical 
 Christians believe him to be, and rejoice that he is, 
 " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express 
 image of his person." If Jesus were simply man, no 
 atonement has been made for us. Judging by the 
 revelation God has given us, I hold that it would have 
 been inconsistent with the eternal laws of God's moral 
 universe, so far as these are embodied in the Scrip- 
 tures, to condemn an innocent man to die for even a 
 guilty world. For what is the law of God's universe ? 
 That perfect holiness is perfect happiness. But if an 
 angel, or an archangel, the most exalted and glorious 
 
THE GEE AT SACRIFICE. 375 
 
 of seraphim or cherubim, had been doomed by God to 
 Buffer, such a doom would have been reversing his own 
 le.w, in short, as great a violation of that law as if he 
 h id admitted a guilty creature to be happy. There 
 M ould have been as great an inversion of God's moral 
 government in condemning an innocent creature to 
 suffer as in admitting a guilty creature to be happy. 
 Jesus, therefore, while he became man, was, rnd is, 
 God. He that suffered was he that slew ; he alone 
 could say (which is the very language of Godhead) : 
 "I lay down my life." I need no express texts, though 
 there are many, to teach me that Christ is God, while I 
 hear him saying, " I lay down my life." Man he is, for 
 he has life which can be laid down ; more than man he 
 must be, for no creature could say as he did. If a crea 
 tu re were to volunteer to lay down his life, he would be 
 a suicide. My life is not my own ; it is not at my own 
 disposal; I have no more right to lay it down than I 
 have power to take it up. Therefore, he who could say, 
 "I lay down my life," who chose to die, who volun- 
 tarily sacrificed himself, must be man indeed, otherwise 
 he could not suffer, but more than man, the Lord of life, 
 or he could not lay down his life. If Christ be not God, 
 I have said, there could be no atonement ; to renounce 
 his deity is to part with the atonement ; and if there be 
 no atonement, what is the New Testament? only a 
 clearer law, a brighter and more intensely glowing 
 Sinai, an improved edition of the Old. But how could 
 it be worthy of the name of "good news" to let me see 
 duty more vividly, to let me hear the curse upon diso- 
 bedience more distinctly, and the promises of obedience 
 n_-.ore fully ? Such a revelation would not be comfort. 
 1 cannot obey the elder Jaw, wrote in Sinai, or on my 
 own conscience; I Avant not direction only, but remedy. 
 The wounded traveller needs first to be healed, then to 
 have the road pointed out to him. The dead need first 
 to be quickened, then to be taught the direction in 
 which they are to move. But there is an atonement, and 
 he that made it is God over all. Jesus is our Sacrifice, 
 our Saviour, our God. In the tears that trickled down 
 
376 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 that countenance, which was more marred than any 
 man's, I can see sparkling the very beams of the glory- 
 that dwelt between the cherubim. His pangs and his 
 sorrows were not those of a patient martyr only, but 
 those, in addition, of an atoning victim. I can see 
 immensity in every act, infinity in every pang ; atone- 
 ment, reparation, restoration, in all. The law sought 
 the suffering of a man, and Jesus gave it the suffering 
 of a God. He was David's son, and because he was so, 
 he suffered ; he was David's Lord, and because he was 
 so, he satisfied whilst he suffered. Christ was God, God 
 in our nature, and his death was atoning : "He was cut 
 off, but not for himself." 
 
 What joyful news are these ! One would think if 
 people heard these things for the first time, they would 
 almost electrify every heart with joy unutterable and 
 full of glory. And yet these are the very good news. 
 If these facts be as I have stated and I have under- 
 stated rather than over-stated the truth what, then, 
 may I infer ? If Christ be my Sacrifice, my Saviour, 
 my Atonement, my all, then I shall never perish. It 
 is as impossible that a sinner believing upon Jesus for 
 the forgiveness of his sins can perish, as that a guilty 
 being, without faith in Christ, can be happy for ever. 
 There is no more guarantee that the lost out of Christ 
 shall perish, than there is that the saved in Christ shall 
 be happy. Believing on him, I have life for ever. 
 Toward the procurement of the pardon of my sins I 
 have nothing to suffer, for Christ has suffered all ; 
 toward the purchase of my heaven, I have nothing to 
 do, for Christ has done all. "Whatever I suffer cannot 
 be penal, for Christ has exhausted the penalty ; what- 
 ever I do cannot be meritorious, for Christ, the Lord, 
 is all my righteousness, I am complete in Christ, 
 wanting nothing. Justice cannot punish twice : the 
 law cannot exact twice : " he was cut off," there was 
 justice meted out to the Son of God, " but not for 
 himself," there is mercy to the sons of men. To 
 them that are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation 
 in the height or the depth, in conscience, in law, any- 
 
THE GEE AT SACRIFICE. 377 
 
 where, in the past, the present, the future there is a 
 perfect and glorious acquittal. 
 
 Do you believe in this blessed Saviour? I do not 
 mean that sham belief which can repeat the creed ; nor 
 that belief which thinks all is right because we have 
 been baptised ; I mean that earnest, living, leaning 
 trust, which feels, as its very life, that there is nothing 
 in the whole universe on which and by which one can 
 be saved but in Christ Jesus ; that faith that flees from 
 a law that curses you, to a Saviour that blesses you : 
 that faith that flees from self, with all its excuses, its 
 accusations, its apologies, and sinfulness, and seeks 
 peace through the blood of the everlasting covenant. 
 
 Oh ! happy and safe is that mother's son who has 
 this faith ; for to him there is no condemnation, and 
 nothing shall be able to separate him from the love of 
 God that is in Christ Jesus ! Act upon this faith ; 
 regard its objects as realities : go forth into the world, 
 acting upon it, and honouring God, accepting all he is 
 and says as substance : " Them that honour me, I will 
 honour." Confidence in Jesus is happiness to man and 
 protection from God. Suspicion of God is misery to 
 the creature, and displeasing to his Maker. 
 
 If the atonement be thus complete, we have in this 
 a right and scriptural view of the Lord's Supper. What 
 is the Lord's Supper? It is a feast that follows the 
 sacrifice. Let us revert to the Passover of old. There 
 was first the slaughter of the lamb, which was the pain- 
 ful and the sacrificial part; there was the eating the 
 prepared flesh of the lamb, which was the joyful or the 
 festival part. In the ancient Passover both had of 
 necessity to be combined ; the same parties who enjoyed 
 the pleasure of the feast had to go through tlurpain, 
 year after year, of sacrificing the victim; but in our 
 case these two have been divided : our blessed Lord has 
 monopolised the painful, and bequeathed the pleasing 
 only to us. The sacrifice is finished, the festival is con- 
 tinued daily; and we come this day to the Lord's table, 
 not as to a painful tragedy, in which we are to sympa- 
 thise with the weeping and agonised sufferer, but to the 
 
378 PROPHETIC STUD FES. 
 
 glad festival that succeeds the sacrifice, in which we are 
 to participate with joyful and grateful recollections 
 that Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. The 
 Eucharist is not a fast, hut a feast ; not a sad and 
 sorrowful sacrifice, but a festival after the sacrifice, for 
 which, and in which, glad hearts and grateful and 
 happy songs, and bright hopes, become us ; not sadness, 
 not gloom, not painful sympathies. Humbled we may 
 be, because of our sins ; but glad we must be that these 
 sins are all forgiven and blotted out through him that 
 died for us and rose again. By appearing at the feast 
 after the sacrifice, we profess our trust in the efficacy ot 
 that sacrifice our not being ashamed of him that 
 offered it our gratitude to God that such a sacrifice 
 was provided in his infinite mercy ; and we say, every 
 time we communicate, that dumb, but eloquent and 
 significant act, "Whoever may be ashamed of the cruci- 
 fied, I am not ; whoever may be ashamed of the cross, 
 I glory in it: it is all my salvation, and all my desire." 
 Those sins that rise in painful reminiscences even after 
 you have renounced them that past life over which 
 you have mourned and grieved, and the errors and sins 
 which, by grace, you have repudiated and abjured for 
 ever, may indeed humble you, but should not make 
 you feel unsafe, llecollect the passover. When the 
 Israelite father had sprinkled the blood of the Lamb 
 upon the threshold of his door, he retired into the inner- 
 room, and, in that memorable night, gathered his family 
 around him. No doubt, many an Israelite father, when 
 he heard the rush of the angel's wing, as he swept with 
 the speed of the lightning through every street, and 
 ,alley, and court of Hahab, felt his heart throb rapidly 
 within him, and feared that the next stroke of the angel 
 might be upon his own fairest and first-born one. But 
 iris trembling did not make the angel enter ; not all his 
 doubts, his fears, his suspicions, made the angel pause. 
 The sprinkled blood was there : he minded not that 
 there was a fainting, failing heart within ; and on he 
 swept till he found a threshold where no blood was 
 sprinkled. Jt is not. the weakness of j'our faith that 
 
THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 379 
 
 weakens your interest in Jesus ; it is not doubts, fears, 
 suspicions, painful, sinful, unworthy as they are ; your 
 only safety in the whole universe is this, that the 
 blood of sprinkling is on your hearts ; if it be there 
 faith in the atonement of Jesus all is well, all is safe, 
 safe as the very throne and being of God himself. 
 
 You say, "How do I appropriate this blood? I 
 cannot take literal blood and sprinkle it on 'a literal 
 threshold." You arc not asked to do so. Moral things 
 are not less true than material. Many philosophers say 
 that the material is unreal, and that the moral alone is 
 the real. What you are asked to do is this, to have 
 faith in Jesus. But even that faith is not your Saviour. 
 There is, I fear, a prevalent and very erroneous notion 
 in this matter. The old formula was, " Do and live;" 
 the new formula many imagine in some degree the con- 
 verse, "Believe and live." They think that as the old 
 formula was doing God's will, and thus obtaining life, 
 so the new one is faith, or believing God's word, and 
 thus gaining eternal life. It is not so. If it were, it 
 would be substituting lightness of creed for rightness of 
 life ; and in both cases it would be something of the 
 creature's own. The fact is, God requires at this mo- 
 ment just what he required of Adam in Paradise before 
 he fell, a perfect obedience, or righteousness without 
 flaw, or blemish, or short-coming in his sight. I say, 
 the requirement that God makes in grace is just the 
 requirement that God made in Paradise perfect obedi- 
 ence to the law. Do not think that the Gospel is simply 
 diluted law, and that the New Testament is simply a 
 lower Old Testament ; that God will be satisfied with a 
 sincere, though imperfect obedience, in the room of a 
 perfect obedience. He demands now, as he ever 
 demanded, and as he will never cease to demand, a per- 
 fect righteousness as the only title to heaven. You ask, 
 Where then is the difference between our state and 
 Adam's? In Adam's case it was his work; in our case 
 it is our acceptance. Adam had to do it ; we have to 
 accept it as already done, already achieved, already 
 perfected. It is faith's province simply to accept. 
 
380 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Adam, had to do, to be righteous, and be entitled to 
 heaven ; we have to accept the righteousness Christ 
 has provided, and thus be saved. Hence faith is not 
 the ground of salvation : it is the eye that sees, the ear 
 that hears, the feet that run, the hand that grasps ; it 
 is the means, not the end. It believes that Christ Avas 
 cut off, " but not for himself." And if he died for 
 sinners, why not for me ? Not, " Why for me ?" but, 
 " Why not for me ?" Thus resting and believing, it has 
 peace with God through Jesus Christ. 
 
LECTUEE XXV. 
 
 THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH. 
 
 " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon 
 thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make 
 an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, 
 and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up 
 the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." 
 DANIEL ix. 24. 
 
 I DO not discuss the chronology of this prophecy in 
 my present Lecture; this I reserve for the next, in 
 which I hope to demonstrate, with irresistible conclu- 
 sion, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah pointed out by 
 the prophet, and that in him the prediction I have read 
 is gloriously fulfilled. 
 
 I have already shown that the prediction, " The 
 Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself," was 
 realised in Christ. I have now to prove that the pro- 
 phecy, that he shall " finish the transgression, make an 
 end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in 
 everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and the 
 prophecy, and anoint the most Holy," has been ful- 
 filled in the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 therein alone. And when I have shown that the moral 
 import of the prophecy is fulfilled in him, and after- 
 wards that the chronology of the prophecy finds its 
 termination also in him, I shall have given you the 
 clearest possible demonstration, if any additional be 
 required, first, that Jesus is the Messiah promised to 
 the fathers, and, next, that Daniel spake as he was 
 moved by the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 The first work which Christ is here predicted to 
 
382 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 accomplish is to " finish the transgression/' By look- 
 ing at the margins of your Bibles, you will sec that the 
 stricter and more accurate translation (for such the 
 marginal translation always is) is, " to restrain trans- 
 gression." "We are taught therefore, in this clause, that 
 one great effect of the mission of the Messiah will be to 
 " restrain transgression." Its next result will be to make 
 an end of sin ; next, to make reconciliation for iniquity ; 
 next, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up 
 the vision and the prophecy ; and lastly, to anoint the 
 most Holy. 
 
 Let us contemplate the first to restrain transgres- 
 sion. I restrict myself here to the one view of his 
 mission here specified viz. its sin-restraining influence. 
 It is not here said it shall be the result of his work 
 to create holiness in the hearts of his own ; this, it is 
 true, is otherwise, and clearly stated ; but it is declared 
 that the effect of the mission of Jesus, of the word that 
 he should preach to the people, and the work he should 
 do for them, will be to restrain or curb transgression. 
 Has not this been the historical result of Christianity, 
 wherever it has been effectually proclaimed? On 
 those who have not embraced its truths with saving 
 faith, it has yet exercised a restrictive moral power 
 that has made them, even in its twilight, different from 
 what they would have been if Christianity had never 
 been preached ; in other words, there is an indirect 
 influence of the Gospel, where its direct power is not 
 felt, which has restrained and still restrains the gross 
 and palpable transgressions that degraded and defiled 
 mankind previous to its announcement, and still degrade 
 those that are ignorant of it. It requires but the most 
 superficial acquaintance with the history of the world 
 to prove that it is so. Before the introduction of 
 Christianity, weak and deformed children were in- 
 variably cast out to perish in the streets , and this not 
 in barbarous, but in civilised and cultivated lands. 
 What has arrested this ? Not civilisation ; for the 
 lloman code is so civilised that it has been more or 
 less widely adopted by numerous modern nations. It 
 
THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH. 383 
 
 was the restraints, or the indirect influence of Christi- 
 anity alone. In heathen and in ancient times, fathers 
 had absolute power over their sons, and, if possible, still 
 more over their daughters ; they might sell them, or 
 dismiss them, as they might their slaves. In ancient 
 and heathen times, a husband's power over his wife was 
 despotic ; he might dismiss her for the least offence ; he 
 might have put her to death, and it would not have 
 been murder. In ancient times the marriage contract 
 had not half its sacredness, nor a tithe of the force it 
 has now. Woman was degraded ; her position in 
 society was lower than it is easy to conceive. What 
 has raised her to her proper and natural position? 
 Christianity. What has saved the son from the tyranny 
 of a cruel parent, the wife from expulsion or cruelty by 
 a barbarous husband, and woman from degradation 
 everywhere? The restraints, the indirect restrictions 
 and influence, of the Gospel of Jesus. Where, let me 
 ask, is the greatest mental, civil, and religious freedom ? 
 Where do nations attain their greatest splendour, and 
 communities their highest social power ? Where, also, 
 let me ask, are their hospitals for the sick asylums for 
 the wretched charities for the needy? These were 
 not known in heathen lands, or in ancient times. Where 
 is life safest in our streets by day, and property most 
 secure by night ? Where are revolutions least feared or 
 least likely ? Where can you leave your children with 
 the greatest confidence and hope, and with the least 
 risk of contamination, behind you ? Where are the 
 laws least sanguinary, rulers least unjust, magistrates 
 least tyrannical, judges most impartial, the people most 
 obedient, the press most pure ? Just where there is the 
 greatest number of Christians, and the indirect lights 
 and influences of Christianity are most widely diffused 
 and most thoroughly felt. 
 
 It has been one effect of the Gospel to " restrain 
 transgression." The very twilight of Christianity is 
 glorious ; and if its twilight be so, how glorious will be 
 its noon ! how desirable its approaching meridian splen- 
 dour ! Those men who refuse the Gospel are themselves 
 
884 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 monuments of its indirect influence. Families in which 
 the Bible is not read, in which God is not worshipped, 
 are enjoying that protection under the overshadowing 
 wings of that public peace which the spread of the 
 Gospel has created in the minds, and left on the habits 
 of mankind ; and if it be not savirg in such cases, it is 
 beyond all expression sweetening and cementing. So- 
 ciety at this moment, except where the Gospel is its 
 csment, is a rope of sand, ready to fly asunder the 
 moment that the coercive, mechanical restraints of 
 rulers and of laws are withdrawn. The secret of our 
 country's safety is in our Bible; the spring of our 
 country's peace, when all Europe was an Aceldama, 
 was in the Bible. The indirect influence of Christianity 
 has made our laws so mild our people so attached 
 to peace our rulers just, and our exactors righteous. 
 Its first predicted effect, then, is to " restrain trans- 
 gression." 
 
 The second predicted effect of the Gospel is " to make 
 an end of sin.'" Literally translated, the clause reads, 
 " to seal up sin;" and hence some commentators think 
 it means to consummate the iniquity of the Jews, and 
 so to spare them no longer ; that the crucifixion of the 
 Messiah should be the last drop in their cup, which was 
 previously almost full, the last weight in the scale, 
 which already was so heavy, the climax, as it were, of 
 their crimes; and thus, after having murdered the 
 prophets, they were destined to complete their depravity 
 by murdering the prophets' Lord. Then God's long- 
 Buffering would be exhausted his forbearance spent, 
 and to that people the menaced curse should cleave, 
 consuming to the time of the end, and only be lifted 
 away when they shall " look upon him whom they 
 have piercrd, and mourn every family apart." But this 
 seems to me not the natural interpretation. It appears 
 much more natural to understand it as the mission 
 which should make an end of sin in the case of all 
 believers ; that is, put it away, finish, or destroy it. Is 
 not this the direct effect of the Gospel of Christ ? 
 " There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ 
 
THE MISSION OF 1HE MESSIAH. 385 
 
 Jesus." Christ exhausted the curse in the case of every 
 believer, and shed down the blessing in its stead ; the 
 sting of the curse is extracted its havoc is arrested; 
 and from living beneath the curse that oppresses and 
 irritates, the believer lives beneath the outspread 
 wings of perfect peace and everlasting happiness. Thi 
 makes a vast difference between the saint and tht 
 sinner. 
 
 Let me suppose two men, placed in equal outward 
 calamity, ft believer and an unbeliever, or to use plainer 
 phraseology, a man who is a Christian, and one who is 
 not. Let the outward eye look at them : they both 
 weep; both foel pain they both declare that they i x - ! 
 it ; they both desire to be delivered : yet between tlicse 
 t\vo God's eve sees, and there actually is, a very great 
 difference. In the case cf the one, all the suffering is 
 paternal chastisement ; every drop of the bitter cup that 
 he drinks is instinct with the sweetness of the ever- 
 lasting covenant ; his outward suffering, even when it 
 is bitterest, is merely the chalice of an inward benedic- 
 tion, and the heaviest blow that smites him only helps 
 him more rapidly to his everlasting and his blessed 
 home ; all things work for good to him, because in his 
 case Chiist has made an end of sin, by bearing in his 
 own body its curse, and bequeathing to his people his 
 peace. But in the case of the other sufferer in the 
 case of him who is not a Christian, all is penal : he 
 suffers j ust because he has sinned ; every billow that 
 rolls over him has received its impulse and its tone 
 from Mount Sinai ; every pang in his heart is the 
 rebound of a broken law ; every stroke that falls upon 
 him is the infliction of God the Legislator, jealous of 
 his glory and upholding the sanctions of his law. In 
 the one case Christ has made an end of sin, and, there- 
 fore, all suffering is paternal ; in the other case there is 
 no obstruction to the full influence of the curse 
 nothing to neutralise its virus, or mitigate its effects. 
 To the outward eye, they weep and suffer alike ; but in 
 the sight of God the difference is between the com- 
 mencement of the enjoyment of everlasting heaven 
 
 c c 
 
386 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and the commencement of the endurance of everlasting 
 hell. 
 
 If Christ, then, has made an end of sin that is, of 
 its curse by being the sacrifice .and atonement for it, 
 does not this teach us that we need no other atonement, 
 or expiation, or sacrifice, in order to 'be delivered thereby 
 from the curse of sin? if Christ, by his death, has 
 made an end of sin by exhausting its curse, we do not 
 need any other expiation, or atonement, or sacrifice 
 whatever. No ecclesiastical liquidation of liabilities 
 incurreu is possible any more : no mortification of the 
 flesh can be an expiation for the indulgence of its lusts ; 
 no atonement can be made for being late at the opera 
 on ftiturday night by being e^rlyat the mass on Sunday 
 morning : a Christian has no taste for the one, and he 
 has no continence in the efficacy of the other. In tears 
 there is no expiation, in sufferings there is no atonement, 
 in a martyr's blood there is no expiatory virtue. Christ 
 has made an end of sin ; and we need no priests to offer 
 for what does not exist, what is, when materially 
 precious, morally worthless, nor sacrifices to be made 
 for what is not. Christ has finished the work, and 
 made an end of sin for ever. " It is finished," was the 
 death-knell of Levi the joyous sound of salvation. 
 
 The believer, therefore, receives in the Gospel the 
 tidings of a work that is done for him, not the wither- 
 ing demand of a work that is to be done ly him. 
 The call to a Christian is not to make his peace with 
 God, as ignorant persons often foolishly say, but to 
 accept Christ as his peace with God; and thus they 
 twain that w r ere severed are made one for ever. There 
 is^no more offering for sin. But this expression of the 
 prophet, thus descriptive of the work of Christ, may 
 not only imply that Christ made an end of sin by being 
 the atonement for it, and taking away its curse ; but 
 also that, in the case of every believer, he makes an 
 end of the domination and power of sin in his heart, 
 his life, and his conduct. This he does by giving the 
 Holy Spirit to them that ask him. I need not tell you 
 that it is just as necessary that we should be delivered 
 
THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH. 387 
 
 from the domination and pollution of sin as that we 
 should be delivered, from its curse and condemnation. 
 We must be fitted for heaven by the Spirit's work in 
 us, as truly as entitled to heaven by Christ's work 
 without us, and his righteousness upon us. If there 
 be announced the performance of an oratorio, and you 
 receive a ticket of admission to it, in that ticket you 
 have your right to be admitted ; but if you have no 
 chamber in your ear susceptible of the influence of 
 sweet sounds, that oratorio would be a Babel to you, 
 and thus in your case there would be no fitness for it. 
 You need not only the ticket that admits, but the sus- 
 cept>kility that qualifies you for the enjoyment. It is 
 so with heaven : you need not only Christ's righteous- 
 ness, or his making an end of the curse, to be your title 
 of admission, but you need also the Spirit's influence in 
 transforming your nature and elevating your taste, to 
 be your fitness. In other words, we believe in a 
 Trinity, in God the Father, who elects us ; in God the 
 Son, who redeems us ; in God the Spirit, who sanctifies 
 and fits us for heaven. 
 
 But apart from this, I see in Christ's work not only 
 the promised gift of the Spirit, but also, in the very 
 nature of his intervention, that which will create in my 
 heart love for his holy law. I see in Christ the embodi- 
 ment of infinite and disinterested love ; I see in him the 
 spectacle of love suffering, dying for me ; and this sight 
 of pardoning love in Christ Jesus produces thankful love 
 in me for whom that pardon is procured. It comes to 
 pass that I love him, just because I feel that he loved 
 me ; and " love," we are told, " is the fulfilling of the 
 law." " Thou shalt love," is the guarantee that the 
 whole law shall be fulfilled. I love Christ's person, his 
 precepts, his promises, his example ; and thus progres- 
 sive holiness in my life, or love with its glorious fruit- 
 age, grows and develops itself upon the basis of perfect 
 pardon secured through Christ. There is planted in my 
 heart an offshoot from the cross, a living and expansive 
 principle that, under the blessing of the Spirit of God, 
 carries me on from grace to grace, and from one degree 
 
 c c 2 
 
u88 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 of conformity to his imago to another, till I reach the 
 fulness of the stature of a perfect man. Thus Christ, 
 by his atonement, makes an end of the curse of sin, and 
 sets me free from its -action and its effects ; and by the 
 embodiment of disinterested love, manifested in his 
 mission, he creates responsive love in my heart, and so 
 makes an end in me of the power of sin. What Jesus 
 does in the case of the individual, he shall one day 
 accomplish over the whole world. The earth shall 
 emerge from its last baptismal fire, beautiful as at first. 
 Sin, the fever that racks and convulses the air, the sea, 
 and all that is around us, shall be laid for ever, and 
 sorrowing nature cease to weep, and begin to rejoice. 
 She shall exchange her ashen garments for her corona- 
 tion robes, passing under another and more glorious 
 Genesis, and presenting a dwelling-place for the glorified 
 spirits and the resurrection bodies of them that have 
 washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
 of the Lamb. Even now, as the Gospel spreads, sin 
 loses its footing and its dominant power upon the earth ; 
 like a wounded snake, its life is protracted but in torment. 
 But not only is he foretold to make an end of sin, but 
 also, to make " reconciliation for iniquity." What is 
 implied in this ? The Apostle tells us in the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, that "in all things it behoved Christ to 
 be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a 
 merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to 
 God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." 
 So also, in his Epistle to the Romans, "By whom we 
 have received the atonement (Kara\\ayijv the recon- 
 ciliation)." But it may be justly asked, In what sense 
 did Christ make reconciliation ? There is no allusion 
 here to the reconciliation of man to God ; there is, there- 
 fore, some sense in which God may be said to be recon- 
 ciled to us. In what sense can this truly be said ? for, 
 at first, it seems unnatural. It does not imply that 
 God's hate is changed into love, or that his anger is 
 changed into affection, in consequence of what Christ 
 has done ; much less is it implied that his purpose to 
 destroy is dislodged by a purpose to save, through the 
 
THE MISSIOX OF THE MESSIAH. 389 
 
 atonement, in the case of those who are interested in 
 Christ, and plead the sacrifice made on the cross. This 
 would he to pronounce the unchangeable God subject to 
 change. 
 
 In what sense, then, can it be said that God is recon- 
 ciled to us ? Plainly, it means that every obstruction is 
 removed to the egress of God's pardoning love to man- 
 kind ; that is, the law, which is the written exponent 
 of his holy and eternal will, is magnified, and honoured, 
 and glorified, in Christ, our head; and, by reason of 
 what Christ has done, God can now as reasonably acquit 
 the sinner that believes in Christ, as lie can condemn 
 the sinner that does not. God is, in Christ, just to 
 pardon. He can consistently save sinners. The justice, 
 holiness, and truth of Christ, stereotyped in law, not 
 only do not obstruct the descent of God's mercy to for- 
 give me, but, on the contrary, form themselves into a 
 glorious channel for its egress ; so much so, that there 
 is no more reason why God should condemn a sinner, in 
 the first Adam, than there is why he should justify and 
 save a sinner, in the second Adam. There is no more 
 reason, no more justice, in assigning everlasting misery 
 to any of those that fell and sinned in Adam, than there 
 is in assigning everlasting heaven to those who are jus- 
 tified and accepted in Christ. God justly condemns all 
 that are out of Christ; and he no less justly pardons 
 and saves all that are found in Christ. Hence the 
 words, "He is faithful and just to forgive us" (not 
 simply merciful, but faithful and just to forgive us) 
 "our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
 Through that reconciliation made for sin, I can feel 
 toward God, and toward his holy law, and toward his 
 justice and his truth, just as if I had never sinned; I 
 can think of God, of the denunciation of sin, and of the 
 glories of heaven and of the judgment-seat and its end- 
 less retributions, just as if I were perfectly innocent 
 and had never sinned with this additional peculiarity, 
 that I cherish a responsive love and gratitude such as 
 I had never cherished if I had never fallen. Chris* 
 thus died to make reconciliation for sin. 
 
390 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 In the next place, it is prophesied that he should 
 bring in everlasting righteousness. Making reconciliation 
 by his death, is Christ's passive work ; bringing in 
 everlasting righteousness by his obedience, is Christ's 
 active work. In the one that is, in his death, and 
 sacrifices, and making reconciliation he suffered all 
 that man had incurred as a sinner ; in his active right- 
 eousness, or obedience to the law, he did all that man 
 owed to God as a creature. I feel that I am a sinner, 
 and that sin is the transgression of the law : I look to 
 what he suffered, that that sin may not be my ruin. I 
 feel also I owe obedience to a perfect law, which still 
 says, " thou shalt :" I look to Christ, my head, in whom 
 and by whom that law was obeyed for me, and I feel 
 that I can be justified. By his reconciliation for sin, he 
 puts away sin, so that its curse, the curse of a broken 
 law, shall never light upon me. By his righteousness, 
 or active obedience, he clothes me with a righteousness 
 that answers all the demands of a law that exacts per- 
 fect obedience of me. So that I can stand in God's sight, 
 and feel that I not only deserve no curse, but that, in 
 Christ, I deserve everlasting joy; for the Messiah, the 
 Prince, my Head and Substitute, has obeyed the law in 
 my room and stead. We can never appreciate the Gospel 
 in all its fulness, or be saved from the popular and pre- 
 dominant errors of the day, till we feel this in its com- 
 pleteness, that by Christ's shed blood we are completely 
 delivered from all the penal consequences of sin, and 
 therefore need no other expiation, were it possible ; and 
 by Christ's active obedience, or righteousness, we are 
 entitled to all the rewards that Adam would have in- 
 herited, and more, if he had perfectly obeyed, and there- 
 fore need no additional merits. What a glorious Saviour 
 is this ! What a complete salvation is here ! He restrains 
 transgression in the mass of mankind ; he puts an end 
 to sin, by putting an end to its curse ; he makes recon- 
 ciliation for sin, by bearing our chastisement upon him ; 
 and he brings in everlasting righteousness, that makes 
 us altogether spotless before God : so that, looking by 
 faith to this greater than paschal Lamb ; beholding this 
 
THE MISSIOX OF THE MESSIAH. 391 
 
 sacrifice, so transcending the victims of Levi ; washed 
 in this blood, which has virtues the blood of bulls, and 
 goats, and heifers made no claim to ; arrayed in this 
 righteousness, in which Omniscience can see no stain, 
 we can lay aside all our sad recollections and sorrowful 
 forebodings, and ask, in triumphant tones, " who shall 
 lay anything to my charge ? It is God that justifieth. 
 Who shall condemn me ? It is Christ that died yea, 
 rather, who is risen again. For I am persuaded that 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor 
 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
 to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ 
 Jesus my Lord." In Christ I am complete. In his 
 righteousness I am perfect before God. I shall stand in 
 heaven, for ever tasting all the blessedness, and Christ 
 for ever receiving all the glory of it. Not one thread in 
 that perfect robe is mine ; and yet not one blessing it 
 entitles to shall be withheld from me. My song shall be 
 the expression of my enjoyment of all the results, and 
 the giving of all the glory unto him to whom alone it 
 is due. 
 
 The next end of Christ's mission is here foretold to be 
 to seal up the vision and the prophecy. This plainly means 
 to illustrate in his person the glories of ancient pro- 
 phecies ; to be in himself a perfect embodiment of all 
 those predictions contained in the Bible, from the first in 
 Genesis to the last in Malachi, which relate to the Messiah, 
 so that in him shall meet and mingle Moses, Isaiah, 
 David, and all the prophets. We find him explaining 
 the fulfilment of this very clause, though ho does not 
 allude to it by name, when he said to his disciples 
 (Luke xxiv. 26, 27), " Ought not Christ to have suf- 
 fered these things, and to enter into his glory? And 
 beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded 
 unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning 
 himself." And he again says to them (ver. 44), " These 
 are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet 
 with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were 
 written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in 
 
392 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 the Psalms, concerning me." Plainly, therefore, as I 
 might demonstrate at length, all that was predicted 
 respecting the person, work, sufferings, trials, achieve- 
 ments, and glory, of the Messiah, were, and are, and 
 will yet fully be, realised in him. When Christ cried 
 upon the cross, "It is finished," Moses and the prophets, 
 and the Psalms, gathered round him, and added their 
 united and their solemn Amen. In whom was the 
 prophecy fulfilled, " The woman's seed shall bruise the 
 serpent's head?" In Christ. In whom was the prophecy 
 fulfilled, " The sceptre shall not depart from Juduh till 
 Shiloh come ?" In Christ. In whom was the prophecy 
 fulfilled, "His name shall be called Wonderful, the 
 Counsellor, the mighty God, the Father of the age to 
 come, the Prince of peace ?" In Christ. Was not the 
 biography of Christ the fifty -third chapter of Isaiah 
 made actual ? Was not Christ the true crucifix of which 
 it is the description ? Who is the prophet whom Moses 
 said God would raise up unto himself, and whom the 
 people should hear ? Christ Jesus, as stated by the 
 Apostle in his address, given in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 His life, his death, his birth-place, the time of his birth, 
 his sufferings, his joys, the nature and peculiarities of 
 his death, his burial, his resurrection, his coming glory, 
 were all predicted, and all find their perfect embodiment 
 in him. He alone seals up the vision, and terminates 
 in himself the prophecies that relate to him. 
 
 To anoint the most Holy is the last clause of this pro- 
 phecy. Who is this most Holy? The word is in the 
 masculine gender, and means, property, " the most Holy 
 One." But who is this most Holy One? We are told 
 in the Gospels over and over again: "I know thee," 
 said the unclean spirits, " thou art the Holy One of 
 God." The Apostle said to the Jews, " Ye denied the 
 Holy One." Paul said to the Hebrews, " Such a high 
 priest became us, who is holy." In the epistle to the 
 church at Philadelphia we read: "These things saith 
 he that is holy" The "Holy One," therefore, was 
 Christ Jesus. What is meant by "anointing" him? 
 We have this explained by referring to the other pro- 
 
THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH. 393 
 
 phccies relating to him. In Isaiah Ixi. we read : " The 
 Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord 
 hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; 
 he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- 
 claim liberty to the captives." "We find our Lord show- 
 ing that he is himself the Anointed Holy One, when he 
 takes the very prophecy of Isaiah (Luke iv. 11) and 
 applies it to himself: " The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
 me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel 
 to the poor : he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, 
 to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of 
 sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 
 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed 
 the book, and gave it to the minister, and sat down. And 
 the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were 
 fastened on him. And he began to say, This day is 
 this scripture fulfilled in your ears." 
 
 We have the very same prediction in its echo in 
 Heb. i. 8: "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 
 God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of righteous- 
 ness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved 
 righteousness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even 
 thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness 
 above thy fellows." AVhen we go back to the Levitical 
 economy, we find all the priests were anointed and 
 consecrated to their sacred functions by a holy oil, 
 which it was blasphemy to imitate. The prediction, 
 therefore, plainly refers to the Messiah, who, in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, is said to be a "groat High 
 Priest, who was touched with a feeling of our infir- 
 mities, and who ever liveth to make intercession for 
 us." I need not tell you that the word Messiah means 
 " the Anointed One." Hence Andrew said to Peter, 
 " We have found the Messias, which is, being inter- 
 preted, o Xpmroc/' the Anointed One. You have 
 heard of the Chrism used in Horn an Catholic churches ; 
 it means anointing, and is derived from the same root as 
 the word Christ, which means "anointed." When, then, 
 Andrew says to Peter, "We have found the Messias, 
 which is, being interpreted, the Christ," he intimated 
 
394 PROPIIETIC STUDIES. 
 
 that the prediction of Daniel is fulfilled ; as if he had 
 said : " He who was to come to make an end of sin, to 
 bring in everlasting righteousness, and is the anointed 
 high priest foretold by Daniel, is now come, and we 
 have found him." 
 
 I think, now, that this contrast between the facts as 
 fulfilled and narrated in the New Testament Scriptures, 
 and these predictions of the Old Testament, clearly and 
 irrefragubly prove that all these find their embodiment 
 and perfect realisation in the " Lamb of God that taketh 
 away the sins of the world." Show me any one, in all 
 the history of the past, since five hundred years before 
 Christ, when Daniel wrote this, downward to the year 
 in which we now live, in whom this prediction has been, 
 or can be demonstrated to be completely, or even par- 
 tially, realised. Has any one, in all that period of two 
 thousand years and upwards, restrained transgressions 
 thoughout the world by his doctrine and his name? Has 
 any one " made an end of sin," in any sense, or as I 
 have explained to yon ? Has any one made a " recon- 
 ciliation for sin," " brought in everlasting righteousness," 
 " sealed up" all the predictions relating to himself, and 
 been anointed the " Holy One of God?" None but 
 Jesus of Nazareth. All the prophets point to Jesus ; 
 all the Psalms celebrate him ; he is the Key that unlocks 
 them all ; and in him all is found to be harmony, order, 
 consistency, and truth. I have no more doubt that 
 Christ is the Messiah, God manifest in the flesh, our 
 only Sacrifice, our only Priest, and Prophet, and Eternal 
 King, than I have that there is a sun in the firmament, 
 or tides in the ocean. It is the plainest of all facts, it 
 is the clearest of all truths, it is the deepest of all 
 convictions. We know in whom we have believed, and 
 that he is able to keep that we have committed to him 
 against that day. 
 
 I ask now, in conclusion, have you, my dear friends, 
 any personal interest in this ? Is this a theory demon- 
 strated before you, or good news welcome to your hearts? 
 Is Christianity anything to you beyond a topic for the 
 preacher's sermon, or a source for the supply of names 
 
THE MISSION 01 THE MESSIAH. 395 
 
 for your children, or a respectable profession in society? 
 Can you say from those seats: ''0 Lord, I bless and 
 praise thee, that thou didst make reconciliation for sin, 
 that thou hast brought in everlasting righteousness, that 
 thou art the anointed High Priest that ever liveth to 
 make intercession for me ; I bless thec, I praise thee ; 
 my hopes of heaven, my prospects of joy, all cluster 
 about thy cross, centre in thy person, and come from 
 thy deep love ; thanks be to God for his unspeakable 
 gift, the Lord Jesus Christ ? " Very awful is that man's 
 responsibility who hears these truths and despises them, 
 who knows these truths and neglects them. Your 
 greatest condemnation will not be a broken law, but a 
 neglected Gospel, a rejected Saviour. There is no reason 
 in the height or in the depth, in the law or in the 
 Gospel, why a single soul in this assembly should perish 
 for ever. God waits to welcome you ; Christ waits to 
 receive you ; the Spirit waits to sanctify you : and it 
 will be the corroding recollection of the lost in misery, 
 " I did it all myself, and nobody did it for me ;" as it 
 will be the joyous impression and never-ceasing song of 
 the redeemed in glory, " We did none of it ; Christ did 
 it all from first to last." 
 
LECTUEE XXVI. 
 
 BACHED AEITHMETIC. 
 
 " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon 
 thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make 
 an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, 
 and to briny in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up 
 the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.' 1 
 DANIEL ix. 24. 
 
 I HAVE addressed you on the grand characteristic of 
 the death of Jesus. I showed you in two successive 
 discourses, that the death of Jesus his being " cut off, 
 but not for himself" was expiatory, or atoning. I 
 showed that it was the evidence of a creature that he 
 died, and the evidence of a God that he died a substi- 
 tute for us ; that it was his shame that he suffered, but 
 it was his glory that he satisfied ; and that because the 
 Messiah was cut off, and cut off for us, we have redemp- 
 tion through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I 
 then showed you, last Lord's-day evening, the meaning 
 of that most beautiful summary of the great results 
 of the death of Jesus embodied in Dan. ix. 24, (the 
 epitome of which was all that I was able to give you) 
 namely, that Christ should "finish the transgression, 
 make an end of sins, make reconciliation for iniquity, 
 bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and 
 the prophecy, and anoint the most Holy." What re- 
 mains, is indicated in the passage I have read this even- 
 ing. It is not the most interesting, because it is the 
 most arithmetic;)! ; yet it is the most conclusive evidence 
 that Jesus of ]S T azareth, who was born in Bethlehem, 
 died upon the cross, rose again for our justification, lives 
 and reigns our Prince and Intercessor, is the Messiah 
 
SACRED ARITHMETIC. 397 
 
 promised to the fathers, and that Daniel here clearly 
 and demonstrably predicted him. 
 
 When a prophet gives us dates and numbers, if his 
 prophecy be false, it is the easiest possible of detection ; 
 if, on the other hand, his prophecy be true, it is easily 
 capable of proof. Daniel has given us numbers ; he has 
 not only given us those grand characteristic features of 
 the life and death of Christ which demonstrably prove 
 that he is the Messiah (for in none before him, and in 
 none since have these characteristic features been actu- 
 alised), but he has also given us an exact calculation of 
 the time that should intervene between a given terminus 
 a quo, or commencing period, and a given terminus ad 
 quod, or a closing period. The prophet says, that be- 
 tween these seventy weeks should intervene. His words 
 are distinct and definite. Let us then investigate the 
 proofs of this exact prophecy, and see if it has been ful- 
 filled, as generally supposed, in the age, appearance, life, 
 and death of the Son of God. 
 
 I. admit that there have been disputes whether the 
 close of the seventy weeks refers to the time of the birth 
 of Christ, or the manifestation of Christ, or the death of 
 Christ, or the extinction of the Jewish polity ; for all 
 these are more or less alluded to. But one fact will 
 strike you as incontestible that if we take the longest 
 period to which the sevcntj^ weeks can be extended, or 
 the shortest period within which they can have expired, 
 it must be equally certain, that if the Messiah, the 
 Prince who was to make reconciliation for iniquity, and 
 bring in everlasting righteousness, has not come, the 
 prophecy is null, and no Messiah, according to its terms, 
 can be expected. Either the Jews are unbelievers, or 
 Christians are deceived. The shorter period M'ithin 
 which the time can expire, minus the last week, which 
 occurs after the appearance of Christ, may be nay, I 
 believe must be the manifestation of Christ as a 
 preacher, as the anointed prophet, as I shall show you 
 by-and-bye. The remotest moment at which 
 seventy weeks can possibly be said to expire, must 
 the overthrow and destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus, 
 
 you 
 the ) 
 t be I 
 itus, J 
 
398 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 which I believe is not the time referred to. If the 
 Messiah expected by the Jew, predicted by Daniel, 
 delineated so distinctly by the sacred pen, has not come 
 within these extreme periods, these ultimate limits, 
 then Daniel predicted what was false, and one of the 
 most striking pillars of the truth of the inspiration of 
 Daniel, and of the fact of the Messiahship of Jesus, is 
 swept from beneath the fabric of Christianity. 
 
 That the Christ is actually come, and is Jesus of 
 Nazareth, I showed you might be proved from the 
 identity of his character with the features here given. 
 I have often thought that when Andrew said to Peter, 
 "We have found the Messias, which is, being inter- 
 preted, the Christ," he had this very passage of Daniel 
 before him. " Here is the Messiah " (as if he had said), 
 " the Prince, the Anointed One. Here " (said Andrew) 
 "is the fulfilment of Daniel's prophecy; we have found 
 the Messiah, which is, being interpreted in our Greek 
 tongue, the Christ," in English, the Anointed One. 
 Therefore it was that Andrew's speech was the echo of 
 Daniel's prophecy; and God was showing in his bio- 
 graphy what he had inspired in Daniel's prophecy. I 
 may add, too, as an interesting collateral fact, that 
 almost all the Jews were in expectation that the Mes- 
 siah would appear about 1850 years ago; and even 
 some heathen writers allude to the prevalence of such a 
 rumour and belief among the Jews ; and add, that they 
 calculated that periods of prophecy expired about that 
 time. We have the remains of Jewish testimonies, that 
 just about the time that Christ came, they were expect- 
 ing that the Messiah would come ; and you will find 
 that, though they rejected Christ, they were so full of 
 the expectancy of the Messiah, that pretended Messiahs 
 were constantly appearing, professing to be such, and 
 were often followed by crowds of temporary adherents. 
 I mention this to show the all but universal belief that 
 great chronological epochs had then expired, arid that in 
 consequence of this and from the knowledge of it, the 
 great heart of Judaism was big with expectancy of a 
 glorious and speedy deliverer. Many pretenders to the 
 
RACKED ARITHMETIC. 399 
 
 Messiahship were no disproof of the claims of Jesus ; 
 just as many pseudo-gospels arc no disproof of the truth 
 and authenticity of the Gospels of Matthew and John. 
 The arithmetical calculations on which I must now 
 enter may in one sense be thought dry and uninterest- 
 ing as elements of a popular address, yet they are pos- 
 sessed of great importance. If the Spirit of God thought 
 it was useful to direct Daniel thus to write, it is un- 
 worthy of us to say it is too dry for the minister to 
 preach, and too dull for the hearer to investigate. It is 
 not sunshine but truth we are to seek after. My dear 
 friends, whatever God has written, man should read; 
 whatever God has thought proper to communicate, man 
 is not only warranted, but commanded to investigate, 
 and authorised to expect to understand. Uut it is very 
 interesting to know, and truly exemplary for us, that 
 whilst Daniel is giving these dry technical numbers 
 the seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks, and one week, 
 or the seventy weeks so constantly referred to, he docs 
 not do so without embodying in the very heart of arith- 
 metic what is so precious, and to ministers so valuable 
 a precedent, one of the clearest portraits of the atone- 
 ment of our Lord and its glorious effects, probably, con- 
 tained in the whole Scriptures of truth ; so clear, that 
 if you did not know that it was written in Daniel, and 
 were to hear me read it for the first time, that Christ as 
 your reconciliation for sin, made an end of sin, and 
 brought in everlasting righteousness, you would say, 
 " These must be the words of Paul, Peter, or John;" 
 not a prophecy, but a record, or inspired description of 
 Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 The words of the prophet are, " Seventy weeks are 
 determined." Now, do these Aveeks mean literal weeks, 
 or are they symbolical weeks ? Are they strictly literal, 
 or what has been called prophetic weeks ? If the 
 decision rested on mere conjecture, the prophecy would 
 be so far comparatively inexplicable ; but you will find 
 that it was a frequent, almost a universal habit of the 
 ancient penmen in the Old Testament Scriptures, in 
 certain descriptiosn, to speak of years under the symbol 
 
400 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 of days. For instance, so early as in Genesis we tind 
 Moses thus describing the ages of the patriarchs: " All 
 the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty 
 years." In Leviticus xxv. 8, we read : " And thou shalt 
 number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times 
 seven years." The Jubilee occurred at the end of 
 forty-nine years. Seven times seven make forty-nine. 
 Therefore seven weeks in prophetic language, in Jewish 
 reckoning, mean, not seven literal, but seven prophetic 
 weeks, or seven times seven prophetic days, that is, 
 forty-nine literal years, at the end of which, as we 
 know, the jubilee always occurred. So again, in Genesis 
 (chap. xxix. 27), as if to confirm the justness of this 
 interpretation, we read these words : " Fulfil her week, 
 and we will give thee this also, for the service which 
 thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years" the 
 week here being the symbol, or the equivalent of seven 
 years. Another very remarkable passage confirmatory 
 of this interpretation is contained in Ezekiel iv. 6, 
 where we have these words: "And when thou hast 
 accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou 
 shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days :" 
 - now that is the simple statement ; then there is 
 added, " I have appointed thee each day for a year," 
 that is, forty years was the actual period symbol iscd 
 under the prophetic language of forty days. It is plain, 
 therefore, that it is not by rash conjecture that I interpret 
 the seventy weeks as meaning seventy weeks of years, 
 but it is upon the basis of God's authority. He gives us 
 the precedent of accepting in prophetic interpretation 
 the day for the year. Besides, if the period of Daniel 
 were seventy literal weeks, there would be nothing to 
 correspond with its termination. I do not say this alone 
 is a conclusive argument : I merely state it as confirma- 
 tory of what I have advanced. It may be shown to be 
 historically impossible that seventy literal weeks from 
 any one period here indicated could end in the advent 
 of any one that could by possibility be interpreted to 
 be the Messiah. I therefore conclude, I think justly, 
 that the seventy weeks of Daniel are seventy weeks of 
 
BACHED AEITHMETIC. 401 
 
 years; each day being taken for a year, seven prophetic days 
 in a prophetic week make seven literal years. Seventy 
 prophetic weeks, therefore, will be seventy times seven 
 prophetic days, or literal years i.e. 490 years. The pre- } 
 diction, therefore, is expressed, that from some given period, 
 or as I have called it, a terminus a fud, to another fixed 
 period, the terminus ad quod, or to the Messiah's manifesta- 
 tion and confirming of the covenant, will be 490 years. 
 
 But you will notice in proceeding, that the seventy 
 weeks, or 490 years are divided by the prophet into 
 three periods, in each period of which some one great 
 transaction is to take place. In verse 25, we read, 
 " Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going 
 forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jeru- 
 salem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks," 
 [then] "and three score and two weeks : " [these 
 being sections of one period of seventy weeks, and 
 forming together sixty-nine weeks.] " And the street 
 shall be built again, arid the wall, even in troublous 
 times." Then, "And after threo score and two weeks" 
 [starting from the termination of the first seven weeks] 
 " shall Messiah be cut off." Then, for one week addi- 
 tional to the sixty-nine he shall confirm the covenant. 
 The whole period, then, is divided into three great 
 sections ; that is, the whole seventy weeks is divided 
 into seven weeks, sixty -two weeks, and one week, 
 which three numbers amount to seventy weeks. In the 
 first seven weeks, the city was to be built ; at the end 
 of the next division, or sixty-two weeks, the Messiah 
 was to be manifested, and in the middle of the last week 
 he was to be cut off, and during the remainder of it to 
 confirm the covenant, while in the midst of the same 
 week he was to cause the sacrifice to cease. In the 
 first seven weeks the city was to be built, in the sixty- 
 two weeks the Messiah was to be manifested, in the 
 middle of the remaining week the Messiah was to be cut 
 off. The seven weeks are equal to 49 years, the sixty- 
 two weeks are equal to 434 years, and the one week is 
 equal to seven years, making a total of 490 years, which 
 I have already specified. We have thus then, all the 
 
 D D 
 
402 PIIOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 details of this question before us. The first difficulty 
 which occurs, if it he a difficulty, which I scarcely 
 i think, though there has been dispute about it, is, what 
 I is the commencing epoch of the seventy weeks ? The 
 words employed are, " Know therefore, and understand, 
 ' that from the going forth of the commandment to restore 
 and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince 
 shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks :" 
 that is, the two put together, forty-nine years and 434 
 years ; these two periods having elapsed, then the Messiah 
 the Prince should be manifested. I pass by much, after 
 which, as we shall subsequently see, was to occur in 
 Jerusalem, the overspreading of the abomination, the 
 city and the sanctuary with a flood. 
 
 Let me then look at the first period of seven weeks, 
 i.e. forty-nine years, of the three into which the seventy 
 weeks or 490 years are divided. The commencing period 
 is from the going forth of the commandment to build 
 Jerusalem. AVhen was this commandment given r There 
 have been but four great commands or edicts that have 
 respectively been supposed to be the commencing epoch. 
 There are but four, I say, that it is possible to suppose, 
 or that have been supposed to have been the commencing 
 epoch. The first was by Cyrus, during the first year of 
 his reign in Babylon, at the end of the seventy years' 
 captivity, as recorded in Ezra i. " Now in the first year 
 of Cyrus King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by 
 the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord 
 stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia, that he 
 made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and 
 put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus King of 
 Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the 
 kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath charged me to build 
 him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is 
 there among you of all his people ? his God be with him, 
 and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and 
 build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the 
 God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth 
 in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his 
 place help him with silver, and with gold, and with 
 
SACRED ARITHMETIC. 403 
 
 goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for 
 the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Then rose up 
 tho chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the 
 priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God 
 had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord 
 which is in Jerusalem. And all they that were about 
 them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, 
 with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious 
 things, beside all that was willingly offered. Also 
 Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of 
 the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out 
 of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; 
 even those did Cyrus King of Persia bring forth by the- 
 hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them 
 unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the 
 number of them : thirty chargers of gold, a thousand 
 chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, thirty basons 
 of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and 
 ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of 
 gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. 
 Ail these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the 
 captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto 
 Jerusalem." On reading the whole of this chapter 
 carefully, 3-011 will perceive that this commission is to 
 rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 The second command is the edict issued by Darius, 
 recorded in the 6th chapter of Ezra, which it is impor- 
 tant to read : " Then Darius the king made a decree, 
 and search was made in the house of the rolls, where 
 the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was 
 found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province 
 of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus 
 written ; In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same 
 Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house 
 of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the 
 place where they offered sacrifices, and let the founda- 
 tions thereof be strongly laid ; the height thereof three 
 score cubits, and the breadth thereof three score cubits : 
 with three rows of great stones, and a row of new 
 timber : and let the expenses be given out of the king's 
 
 D D 2 
 
404 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 house : and also let the golden and silver vessels of the 
 house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of 
 the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought into 
 Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple 
 which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place 
 them in the house of God. Now therefore, Tatnai, 
 governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your 
 companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the 
 river, be ye far from thence : let the work of this house 
 of God alone ; let the governor of the Jews and the 
 elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. 
 Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders 
 of these Jews for the building of this house of God : that 
 of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, 
 forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they 
 be not hindered. And that which they have need of, 
 both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt 
 offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, 
 according to the appointment of the priests Avhich are at 
 Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail : 
 that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the 
 God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his 
 sons. Also 1 have made a decree, that whosoever shall 
 alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, 
 and being set up, let him be hanged thereon ; and let 
 his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God that 
 hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and 
 people, that shall put their hand to alter and to destroy 
 this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have 
 made a decree ; let it be done with speed. Then Tatnai, 
 governor on this side the river, Shethar-boznai, and their 
 companions, according to that which Darius the king 
 had sent, so they did speedily. And the elders of the 
 Jews builded, and theyprospbred through the prophesying 
 of Huggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. 
 And they builded, and finished it, according to the com- 
 mandment of the God of Israel, and according to the 
 commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes 
 King of Persia. And this house was finished on the 
 third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth 
 
SACBED ARITHMETIC. 405 
 
 year of the reign of Darius the king, and the children of 
 Israel, the priests, and the Lcvites, and the rest of the 
 children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this 
 house of God with joy, and offered at the dedication of 
 this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred 
 rams, four hundred lambs ; and for a sin offering for all 
 Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the 
 tribes of Israel. And they set the priests in their divi- 
 sions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of 
 God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book 
 of Moses. And the children of the captivity kept the 
 passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. 
 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, 
 all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the 
 children of the captivity, and for their brethren the 
 priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel, 
 which were come again out of captivity, and all such as 
 had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness 
 of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of 
 Israel, did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread 
 seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joy- 
 ful, and turned the heart of the King of Assyria unto 
 them, to strengthen their hands in the wwk of the house 
 of God, the God of Israel." But this plainly relates, 
 like the former, to the temple, and it alone. 
 
 The third edict, which I conceive to be the true one, 
 is given by Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign. 
 It is contained in the following chapter, Ezra vii : 
 " Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes 
 king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of 
 Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son 
 of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the 
 son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, 
 the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, 
 the son of Phinehas, the son of Elenzar, the son of Aaron 
 the chief priest : this Ezra went up from Babylon ; and 
 he was a read y scribe in the law of Moses, w T hich the 
 Lord God of Israel had given : and the king granted 
 him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord 
 his God upon him. And there went up some of the 
 
406 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, 
 and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, 
 unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxcrxes the 
 king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, 
 which was in the seventh year of the king. Tor upon 
 the first day of the first month began he to go up from 
 Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came 
 he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God 
 upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek 
 the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel 
 statutes and judgments. Now this is the copy of the 
 letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the 
 priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the com 
 mandments of the Lord, and of his statutes to Israel. 
 Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe 
 of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at 
 such a time. I make a decree, that all they of the 
 people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my 
 realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go 
 up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Forasmuch as thou 
 art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to 
 inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to 
 the law of thy God which is in thine hand ; and to 
 carry the silver and gold, which the king and his coun- 
 sellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose 
 habitation is in Jerusqlem, and all the silver and gold 
 that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with 
 the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, 
 offering willingly for the house of their God which is 
 in Jerusalem : that thou maycst buy speedily with this 
 money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings 
 and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar 
 of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. And 
 whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, 
 to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do 
 after the will of your God. The vessels also that are 
 given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those 
 deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. And what- 
 soever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, 
 which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out 
 
SACRED ARITHMETIC. 407 
 
 of the king's treasure-house. And I, even I Artaxerxes 
 the king-, do make a decree to all the treasurers which 
 are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, 
 the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require 
 of you, it be done speedily, unto an hundred talents of 
 silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an 
 hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, 
 and salt without prescribing how much. Whatsoever 
 is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently 
 done for the house of the God of heaven : for why 
 should there be wrath against the realm of the king 
 and his sons r Also we certify you, that touching any 
 of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, 
 or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful 
 to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them. And 
 thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is iu 
 thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may 
 judge all the people that are beyohd the river, all such 
 as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye them that 
 know them not. And whosoever will not do the law 
 of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be 
 executed speedily upon hirr, whether it be unto death, 
 or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to im- 
 prisonment. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, 
 which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, 
 to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem : 
 and hath extended mercy unto me before the king and 
 his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. 
 And I was strengthened, as the hand of the Lord my 
 God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel 
 chief men to go up with me." 
 
 A fourth one, as has been supposed by some, was / 
 given to Nehemiah in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. I 
 But on comparing carefully the seventh chapter of Ezra, ( 
 which it is important to read, where the commission is I 
 given to Ezra, with the second chapter of Nehemiah, 1 
 where the commission is given to Nehemiah, you will 
 easily perceive that the proclamation given to Ezra was j 
 a royal one, a general and a public one, and that the > 
 commission given to Nehemiah was a personal and 
 
408 PBOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 private commission to an individual to go and carry 
 out with great speed and vigour what Ezra had begun ; 
 and afterwards we find the t\vo working together and 
 carrying on the rebuilding and the restoration of Jeru- 
 salem, its temple, its walls, its streets, in very troublous 
 times, the labourers having each the trowel in one hand 
 and the spear in the other. I therefore argue, that the 
 commencing period was the seventh year of the reign 
 of Artaxerxes, as recorded in the seventh chapter of 
 Ezra. , There we begin the whole period of seventy 
 weeks, and of course of the first period into which it is 
 divided, viz., seven weeks or forty-nine years. "We 
 find that the sanctity of the Sabbath was restored, (you 
 will find, in the chapters we have read from Ezra and 
 Kehemiah, that I am giving only a summary of what 
 is there,) the offering was brought to the house of the 
 Lord, the genealogies of the people were entered, and 
 the people were separated, and made distinct and pecu- 
 liar from other nations. "We find by careful analysis 
 that Ezra had laboured thirteen years under the com- 
 mission of Artaxerxes, given in the seventh year of his 
 reign, as recorded in the seventh chapter of Ezra ; and 
 that Nehemiah had laboured twelve years under his, 
 the twelve and thirteen years together making twenty- 
 five years. We read in Nehemiah, that he returned 
 from Jerusalem to his royal master, after he had laboured 
 twelve years in restoring the city, and that after resid- 
 ing with his royal master for some time, he returned to 
 complete the work which he had left unfinished. We 
 have now to ascertain how long he remained away, in 
 order to make up the years. In the last chapter of 
 IsTehemiah, at verse 28, we read: " And one of the sons 
 of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was 
 son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite." Then Eliashib 
 was high priest, and we know this fact occurred 412 
 years before Christ that is, twenty years additional to 
 the twenty-five which I have already specified. We 
 have therefore discovered twelve years, thirteen years, 
 and twenty years, that is in all forty-five. Now the 
 difficulty is, how are we to get the other four years. It 
 
8ACEED ARITHMETIC. 409 
 
 rests with you as reasonable men to judge whether what 
 I shall advance makes out the point we are in search of. 
 
 Nehemi&h returned to finish the work he had begun 
 at the end of forty-five years. Well, the presumption 
 is, that if he had spent so long a time in carrying it on, 
 and if so much remained undone, that he was under the 
 necessity of returning to help it to a close, he took at 
 least four years to complete the work. I have no 
 element that will give me this four years absolutely ; I 
 can only reasonably conjecture that when he returned 
 after forty-five years, to give the finishing strokes to this 
 great work, his labours occupied not less, and probably 
 not more than four years, thus making in all forty-nine 
 years on the building of Jerusalem in troublous times, 
 and presenting it, as we know it to have been, presented 
 entire and complete. 
 
 Malachi the prophet appeared just at this time, as the 
 last of the prophets ; the spirit of prophecy then departed 
 from the Jews. This w as 409 years before the Christian 
 era. This cessation of prophecy, the completion of the 
 temple, and the organisation of the Jewish polity, took 
 place exactly forty-nine years (this is matter of fact) 
 after the issuing of the command in the seventh year of 
 Artaxerxes to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem. We 
 have thus then got rid of the first of the three divisions 
 of the 490 years. Taking away these seven prophetic 
 weeks, or forty -nine years, there remained sixty -two 
 weeks from the completion of Jerusalam, that is, the 
 termination of the forty-nine years, to the manifestation 
 of the Prince the Messiah. ]S T ow T , if we date the one 
 w r eek for his death and confirmation of the covenant from 
 the going forth of the command, we shall find that the 
 490 years, minus seven years, that is, seventy weeks 
 minus the last one, expired exactly A.D. 26, or in the 
 year of our Lord 26 the epoch expired. But how can 
 it be said that Jesus was manifested at the age of twenty- 
 six ? It is matter of fact that he was not. Some have 
 tried to prove that there was at this time, when the 
 Baptist made his appearance, a commencing manifesta- 
 tion, or what might be broadly construed as such. But 
 
410 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 la fact has been introduced in this discussion which 
 settles the matter at once, that when the Christian 
 era was settled, an error of four years was committed. 
 You will see an evidence of this error in the 2nd chapter 
 of the Gospel of Luke. It is the marginal reading of 
 
 * Bagster's large Bible, and you will see it in most of the 
 marginal readings of other Bibles. At Luke ii. 43, you 
 will find these words " And when he was twelve years 
 old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the 
 feast." ]S"ow, in Bagster's Bible, and in Bibles having 
 the full marginal reference, you will see A.D. 8. In 
 Bagster's Bible, called the Treasury Bible, and a 
 very valuable one it is, you will find A.D. 8. But if 
 the A.D. begins at our Lord's birth, the date would have 
 been 12. This is explained by a blunder of four yours 
 having been committed when the Christian Era was 
 settled. If this be correct, we have to add four years to 
 twenty-six, and twenty-six and four are thirty, and thus 
 the termination will be A.D. 30. Xow we find, as a 
 matter of fact, that Christ was born, not at Christmas, 
 as is popularly supposed, but a considerable time before. 
 The high probability is, that our Lord was born in the 
 autumn, in the beginning, of October, or in the spring 
 season. Another evidence of it is this, that the shep- 
 herds were in the fields watching their flocks, winch 
 r-ould scarcely be in mid- winter : all the inspired picture 
 suggests a serene and beautiful evening, when the 
 angels' song"~pealed from the skies, " Glory to God in 
 the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men!" 
 Well, if so, you make the age of our Lord twenty-nine 
 and a half, by taking the period of the year, namely 
 spring, into consideration ; whether we suppose the 
 nativity to have occurred toward the close of J.P. 4709, 
 or the commencement of J.P. 4710, within which limits 
 it demonstrably occurred, the year 31 of our Lord proves 
 coincident with J.P. 4740, A.D. 27;* and at that age, 
 twenty-nine and a half, or thirty years, we have the 
 expiring of the seventy weeks, minus one week, or the 
 490 years, being 434 years from the completion of Jeru- 
 * See Dr. Nolan's Warburtonian Lectures, p. 474. 
 
SACKED ARITHMETIC. 411 
 
 salem and the temple. But what took place in the year 
 A.D. 30 of our Lord's life ? He was baptised by John, 
 and a voice came from heaven, " This is my beloved Son, 
 in whom I am well pleased." He was thus inaugurated 
 into his office. He then commenced his ministry, his pre- 
 cious ministry of love and truth ; he expired upon the cross 
 three, or three and a half years after that is, in the middle 
 of the last week, he was cut off, but not for himself. 
 
 "We have thus, then, reached with tolerable clearness, 
 if I have been able to make myself understood, the 
 completion of 484 years, or the 490 years minus seven 
 years, or the one week, which yet remain. In other 
 words, I have accounted for that part of the 490 years \ 
 which embraces 483 years, i.e, for seven weeks and 
 sixty -two weeks. But one period, a week of seven 
 years, still remains to complete the 490 years. Prom 
 the going forth of the command to the manifestation of 
 the Messiah was 483 years the remaining week of 
 seven years added, makes 490 years, that is the sum 
 total. Let us ascertain then, what that week was, and 
 how far the prediction that he should be cut off in the 
 midst of it, and confirm the covenant, have been rea- 
 lised. Christ was to confirm the covenant for one week. 
 There is but one covenant, and this is especially pre- 
 dicted in Jeremiah xxxi. 31 : " Behold, the days come, 
 saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with 
 the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah : not 
 according to the covenant that I made with their 
 fathers." Then I refer to Hebrews x. 15 18, 
 " Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us : 
 for after that he had said before, This is the covenant 
 that I will make with them after those days, saith the 
 Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and \n their 
 minds will I write them ; and their sins and iniquities 
 will I remember no more. Now, where remission of 
 these is, there is no more offering for sin." The cove- 
 nant then is plainl) T the New Testament dispensation, 
 and this covenant Christ was to confirm with many, or, 
 as the Hebrew words might be literally translated, h 
 was to confirm it " with the multitude" for one wee 
 
412 PEOPUETIC STUDIES. 
 
 Kow let us watch our Lord's preaching. From the age 
 of thirty, when he began his ministry, to the moment of 
 his condemnation, his preaching was eminently popular. 
 It is declared in one passage that " the common people 
 heard him gladly" the scribes, the priests, the Phari- 
 sees were then, as always, instinct with inveterate 
 antipathy, but the great mass of the people heard him 
 gladly. So enthusiastically was he received in some 
 parts of his glorious embassy, that they strewed his very 
 path with palms, and shouted as he came, " Hosanna 
 to the Son of David : Hosanna in the highest." With 
 the multitude, that is, " with many," he made the 
 covenant ; to the people he explained the covenant, and 
 they heard him gladly. But this he did from thirty to 
 thirty-three and a half years of age, or during three 
 and a half years. How does it apply to him after he 
 was gone ? We find that what he did personally for 
 three and a half years before his death he did by the 
 j apostles mediately three and a half years after his death, 
 just as he did miracles personally before his death, 
 and by the Apostles after; at the end of this period 
 the Apostles left the Jews, shaking the dust from their 
 feet : Peter gets his commission to go to the Gentiles, 
 and the Jews are cast off, and remain so to this day. 
 During seven years, or, three years and a half pre- 
 vious, and three years and a half subsequent to Christ's 
 death, the covenant was confirmed to the great multitude 
 of that nation, after which it was taken from them, and 
 given to another people. But in the midst of this last 
 week Christ was to be cut off. Here again, the per- 
 formance and the prophecy perfectly tally; it was in the 
 middle of the week of the remaining seven years that 
 Christ was cut off. Three and a half years from his 
 manifestation at thirty terminated his life, three and a 
 half years after that terminated the direct misson of the 
 Apostles to the Jews as a distinctive and peculiar people. 
 But the best proof of it is, that when he should thus die 
 and be cut off, the prophecy was fulfilled that the offer- 
 ing and the oblation should cease. It is said, "And in 
 the midst of the Aveek he shall cause the sacrifice and 
 
SACRED ARITHMETIC. 413 
 
 the oblation to cease," that is plainly the morning and ; 
 the evening sacrifice, and the great atonement made once 
 a year for the remission of sins. 
 
 Most interestingly God's Providence reveals to us the, 
 truth of God's prophetic word. The Talmudists say that, 
 about forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 that is, about the time of the death of Jesus, the lots 
 were not cast for the victim, or passed into the priest's 
 hand; the wool was not dipped in the blood of the| 
 atonement, nor were evening lamps lighted, and the: 
 temple doors were all left open. That is, in the very 
 year in which Christ was cut off, or about forty years 
 before the destruction of Jerusalem, it is admitted that 
 there was a suspension of the regular office of the Jewish 
 priests ; the secession of the sanhedrim had taken place, 
 in consequence of which, the high priest was incapa- 
 citated to pcrfom the chief functions of his office. Wei 
 find, moreover, that when the Jewish national indepen- 
 dence had ceased to exist, Pilate took away the robes of 
 the high priest, in which robes alone he could officiate 
 on the three high festivals. These robes of the high 
 priest, in^ which alone he could officiate, where locked 
 ujpunder seal in the tower of Antonia; and for six 
 months before, and eighteen months after Christ's death, 
 flic offering and the oblation ceased, because the priest 
 
 ' 
 
 proper robes in which 'to perform the one or 
 the other ! How striking is this fact ! And the very money 
 collected to pay the offering Pilate took away from the 
 Church, and appropriated to the State ; and it became a 
 political tax, and not, as it might be called, a church- 
 rate. The very means and elements of Jewish worship 
 were thus exhausted ; the sacrifice and the oblation 
 eeaSeidr^But why did they thus cease ? Not merely was 
 prophecy thus fulfilled but the shadow disappeared, 
 for the sun had risen ! the symbol evaporated, for the 
 substance was come! the type was lost, for the antitype 
 had now arrived ! And round that cross, when Jesus' 
 died, and in mingled agony and triumph ried"It is; 
 finished!" Moses, Abraham, and Levi, and Ezekiel, 
 and Jeremiah and Daniel, and type, and prophecy, and 
 
414 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 sacrifice, and high priest, and Lcvite stood, and repeated 
 each and all the cry, " It is finished," "Amen." The 
 oblation and the sacrifice ceased ; the great Sacrifice was 
 come. Is not this reasoning, if not mathematically 
 conclusive, morally so ? Is it not the highest possible 
 presumption that the epoch specified by Daniel is the 
 Messianic, that the Messiah predicted by Daniel is 
 come ? 
 
 First, then, behold the great end and purpose of the 
 Jewish nation. How happens it that this people were 
 preserved so peculiar, singular, separate from the nations? 
 They were placed in Babylon, but not lost in it : some 
 of them were promoted to high offices, and employed in 
 lucrative works; they were mingled Avith the people. 
 All analogies, all laws, would go to demonstrate that a 
 people seventy years in captivity, slaves for three gene- 
 rations, would inevitably be lost in the conquering 
 nation, as a tributary stream is lost in the mighty river 
 into which it flows. And yet, at the end of three gene- 
 rations, all their yearnings and their instincts were as 
 strong and earnest as ever towards Jerusalem, and the 
 instant that the depression of their condition was re- 
 moved, and their captivity expired, their hearts found a 
 home only in Jerusalem. Why was this people so pre- 
 served ? Because the truth of a thousand promises rested 
 on their being so. God interposed at every period of their 
 wondrous history to keep them for the promised birth of 
 Him who should be of the tribe of Judah, a light to 
 lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel. 
 And so that people are kept still. Do you think it is 
 accident that they are as they are a people without a 
 country, their country without a people found in all 
 lands, speaking all tongues, amid the snows of Lapland, 
 on the sands of Senegal ; under tyrants that crush them, 
 in republics that enfranchise them ? Is it to no purpose 
 that they are kept thus insulated from the nations of the 
 world ? Like globules of quicksilver dashed upon the 
 earth en masse, they arc all shivered and scattered ; but 
 the great Restorer shall collect the bright drops from a 
 thousand lands, removing what prevents their cohesion 
 
SACRED AHITHMETIC. 41^ 
 
 and they shall meet and mingle in ancient and again 
 beautiful Jerusalem, and reflect the image of him who 
 is the Prince the Messiah, amid anthems and songs, 
 " Hosanna to the Son of David, hosanna in the highest ! 
 Blessed is he that is come again in the name of the 
 Lord!" 
 
 In the next place, we have here irresistible evidence, 
 as I have already indicated, that Jesus is the Messiah. 
 The moral picture and the chronological data, both com- 
 bined, constitute the full demonstration that he is the 
 Messiah. We have no less proof of the striking fact 
 that Jesus died, and died, as I have shown, an atoning 
 death. His death never forget it was not the death 
 of a sainted martyr, but of an atoning victim ; we re- 
 gard the death of Jesus not as that of an heroic saint, 
 but as that of an expiatory and atoning sacrifice. It 
 was altar-fire that consumed him, it was a temple life 
 that he led, it was an atoning death that he died. Mes- 
 siah was cut off, but not for himself, and made recon- 
 ciliation for our iniquity. 
 
 In the next place, this sacrifice was and is finished, 
 perfect, complete. My dear friends, we are justified, not 
 by anything we contribute, not by anything we do, not 
 by anything we suffer, nor by rite nor by ceremony, but 
 by this : "He that knew no sin was made sin for us, 
 that we might be made the righteousness of God by him." 
 Our sins were laid upon him, external to his holy nature ; 
 the innocent lamb wore our tainted fleece, and in it the 
 Saviour expired a sacrifice. And as it was just in God 
 to pour out the expressions of his wrath upon the inno- 
 cent one, because he saw him in the robes of the trans- 
 gressor, it will be but faithful and just in God to poui 
 out the expressions of his love upon us, the strayed 
 sheep, recovered, and clothed again in the glorious fleece 
 of Emmanuel's righteousness. God hid his eyes from 
 the innocence of Jesus because of our sins laid upon 
 him ; he will hide his eyes from the transgressions of 
 his people because of Jesus' righteousness laid upon 
 them. Because Jesus was cut off, but not for himself, 
 we shall live for ever. Every synagogue in London ia 
 
416 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 a standing testimony to -the truth of the prophecy of 
 Daniel. Lambs and goats bleed for the sins of the people 
 no more. Where, my Jewish brethren, are your great 
 atonement, where the morning and the evening lamb, 
 where the great sacrifices for sin r Have you not read, 
 that without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness 
 of sin ? Where is the shedding of blood ? Why is it 
 not ? Rabbi and Jew are silent. Why ? I can tell. 
 Because the Messiah in the midst of the week was cut 
 off and made the long prefigured sacrifice, and ended 
 the oblation for sin. Every Jew upon the streets uncon- 
 sciously cries, " It is finished ;" every synagogue in the 
 land protests, "It is finished ;" every memorial of the 
 suffering of that persecuted race, their insulation from 
 the nations of the earth, their clinging to Levi, and to 
 the land of their fathers, all proclaim, " It is finished." 
 May it be our heartfelt joy that " It is finished !" It 
 is so. Thanks and glory be to God. 
 
 " 'Tis finished ; the Afessiah dies 
 
 For sins, but not his own. 
 The ^rcat redemption is complete. 
 Ami Satan's power o'erthrown." 
 
LECTURE XXYII. 
 
 THE MESSIAH THE PEIXCE. 
 
 " Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth 
 of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem 
 unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and 
 three score and two icceks : the streets shall be built again, 
 and the wall, even in troublous times." DANIEL ix. 25. 
 
 AFTER having explained at some length the priestly 
 office of the Messiah, as that office is unfolded in verse 
 24, viz. " To finish transgression, and to make an end 
 of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in 
 everlasting righteousness," I have thought that I cannot 
 close this first part of the visions of Daniel, which we 
 have contemplated before on successive Sabbath evenings, 
 without some remarks upon that most important office of 
 the Messiah, the kingly office, or Messiah the Prince. 
 
 That Jesus is the High Priest of his church, all true 
 churches fully admit that he is the only Prophet whose 
 word is infallible, all true Christians equally admit. His 
 royal office is equally important. Scripture speaks as 
 often of the kingly office of the Messiah as of his priestly 
 and his prophetic offices ; and there is no doubt that his 
 royal functions are just as precious as his sacerdotal, in 
 practical value to us, or they would not have been so 
 often and so distinctly unfolded in Scripture. In all his 
 offices Jesus is the object of the faith and hope of believers. 
 
 Let me proceed to give some instances of Scriptural 
 allusions to the princely or kingly office of the Messiah. 
 In prophecy we read "A sceptre shall rise out of 
 Israel" that is, Christ the Messiah shall be king. 
 Again : " His name shall be called [that is, in prophetic 
 
 
 
418 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 language, ho shall actually be] the Prince of peace." 
 Again : " I will raise unto David a righteous branch, 
 and a king shall reign." Again, in Micah : " Thou, 
 Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the 
 thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth 
 unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." 
 
 It was in the belief of these prophecies, or from their 
 having heard the echoes of them sounding over all the 
 earth, that the Magi, when they came to Jesus, guided 
 by the prophetic star, asked, " Where is he who is born 
 King of the Jews : " Again, Nathaniel said : " Thou 
 art the Son of God, thou art the King o^ Israel." And 
 Jesus, speaking of himself on that last day when all 
 destiny shall be settled, and the great drama of this 
 world shall be wound up for ever, says: "Then shall 
 the King say to them upon his right hand." Pilate, ad- 
 dressing Jesus, tusked him) "Art thou a king?" Jesus 
 answered in the affirmative, "Thou sayest:" that is, 
 translated in modern phrase, " I am a king." And as 
 if the rays of his kingly glory could not be repressed 
 as if the splendour of that diadem which the scorn, the 
 insult and reproach of the world were combined to tar- 
 nish, could not be hidden, it is declared that his very 
 foes inscribed, under a mysterious influence they could 
 neither explain nor resist, these words upon his cross : 
 " Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews." When the 
 priests, alive to the force of these words, said: "Say 
 not the King of the Jews, but write that he said, I am 
 the King of the Jews," Pilate, the unconscious minister 
 of a sublime purpose, was made to authenticate the truth 
 of the inscription when he said : " What I have written 
 I have written ;" Jesus of Nazareth is king of the Jews. 
 In him, in short, centre all the royalties of David, all 
 the righteousness of Melchizedek, all the peacefulncss of 
 Solomon. He is "King of kings," "the Prince of the 
 kings of the earth." Hidden he may now be ; denied 
 by the world he is ; thousands may shout, " We will not 
 have this man to rule over us ;" but in temples some of 
 which the sun gilds with his earliest rays, and on others 
 of which linger his retiring beams, these joyful words 
 
THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE. 419 
 
 are sounding from pious hearts and glad tongues 
 " Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ!" 
 
 In viewing this royal office of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and investigating the meaning of the expression of 
 Daniel, " Messiah the Prince," I may state, first of all, 
 that he is represented in the Scriptures as the true 
 Melchizedek, the king of righteousness ; as that king, in 
 short, who, in spiritual things, alone has legislative and 
 conclusive prerogatives. He alone can repeal a law ; he 
 alone can create or re-enact a law. Paul, Peter, John, 
 the ministers of the Gospel, can say, " A new command- 
 ment is given;" but Christ could say, because he is 
 Messiah the Prince, " A new commandment I (jive unto 
 you." On the mount, in that sublime sermon, unrivalled 
 for its beauty and simplicity so grand that the greatest 
 philosophers cannot exhaust its meaning, so sweet and 
 so plain that the humblest peasant is refreshed and de- 
 lighted with its truth, in that sublime discourse again 
 and again he said : "Ye have heard, An eye for an eye, 
 a tooth for a tooth ; but I say unto you ;" these are the 
 words of Messiah the Prince. The people felt it, the 
 crowd exclaimed, " He speaks as one having authority." 
 In short, in all that Jesus did, in all that he said, in all 
 that he suffered, there are the irresistible signs of the 
 presence of the priest, the prophet, and the king; and 
 the unsophisticated multitude again and again admitted 
 that it was so. He alone, as Messiah the Prince, repealed 
 the ceremonial law, by presenting himself as its end, its 
 aim, and its object. He alone, as the great Legislator 
 of the church, as the Prince the Messiah, finished all the 
 functions of Aaron, and unfolded in all their grandeur 
 the lasting functions of Melchizedek. He alone enun- 
 ciated laws ; he alone unMded new and glorious truths; 
 and every doctrine that he taught, every law that he 
 gave, are king's words ; they bear the stamp and super- 
 scription of Messiah the Prince ; they constitute a royal 
 code ; they are sublime pandects to last while the world 
 lasts, the law and testimony of his people Israel. For any 
 one now to add to the perfect law, or to step in, and say, 
 "Christ hath said so-and-so; but I say unto you," would 
 
 E 2 
 
420 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 be constructive treason against the Prince of the kings 
 of the earth. For any one to add laws to Christ's law, 
 and to inculcate opinions or ecclesiastical truths, however 
 good the one or the other may be, in their place, as if these 
 were of equal authority with the law of Christ, is not 
 only treason, but apostasy ; it is to intrude into the 
 king's place, to assume the king's name, to stamp the 
 image and the superscription of Messiah the Prince upon 
 our own vile brass, and give it currency among mankind. 
 Thus Christ, as King, gives us laws ; none else are com- 
 petent to do so. His laws are in all cases conclusive. The 
 law of Cresar and the law of Christ may come into colli- 
 sion; such collisions have occurred, though not in our 
 time, such possibilities may occur again ; but when they 
 do, as we pray they may not, we have no choice ; whether 
 it be right to obey God, or to obey Caesar, judge ye. 
 
 In the next place, it is as Messiah the Prince, or as 
 the King, that Christ bestows forgiveness. It was as a 
 priest he made it possible for God to forgive : it is as a 
 king that he makes that forgiveness actual to us. It was 
 upon his cross that he purchased forgiveness ; it is from 
 his throne that he bestoAVS that forgiveness. If Christ had 
 never died for us, the possibility of our forgiveness had 
 not been ; if Christ did not sit a prince upon his throne, 
 the fact of our forgiveness could not be. Let us praise 
 him that he died for us ; let us praise him that he reigns 
 for us. Let us rejoice that forgiveness is possible, for 
 Jesus died; let us rejoice that forgiveness is obtainable, 
 for Jesus reigns, Messiah the Prince. He alone could 
 say, "I died for sins;" he alone can say, "I bestow 
 the forgiveness of sins." It is, my dear friends, as much 
 an encroachment on the kingly office of Christ to assume 
 to forgive sin, as it is an encroachment on the priestly 
 office of Christ to pretend to purchase, or to suffer for, 
 or to deserve, the forgiveness of sin. The hand that bled 
 upon the cross, that was pierced by the nail, is the only 
 hand that can be stretched out to bestow forgiveness 
 upon me. For any one to pronounce a judicial abso- 
 lution is an intrusion into the kingly office of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. He who atoned alone can absolve. 
 
THE MESSIAH THE PRIXCE. 421 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, that during the first four 
 centuries of the Christian church, when the pretensions 
 of the priesthood began to be stretched to an extrava- 
 gant pitch, and many of the fathers, such as Chrysostom, 
 began to speak of the priesthood as the ordo divinus 
 "the divine order," there is not one instance recorded 
 of absolution being pronounced, by priest or prelate, in 
 the first person singular, "I absolve." In all the very 
 ancient offices, absolution was simply a prayer, and not 
 a judicial act. And it is a pity that in the service of 
 the Church of England, amid so many services that are 
 beautiful, there is one I admit, fallen very much into 
 desuetude in which is still a formula of absolution 
 which is not Scriptural, not truly primitive, " I absolve 
 thee." I know it is understood by evangelical ministers 
 to be declarative, but it is made the basis of pretensions 
 on the part of ministers of another stamp on which they 
 assume to pronounce a judicial absolution. A minister 
 has no more power to absolve sins than a layman. I 
 believe truly the words which Martin Luther uses : "A 
 pope or a bishop has no more power to remit sin than 
 the humblest priest ; nay, without any priest, every 
 Christian, even though a woman or a child, can do the 
 same. If a simple believer, woman or child, say to 
 thee, 'God pardon thy sins, in the name of Jesus Christ,' 
 and thou receive the word with a firm faith, thou art 
 absolved in God's sight." So completely did that great 
 reformer sweep out of the visible church all idea of a 
 priesthood among the ministers of the Gospel. The great 
 nucleus of the growing apostasy that is around us is the 
 idea of a priesthood being the true character of the 
 Christian ministry. There is no such officer, I have 
 often told you, as a itptvc, a sacrificing priest, in the 
 Church of Christ. It would be more appropriate that 
 a colonel of a regiment should stand by the communion- 
 table, because he may be a Christian, than that a sacri- 
 ficing priest should pretend to do so : we know of no 
 such officer; there is no room for him. The introduc- 
 tion of the idea that the ministers of the Gospel are 
 sacrificing priests, is the opening of the door for the 
 
422 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 inrush of the full flood of the Western apostasy. Christ 
 alone absolves : as a priest he purchased forgiveness, 
 and he has all the glory of that ; as a king he bestows 
 forgiveness, and he claims all the glory of that. It is 
 the very essence of Protestant and Scriptural Christianity, 
 not to keep you for a moment by the priest, but to bring 
 you to Christ for the price of forgiveness, to Christ for 
 the bestowal of forgiveness ; that Christ in the midst of 
 the church, and in the believer's heart, as Prophet, 
 Priest, and King, may be all and in all. 
 
 In the next place, it is as a King that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ appoints and sends forth ministers of the Gospel. 
 Such appointment is the fruit of his intercession ; it is 
 also the commission of his kingly power. It matters 
 not, or it may matter not, by what ecclesiastical for- 
 mula or canon or rite the minister may be appointed ; 
 if he be a true minister, he is sent by the Lord Jesus 
 Christ; for when he ascended up on high, "he gave 
 some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evan- 
 gelists; and some, pastors and teachers." No human 
 commission can be a substitute for the divine one; the 
 true presentation is from the upper throne; the real 
 ordination is under the hand of Jesus. The appoint- 
 ment of a minister is a royal one, but it is from a royalty 
 that lives and lasts beyond the stars the royalty of 
 Messiah the Prince. Perhaps, if we quarrelled less 
 about ecclesiastical formula;, and honoured more the 
 kingship of Christ, by asking oftener of Messiah the 
 Prince to send forth labourers into the vineyard, it 
 would be better for the Church of Christ. A patron 
 may present one who has every ecclesiastical fitness, 
 but yet he may not be a minister of Christ. The people 
 may elect one who has every element of eloquence, and 
 yet he may not be a minister of Christ. I do not be- 
 lieve in the infallibility of the people any more than in 
 the infallibility of the patron. Christ alone can create, 
 Christ alone can commission a minister, and it, is an 
 invasion of his royal prerogative to think that any one 
 form is infallibly successful, or that it alone may be used 
 for the appointment of ministers of the Gospel. 
 
THE MESSIAH THE PBINCE. 423 
 
 In the jiext place, it is as Messiah the Prince, it is as 
 Christ the ling, that lie gives the Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask him. As a Priest he opened up the way for the 
 descent of that Spirit ; as a King he commissions and 
 sends forth that Holy Spirit unto them that ask him. 
 Pentecost is the evidence of the kingly office of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; regeneration in the individual heart 
 is the impress struck by the King of Glory, Messiah the 
 Prince. Every true Christian is a current coin of that 
 royal realm, on which Christ has struck the image and 
 superscription of himself. Wherever you see a Chris- 
 tian, you have there the evidence that Christ reigns; 
 wherever a regenerated heart beats, there you have a 
 proof that Messiah the Prince lives, and sits upon his 
 throne a Prince and an Intercessor. 
 
 In the next place, it is in his kingly capacity that 
 Christ will decide at the judgment day. You recollect 
 the very words that he uses : " Then shall the King 
 say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed;" 
 " Then shall the King answer and say unto them, 
 Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it 
 unto one of these little ones, ye have done it unto me." 
 It is in his royal capacity it is as Messiah the Prince, 
 that Christ pronounces the everlasting doom of the lost, 
 and declares the everlasting and irreversible destiny of 
 the saved. It is the King that says, and it is therefore 
 a royal M r ord, "Come ye blessed;" it is the King that 
 says, and therefore it is a royal decree, ''Depart, ye 
 cursed." At that royal sound all that sleep in their 
 graves shall instantly awake : the particles of dust that 
 float upon the wind shall become consolidated into 
 organised frames ; the very gases that mingle with the 
 atmosphere, and are absorbed by the streams of the 
 earth, shall come out distinguished and eliminated at 
 that royal bidding, and form the bodies of the risen 
 saints of the Most High. That royal sound shall pierce 
 the pyramids where the Ptolemys sleep ; it shall enter 
 the grave where the dust of the beggar rests ; It shall 
 come with its reverberation into the ancient urn, and 
 stir the ashes of the long silent dead ; and all the 
 
424 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 "beggar under the green turf, the prince in his mauso- 
 leum of marble or of brass, shall come forth with equal 
 readiness to answer for the deeds done in the body, to 
 Messiah the Prince, to Christ the King. He then shall 
 pronounce the rewards and punishments of the last da}- ; 
 and he alone can do it. Man, as a king, a legislator, or 
 a judge, can punish for outward acts that outwardly 
 contravene the laws of the land ; but Christ alone has 
 power, and he claims it as his exclusive prerogative, to 
 punish for inward sentiments, emotions, convictions, pas- 
 sions, desires. Man, the legislator or judge, may and 
 will punish the subject that breaks the laws ; but no king 
 upon the earth may put his royal hand into that holy 
 place called the conscience, even in the bosom of the 
 poorest beggar ; it is too sacred for kings to touch ; its 
 solemn nature is too awful for legislators to intermeddle 
 with: and the prince or magistrate that persecutes a 
 person for the opinions that he holds, however erroneous 
 these opinions may be, not only intrudes on the prero- 
 gative of Messiah the Prince, but he consecrates the 
 error in the eyes of thousands, and elevates the sufferer 
 into the dignity of a martyr for the rights, the liberties, 
 and the privileges of mankind. Persecution never put 
 down an error, and it never promoted a truth ; we have 
 far better weapons ; we want it not ; if we dare use it, 
 we will not, it is too weak; "The weapons of our 
 warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the 
 pulling down of strongholds/' 
 
 This leads me to remark, in the next place, that this 
 kingly office of the Lord Jesus Christ is just as intrans- 
 ferable as his priestly office. What is not the least sin 
 of the Church of Home ? and in its degree of the Tract- 
 tarian party ? Just this that they claim for the Church, 
 as a visibly organised body, the functions of prophet, 
 priest, and king; they speak of the Church meaning 
 bj r the Church practically the hierarchy as if it were 
 the prophet, priest, and king of the people ; while the 
 Pope with greater consistency, but with intenser blas- 
 phemy, calls himself the prophet of the Church, the 
 high priest of the Church, and the king of the Church, 
 
THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE. 425 
 
 and wears, as the demonstration that he is so, the tiara, 
 or the three-fold crown, that stamps him in his own 
 view to have the three-fold functions that proclaims 
 him in our view to be the antichrist, " sitting in the 
 temple of God, and showing himself as if he were God." 
 No pastor in the church may lawfully assume to be a 
 king in it, any more than he may assume to be a priest 
 in it. The function of a minister of the Gospel is purely 
 pastoral ; it is not in the least degree regal. You, my 
 dear friends, the communicants and worshippers in this 
 church, are not my subjects, and I am not your lord; 
 you are my friends and brethren, and I am your servant 
 for Christ's sake. I am not appointed by the Great 
 King to lord it over the heritage of God ; but I am 
 appointed and commissioned by him to feed the flock of 
 Christ which he has entrusted unto me. My function 
 is pastoral, not regal ; it is the shepherd's crook, not 
 the monarch's sceptre. In the next place, the Lord 
 Jesus, as the Messiah the Prince, is spoken of in Scrip- 
 ture as the " Prince of the kings of the earth." All 
 kings are, or ought to be, his subjects, responsible to 
 him for the dutifulness with which they serve and obey 
 him ; and as his subjects, and ministers, and servants, 
 their mightj r influence should be consecrated to his 
 glory, and to the advancement of his truth. 
 
 He is also called in Scripture the " Prince of life." 
 "What an epithet is that ; Christ is the Prince of life. 
 The kings of this world cannot perpetuate life ; the 
 mightiest sovereign of the mightiest empire must lie 
 down, and turn his face to the wall, and die as one of 
 the meanest of the people. The bones and the ashes of 
 royalty are scattered through every land ; death enters 
 as unceremoniously royal palaces as poor men's hovels, 
 and beats with equal foot*' at the doors of both. But 
 Jesus can say : "I live, and was dead, and behold I am. 
 alive for evermore ;" Jesus can say: "I am the resur- 
 rection and the life ; he that belicveth in me, though he 
 
 * " ^quo pede pulsat 
 
 Pauperura tabernas regumque turres." Horace. 
 
426 mOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 were dead, jet shall he live." Christ gives life ; he 
 assumes to do so ; he proclaims himself the Prince of 
 life : he that does so is either God, or is a blasphemer ; 
 but " we know in whom we have believed," and that 
 when he called himself the Prince of life, he claimed 
 the glory that is justly due to him, and is exclusively 
 his own. 
 
 The Lord Jesus is proclaimed in Scripture not only 
 the Prince of life, but he is also the Prince of peace. 
 There was a controversy between God and man ; not 
 that God had changed, but that man had become guilty ; 
 conscience felt its sin, foresaw and foreboded the advent 
 of its Judge, and it trembled. But Christ, having come, 
 has made peace by the blood of his covenant, and con- 
 stituted himself the Prince of peace. And now it comes 
 to pass that that which satisfies the justice of God is 
 also able to satisfy the conscience of man. Nothing, 
 my dear friends, can satisfy my conscience except that 
 blood that gave satisfaction to the justice and the holi- 
 ness of God. If we wish national peace, social peace, 
 domestic peace, universal peace, we never can secure it 
 by conventionalism, by organisation, by eloquent eulogia 
 on peace, by animated pictures of its glories and its 
 beauties : the only basis on which peace can grow is the 
 basis of righteousness and truth ; there can no more 
 be peace without the Prince of peace than there can be 
 light without the sun, or the beating heart without the 
 life-blood circulating through it. The true way, then, 
 to have universal peace, is to have universal Christianity. 
 The right way to render soldiers, which some so declaim 
 against, (though I doubt if it is more sinful to be a 
 soldier than to be a lawyer; I question if a lawyer's 
 weapons are not often as unchristian as a soldier's,) 
 altogether and in all concerns unnecessary, and to turn 
 the bayonet into the pruning-hook, to hang the clarion 
 in the hall, and let nations hear the roll of war's con- 
 quering drum no more, is, not to dismiss the army, but 
 to preach and promote among civilians the knowledge 
 of him who is the Prince of peace, and under whose 
 shadow and sceptre alone there can be permanent and 
 
THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE. 427 
 
 blessed peace. "There is no peace to the wicked;" 
 preach it as you like, individuals and nations must 
 become Christians before they can enjoy or maintain 
 peace. Spread Christianity, and there will be peace ; 
 recognise Christ as the true Melchizedek, the King of 
 righteousness, and you will soon have Jesus as the true 
 Melchisalem, the Prince of peace. Bow before the 
 sceptre of Christ the King, and you will soon live under 
 the olive branch of the Prince of peace. 
 
 As Christ the King has a kingdom, w T e may inquire 
 what it is ? It is not, as some seem to misapprehend, 
 meat and drink. The Apostle says, " The kingdom of 
 God is not meat nor drink, but righteousness, peace, and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost." It is, therefore, neither fasting 
 nor feasting, neither rubric nor rite, nor ceremony ; 
 these things may be too few or they may be too many, 
 they may be too severe or they may be too gorgeous ; 
 they are but the shells, the husks ; they are not the 
 substantial elements of the kingdom of Christ. JSor is 
 that kingdom Episcopacy, nor is it Presbytery, nor is it 
 Congregationalism ; nor is it immersion, no-r is it sprink- 
 ling, nor is it baptism in infancy, nor in maturer years : 
 these things may be, or they may not be ; they may be 
 good or they may be bad, or they may be indifferent ; 
 but they are not the substantial elements of the kingdom 
 of Christ : it flourishes and spreads without them, often 
 in spite of them, for it is something stronger and higher 
 than them all it is righteousness : righteousness with- 
 out us, which is Christ's ; righteousness within us, 
 which is the Spirit's ; the righteousness which is im- 
 puted and perfect, and by which we are justified ; the 
 righteousness which is imparted and imperfect, and by 
 which we are sanctified the one our title, the other our 
 fitness for heaven. And it is "peace;" peace with 
 conscience, peace with our brethren, peace with God 
 and with all the universe besides. And it is "joy." It 
 begins in righteousness, it grows in power, it spreads in 
 peace, it culminates in beauty, in glory, and in joy : it 
 is planted as a seed in the individual heart ; it germi- 
 nates and grows, till upon the mountain-tops it waves 
 with fruit like Lebanon, and the whole earth is covered 
 
428 PEOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 with the harvest of its glory. The existence of this 
 kingdom upon earth, the elements of which I have tried 
 to define, is evidence of the presence of a Divine royalty 
 in the midst of it. It is a kingdom that derives no 
 nutriment from the earth ; it is not of the world, though 
 it is in it. Left to itself, Christianity, with all its excel- 
 lence, would have expired long ago. It is as necessary 
 that the King should be upon his throne in the midst of 
 his Church, as it is that the High Priest should be by 
 his altar in the midst of it ; it is as necessary that 
 Christ's sceptre should be over the towers of Zion, as 
 that Christ's cross should be set forth in its creeds, and 
 sermons, and prayers, and services. JNTo professions, no 
 rites, no ceremonies, no polity could save a living church 
 from destruction, if Christ were to cease to be true to 
 that promise, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the 
 end of the world." But because the king has been in 
 it, no weapon formed against it has prospered. Heresy 
 has tried to corrupt it ; power has sought to extirpate 
 it. Like a tender flower amidst the Alpine snows, 
 like a tiny spark amid the billows of the sea, like the 
 ark with Moses in it amid the waters of the Nile, with 
 mighty forces gathered round ready to overwhelm it, 
 has the Church of Christ been in the history of the 
 world, and in the experience of mankind. His com- 
 mission, " Go and preach," was a royal one; his pro- 
 mise, " Lo, I am with you always," is equally a royal 
 one. This kingdom, it is true, is not outward and 
 visible : the soul is the seat of its power ; its victories, 
 its glories, its achievements are all there. And, blessed 
 be God, this kingdom, invisible to sight, but real to 
 faith, and hope, and joy, and to every Christian heart, is 
 a broad and comprehensive one ; it is not restricted to a 
 sect, but comprehends many of every name ; it is not 
 limited to the world, but stretches beyond the stars. 
 Europe is not all Christendom ; Europe, Asia, Africa, 
 and America are not the whole of Christendom ; Chris- 
 tendom stretches into eternity ; we have brethren beside 
 the throne who drink of the stream as it bursts from the 
 fountain, while we drink of the same stream as it Hows 
 by the footstool. Christendom comprehends saints in 
 
THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE. 429 
 
 triumph and saints that are militant heaven and earth, 
 in short, all God's people. 
 
 The entrance into this kingdom what is it? A 
 way so broad that there is no criminal in this audience 
 (if such there be here) that may not enter ; and yet a 
 way so holy that he must lay down his criminality the 
 instant that he takes a single step upon it. The way 
 into this kingdom is not by gold, nor frankincense, nor 
 myrrh these cannot buy it ; politicians cannot create 
 it; it is Christ alone its title, regeneration by the Spirit 
 alone i\\v fitness for it. 
 
 The law of this realm, the true Christendom what 
 is it ? It is not law, it is love ; its subjects, we are 
 told, love one another. Jesus governs by love ; it is the 
 pavilion of his power, it is the throne of his glory, it is 
 the badge of his subjects, it is the cohesion of his own 
 grand and mighty kingdom. One law governs the 
 clouds in the air, and binds the worlds to the sun ; 
 one instinct guides the emigrant birds from borne, 
 and back to home again : so one passion love guides 
 and governs all the subjects of Christ, and his kingdom 
 coheres and moves in harmony, because they have learned 
 to love Christ and to love one another. 
 
 And this kingdom comes quietly. Jesus, when he 
 walked in Palestine, was surrounded by no pomp or 
 parade ; he shot forth no blazing and sensuous splendour 
 on those that were around him ; he came as his king- 
 dom comes like the rain upon the mown grass, as the 
 showers that water the earth. This kingdom, made up 
 of righteousness, joy, and peace, comes like the sweet of 
 spring gentle, soft, yet persistent. The seed sown in 
 tears, watered with blood, grows up quietly while men 
 sleep, and while men wake. Satan falls from heaven like 
 a flash of lightning, or the thunderbolt ; but the Holy 
 Spirit comes from heaven descending like a gentle 
 dove. The kingdom of sin passes away like a fierce 
 whirlwind : the kingdom of Jesus comes softly like the 
 morning light that shineth more and more unto the 
 perfect day. 
 
 Brethren, arc you the subjects of Messiah the Prince ? 
 Are you members of this Divine kingdom, this holy 
 
430 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 company, this happy fellowship ? All members of all 
 visible churches are not so ; all baptised men, however 
 baptised, are not so. There are good fishes and bad in 
 the net ; there are tares and wheat in the visible church. 
 Salvation is not union to a church, but union to Christ. 
 To belong to this kingdom is to be renewed in heart, 
 and not merely to be baptised by man. And they who 
 are the subjects of it are those Thcssalonians of whom 
 we read that they have " the work of faith, the labour 
 of love, the patience of hope," who are chosen in Christ, 
 who are missionaries to all that are around them, who 
 are patiently waiting for the son of God from heaven. 
 Are you subjects of this King ? Do you love his law ? 
 Do you feel in your heart that law which is love? 
 " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ," it matters 
 not whether he be a churchman or a dissenter, " he is 
 none of his." If we love him, and love the brethren as 
 he hath given us commandment, we are his. And what 
 a glorious King ! Hannibal conquered, and is gone ; 
 his existence is a fact, a dead fact, and no more. Caesar 
 reigned, and is gone ; his reign is a fact, a dead fact, 
 and no more. But Jesus lived, and lives ; his reign is a 
 living and ever governing fact ; he reigned, and reigns; 
 fresh and actual is his sceptre to-day as when first he 
 proclaimed his kingdom. His kingdom sinks not into 
 sands of oblivion, it is obstructed by no power, it grows 
 in beauty, it spreads in influence; and very soon we 
 shall behold the King in his beauty, and the land that 
 is afar off ; and he shall have dominion from sea to sea, 
 and all shall bless him, and shall be blessed in him ; 
 and the prayers of his people, like the prayers of David 
 the son of Jesse, will then be ended. 
 
 " With anthems of devotion 
 
 Ships from the isles shall meet, 
 And pour the wealth of ocean 
 In tribute at his feet. 
 
 ** For he shall have dominion 
 
 O'er river, sea, and shore ; 
 Far as the eagle's pinion 
 Or dove's light wing can soar." 
 
LECTURE XXVIII. 
 
 JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 
 
 " And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be 
 cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince 
 that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary ; 
 and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the 
 end of the war desolations are determined. A.nd he 
 shall confirm the covenant with many for one iveek : and 
 in the midst of the week lie shall cause the sacrifice and 
 the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of 
 abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the 
 consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon 
 tfie desolate. DANIEL ix. 26, 27. 
 
 I HAVE shown by a previous comparison between the 
 characteristics of the work of the Messiah, as predicted 
 in the 24th verse of this chapter, and the actual facts 
 that are recorded of the life of Jesus, that he is the 
 Messiah, and that he alone has finished the transgres- 
 sion, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for ini- 
 quity, brought in everlasting righteousness, sealed up 
 the vision and the prophecy, and is anointed now the 
 most Holy. I showed in a previous discourse that not 
 only did a comparison of the moral characteristics, as 
 they are unfolded in the prophecy, and find a counter- 
 part in Jesus, prove him to be the Messiah ; but the 
 chronology of the passage no less unequivocally attests 
 it. I showed, that from the time when the command 
 went forth in the seventh year of the reign of Arta- 
 xerxes, as recorded in the seventh chapter of Ezra, to 
 rebuild Jerusalem, to the manifestation of Jesus Christ 
 at the baptism of John the Baptist, there elapsed exactly 
 seventy prophetic weeks, or seventy times seven, or 
 490 years minus the remaining week (or seven years), 
 
432 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 in the midst of which he was to be cut off. I showed 
 that in the midst of the last week here specified the 
 Messiah suffered. I gave YOU the clear and irresistible 
 evidence of it in the sudden cessation of all the sacrifices 
 of Levi ; in the fact that Pilate had plundered the high 
 priest of his robes, shut them up in the tower of 
 Antonia, and made it impossible for the high priest to 
 offer up the great sacrifice appointed by law ; in the 
 fact that after the death of Jesus, and the desolation of 
 the temple, the JCAVS were, and are still, without a 
 sacrifice, without an altar, without a high priest. In 
 short, the evidence is irresistible, that if Jesus be not 
 the Messiah, it is in vain that the Jews look for another. 
 Many of them are coming to this conclusion. I have 
 heard repeatedly in late years, that on the continent of 
 Europe many of the Jews are become sceptics, casting 
 off even the hopes of Israel, believing that all has been 
 false, because the disappointment is so bitter. But it 
 is Avhcn their hopes shall be lowest that the glory of 
 Israel shall rise upon them ; it is at eventide that it 
 shall be light; and when Israel's depression shall be 
 the deepest, and its despair of a coming Messiah shall 
 have reached its meridian, then shall he come, and 
 " shine before his ancients gloriously," " a light to 
 lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel." 
 In this lecture I wish to close this portion of the 
 prophecies of Daniel, on which I have spent so many 
 Sabbath evenings, by referring to the sequel of the 
 prediction contained in these verses namely, the 
 destruction, desolation, and sweeping away of Jeru- 
 salem, its temple, and all its glory. It is expressly 
 predicted in verse 26, that " the people of the prince 
 that shall come" (that is, the llomans, the subjects of 
 Titus or Vespasian,) "shall destroy the city." The 
 words are literally, " the people of the leader who is to 
 come." POPULUS was the distinctive and emphatic title 
 of the Romans. Their rulers assumed no higher title 
 than IMPERA.TOR, or lluler. The prediction is verbally 
 accurate, and pre-allusive in every respect. It was 
 ploughed up, according to ancient prophecy : the plough- 
 
JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 433 
 
 share literally tore up its walls; and as to the sanc- 
 tuary, not a trace of that temple remains. Is it not 
 remarkable that while the temple of Jerusalem was the 
 most majestic and magnificent erection in the world, 
 surpassing in its splendour even the temple of Diana, 
 far surpassing all the temples that remain in heathen- 
 dom in strength, in grandeur, in fitness to bear the 
 wear of weather, and to defy the fierce tempest; not 
 one memorial of it remains above ground ? The only 
 possible remain is a large stone, noticed by a deputation 
 that visited Jerusalem, still kissed by the rabbis that go 
 there for the first time; as if the 102nd Psalm could nut 
 contain a prophecy without its being fulfilled 
 
 " Thy saints [to use our own Scottish version,] take pleasure in 
 
 her stones, 
 Her very dust to them is dear." 
 
 With that exception the temple of Jerusalem is gone ; 
 yet remains of ancient heathen temples are traceable 
 everywhere. But when I express amazement that nofc 
 one trace remains, why should I? The Lord of all 
 truth had said, " Not one stone shall be left upon 
 another, that shall not be thrown down ;" and Daniel 
 said, " The end thereof shall be with a flood," that is, 
 the destruction of this city and of its temple shall not 
 be a gradual tiling. The Parthenon at Athens has been 
 gradually wasting by winds, rains, and storms, and 
 fragments of it are in the Louvre in Paris, and in the 
 British Museum in London ; the great theatres or am- 
 phitheatres at Home are still wasting and mouldering : 
 but it was prophesied of the temple of Jerusalem that 
 " the end thereof shall be with a flood," its last trace 
 should be utterly swept away ; " and unto the end of 
 the war" that is God's war against that race " deso- 
 lations are determined," that is, no one need try to 
 rebuild it. It is a very remarkable history whether 
 true or not, I cannot say, but I see no reason to doubt 
 it that Julian the Apostate, learning from the Chris- 
 tians that God had predicted the final destruction of the 
 temple of Jerusalem, and that it should never be rebuilt 
 until the time of his great controversy with the Jews 
 
434 PJiOPliETiC STUDIES. 
 
 should be finished, and they should be recalled, and 
 
 restored in more than their ancient grandeur, said he 
 
 would refute that prophecy ; and in order to do so, he 
 
 appointed workmen, and supplied money, to rebuild the 
 
 temple. The record of ancient writers is, that lire-balls 
 
 burst in all directions from the earth, which alarmed 
 
 the workmen, and made them cease. Whether the 
 
 occurrence of a miraculous obstruction be literally true 
 
 or not, I cannot say; but this I believe is true that 
 
 the attempt was frustrated, that the workmen gave it 
 
 up in despair, and that Julian learned that one word of 
 
 'the everlasting God was stronger than the legions of 
 
 1 Caesar, and richer than all the treasures of imperial 
 
 [Rome. 
 
 * Then it is added in the 27th verse, that after the 
 sacrifice and oblation should cease, " for the overspread- 
 ing of abominations he shall make it desolate." You 
 recollect what our Lord says when predicting the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem : " When ye therefore shall see 
 the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the 
 prophet, standing where it ought not." Now this literally 
 took place ; for we read that the standards of the Romans 
 Avcre placed, not only on the battlements and walls of 
 Jerusalem, but in the very " holy place " itself, where 
 the altar was, and while sacrifices were being offered. 
 The eagles of imperial Rome, which ornamented the 
 standards of the Romans, bare in their talons the so- 
 called thunderbolts of the heathen god Jupiter; these 
 standards contained also the images of the gods and 
 of the emperors, and as such, divine honours were paid 
 to them. To these gods and images pourtrayed upon the 
 standards of Rome, planted on the altar where the 
 cherubim, and the glory, and the mercy- seat once were, 
 sacrifices were actually offered up by the heathen priests 
 at the time that Titus was hailed as the emperor of the 
 , Romans, and the soldiers were present witnessing this 
 desecration of the holy place, this over-spreading of the 
 abomination that made desolate, this last blow that 
 ;iinished the polity and closed the majestic history of the 
 most wonderful race that sun ever shone upon. " For 
 
JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 435 
 
 the overspreading of abominations he shall make it deso- 
 late, even until the consummation" that is, either the 
 consummation of its existence, or the consummation of 
 the period determined for its overthrow " and that 
 which is determined " that amount of wrath is deter- 
 mined "shall be poured upon the desolate ; " and then 
 after that Israel shall be restored. 
 
 Now, this prediction in Daniel was that which awed 
 and irritated the Jew. Every Jew regarded Jerusalem as 
 the most sacred spot upon the earth ; the very stones of 
 the noble temple were dear to the Jew ; its very dust 
 was sacred to him. David said (what was only the 
 prevailing sentiment), "If I forget thee, Jerusalem, 
 let my right hand forget its cunning : if I prefer thee 
 not above my chief joy, let my tongue cleave unto the 
 roof of my mouth." It was the city of the great King ; 
 it was the place for ths presence of the Most High ; and 
 to toll the Jew that his temple should be overthrown 
 was almost equivalent to telling a Christian Gentile that 
 God shall be dethroned and cease to reign. You can 
 conceive, therefore, with what exasperation the Jews 
 heard reiterated by our Lord the prophecy of their ruin ; 
 and what grounds for opposition they had to those pro- 
 phets that specially predicted the desolation of the city 
 and the sanctuary, and the overspreading of abominations 
 which should make it utterly desolate. 
 
 This prophecy, however, of Daniel, was not the only 
 prophecy of this kind contained in the Old Testament 
 Scriptures : it is the repetition of prophecies that were 
 uttered at least a thousand years before Daniel wrote. 
 Moses, who had viewed that glorious land from Mount 
 iNVjo, who believed the bright promises that related to 
 its future prosperity and grandeur, was yet inspired by 
 God himself to predict its awful desolation in these 
 words : " The Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, 
 and the plagues of thy seed. Moreover he will bring 
 upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast 
 afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every 
 sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the 
 book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, 
 
 p F 2 
 
436 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 until thou bo destroyed. And ye shall be few in 
 number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for 
 multitude ; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of 
 the Lord thy God. And it shall come to pass, that as 
 the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good ; so the Lord 
 will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to 
 nought ; and ye shall be plucked from off the land 
 whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall 
 scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the 
 earth even unto the other ; and there thou shalt serve 
 other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have 
 known, even wood and stone. And among these nations 
 shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot 
 have rest: but the Lord shall give thee a trembling 
 heart, and failing of ej'es, and sorrows of mind : and thy 
 life shall hang in doubt before thee ; thou shalt fear day 
 and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life : in 
 the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even ! 
 and at even thou shalt say, "Would God it were morning ! 
 for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and 
 for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see/' I need 
 not quote from the prophecies of Malachi, nor from those 
 of Jeremiah ; all corroborate the same thing. It was 
 literally true that the " mothers that gave suck in those 
 days," to use the language of our Lord, felt the weight 
 of the predicted "woe." It is literally true that the 
 very priests that were officiating at the altar felt the 
 vibrations of the earthquake that was undermining its 
 great foundations preparatory to the invasion of Titus. 
 It is perfectly true, that the high priests and others 
 officiating at the altar, as recorded by Josephus (who 
 was anxious to cover the shame and magnify the glory 
 of his people), heard sounding from all the chambers of 
 the holy place mysterious words they. could not compre- 
 hend, and were unable to suppress, " Arise, let us go 
 hence." It is true that a prophet appeared upon the 
 walls of Jerusalem, Avhile it was undergoing its last 
 dread siege, and cried for a whole year, " Woe, woe to 
 Jerusalem!" till, smitten down by a stone, he died, 
 crying, "Woe to myself!" on which Titus marched into 
 
JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 437 
 
 the midst of it, and laid it utterly desolate. When Titus 
 came into the city, even after it had been sacked, and 
 its streets were running with the blood of its slain, and 
 the Jews with infatuated fury were massacreing each 
 other, and women eating their firstborn, as I have shown 
 before, when referring to the fulfilment of this prophecy; 
 he was so struck with the splendour of that glorious 
 fane that he even quailed before its awful majesty, so 
 quailed, and was so awed, that he called to his soldiers : 
 " Whatever you destroy, spare this temple, and the holy 
 place." But he had scarcely said so, when an infuriated 
 soldier, we are told by Josephus, threw a fire-brand into 
 the midst of the holy place ; and the overshadowing 
 cherubim, and the mercy-seat, and all the glory of Israel, 
 perished in the flames. God had said, " It shall be de- 
 stroyed ;" and even a Titus was unable to avert by his 
 power what God had predicted in his infallible word. 
 
 The present state of Palestine is proof of the fulfil- 
 ment of the prediction of the overspreading abomina- 
 tion and its utter desolation. I need not state what has 
 been frequently recorded by historians, what is indicated 
 in almost every page of the books of Moses, that Pales- 
 tine was a land of unparalleled fertility and beauty in 
 ancient times. It was called the land that overflowed 
 with milk and honey ; the milk indicating the number 
 and the value of its cattle, and the honey indicating the 
 fragrance and the number of its flowers. Grapes were 
 so abundant in that land that they were used as we use 
 the commonest vegetables ; the mountain sides were 
 clothed to their top with vines ; it was a land fitted to be 
 the vineyard arid the granary of Asia and Europe 
 together. But after you have read the accounts as given 
 by Moses of its wonderful fertility, and also the predic- 
 tions of its approaching desolation, on visiting that land 
 you will find that God walks the fields of Palestine, 
 pointing with a mysterious finger to every nook, and 
 stone, and acre, and ruin, and asking the sceptic infidel 
 that goes there to blaspheme, or the infidel politician 
 that doubts its coming restoration, "Is not my word 
 true ? and is not all I prophesy, like all I promise, yea, 
 
438 PKOPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 and amen?" It is literally true that in this land the 
 sun has become like brass, and rent its once fertile, but 
 now parched soil, into thousands of fissures. It is 
 literally true that its rain has become powder and dust. 
 The plague, the pestilence, and the famine start forth 
 on their dread march from the very spot where the holy 
 place and the cherubim were. Its cities are mouldering 
 in the sun ; its population has become thinner every 
 year ; tombs are traceable on almost every acre ; while 
 the remains, as noticed by historians, indicate that it 
 was once the city of a vast and teeming population. 
 The mystic Euphrates, w T hich is soon to be dried up, has 
 overspread the whole land with vast torrents of wander- 
 ing Turks and plundering Arabs, the followers and pro- 
 fessors of the religion of the false prophet. You recollect 
 that under the sixth vial it is said, that the Euphrates 
 should be dried up : I showed this to denote the waning 
 or wasting of Turkish power prior to the restoration of 
 the Jews to their own land. That river has now over- 
 spread Palestine. The bare-footed monk walks where 
 the temple was ; the muezzim cries every day from his 
 minaret, " There is but one God, and Mahomet is his 
 prophet." That race, scattered throughout the whole 
 earth the race of God's ancient people have but to 
 read their ancient prophets, and then visit Palestine, or 
 read the history of its present state, to learn how truly 
 God has spoken, and how terribly they themselves have 
 been punished. A traveller, celebrated for his taste, 
 and for the brilliancy of his genius I mean Chateau- 
 briand writes in the following terms of the present 
 state of Palestine (I quote his words because they are a 
 commentary upon what God predicted) : " If I should 
 live a thousand years, I can never forget that desert 
 which was round about Jerusalem, which seemed still 
 as inspired with the majesty of Jehovah and the terrors 
 of death. We travelled laboriously amid mournful re- 
 gions to attain the summit of a hill at a distance before 
 us. Arriving here, we rode for another hour upon an 
 elevated naked plain, sown, as it were, with round 
 masses of stone. Suddenly, at the extremity of this 
 
JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 431) 
 
 plain I perceived a line of Gothic walls, flanked with 
 square towers, enclosing apparently the roofs of some 
 buildings. At the foot of these walls appeared a camp 
 of Turkish cavalry [the overflowing of abomination] in 
 their Oriental pomp. The guide instantly exclaimed, 
 ' Behold the holy city ! Behold Jerusalem ! ' The most 
 extraordinary forms of objects declare it to be on all 
 sides a country which has groaned under miracles : the 
 burning sun the fierce eagle the barren fig-tree all 
 the poetry and all the painting of the Scriptures, are 
 here. Every local name retains within it some mystery; 
 every cavern speaks of futurity; each rocky height 
 reverberates the accents of some prophecy which God 
 himself has spoken within its walls ; the wasting rivers, 
 the cloven rocks, yawning tombs, attest the prodigy. 
 The desert seems still stricken dumb with terror, as if it 
 had not yet dared to break that silence which was felt 
 when the voice of the Eternal had been heard." Such 
 is the testimony as to its present condition of one who 
 visited it, and who looked upon it with a poet's and a 
 Christian's eye. We have merely to read any history of 
 its present condition to see how completely history is an 
 echo to the prophecies of God. 
 
 While speaking of Jerusalem's ruin, we cannot but 
 notice that that ruin has a limit. It is to be, says the 
 prophet, " until that determined shall be poured upon 
 the desolate," and unto the end of the desolations so 
 determined. We gather from this that God's anger 
 towards Jerusalem has a limit nay, we are certain it 
 has, lor the prophet himself, inspired by God, has de- 
 clared : " Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, 
 so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an 
 eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou 
 shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck 
 the breast of kings : and thou shalt know that I the 
 Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty one 
 of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will 
 bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I 
 will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors right- 
 eousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, 
 
440 PROPHETIC STTTDIES. 
 
 wasting nor destruction within thy borders ; but thou 
 shult call thy Avails Salvation, and thy gites Praise. 
 The sun shall be no more thy light by d:iy ; neither for 
 brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the 
 Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy 
 God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down"; 
 neither shall thy moon withdraw itself : for the Lord 
 shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy 
 mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all 
 righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the 
 branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I 
 may be glorified." Now it is not fair to take this pro- 
 phecy from Jerusalem, and apply it the Gentile : its 
 truths are applicable to us only as all great moral and 
 spiritual truths are; it relates expressly to the resto- 
 ration of Jerusalem ; it is meant to console and awaken 
 the Jews in the midst of their ruin ; and at this 
 moment many a Jew is sustained in his hopes, and 
 kept peculiar and insulated from the rest of the nations 
 of the earth, because in the records of the desolation of 
 his ancient and glorious capital he reads the thrilling 
 prophecy that Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, and that the 
 Lord shall be to him his everlasting light, and his God 
 his glory. 
 
 In looking at the whole of this prophecy^ I would 
 notice, first of all, that we have here a strong evidence 
 of the inspiration of the prophet Daniel. What he so 
 minutely predicted has been most minutely fulfilled. 
 The inference from that is, that that man was inspired 
 by God who could look along the vista of 500 years, 
 who could specify the time that should elapse till a 
 given event, who should declare what was done by and 
 ill that event, who should proclaim what should be the 
 consequence of that event. The ceasing of the daily 
 s.icrific3 ; the departure of all the remains of ancient 
 glory from the temple ; the blasting, withering, and 
 fading of the fig-tree, that great and ancient memorial of 
 Juduh ; Titus smiting it with the sword ; his soldiers 
 consuming it with the fire-brands; the modern syna- 
 gogue standing up in the midst of every capital an 
 
JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 441 
 
 artificial copy of the ancient temple, but destitute of the 
 altar, the sacrifice, the oblation, the priesthood, are all 
 standing and eloquent proofs, not only that God is the 
 God of truth, but that* Daniel spake, as other holy men 
 spake of old, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 We learn, too, that the great cause of the desolation 
 of Jerusalem and of the fulfilment of all the menaces of 
 God upon it, was not the decree of God, but their own 
 sins. God had predicted its ruin, but his prediction did 
 not bring that ruin down ; it was the sins of the people 
 that paved the way for the march of the legions of Titus ; 
 it was their murdering of the Lord of glory that was 
 the deed which consummated their crimes, which awoke 
 the sleeping earthquakes, and made the sky above 
 Palestine to be as brass, its rains to be as dust, its cities 
 to be as sepulchres, and the only memorials of its faded 
 magnificence to be tombs, wrecks, and ruin. It was 
 sin, not God's prediction, that laid Jerusalem low. Our 
 Saviour only echoed the ancient prophecy when he said : 
 " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 
 and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often 
 would I have gathered thy children together, even as a 
 hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye 
 would not!" And over that great city, as over the 
 grave of Lazarus the scenes of the two great incidents 
 in the history of Jesus it is said " Jesus wept" wept 
 when he saw its hopeless ruin, its fading glory, its 
 perishing people, their rejection of the Gospel, their 
 departure and apostasy from the living God. 
 
 We learn from this, too, that great privileges abused 
 ever bring down great judgments on the people that 
 abuse them, Privileges do not commend us to God ; 
 thej' commend God to us. Ko people are saved because 
 they have privileges ; thej r are only made thereby re- 
 sponsible. The greater the privileges that God has given 
 you, not therefore the greater the safety you shall have, 
 but the greater the responsibility that rests upon you. 
 Chorazim, Bethsaida, Tyre, and Sidon, perished by their 
 sins ; but when Jerusalem fell, it fell from a height of 
 responsibility and privilege to which Tyre had never 
 
442 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 reached, and therefore its fall was all but final. Wl en 
 an angel falls he becomes a fiend. The depth of our 
 ruin is in the ratio of the height to which God's good- 
 ness and our privileges have elevated us. If God spared 
 not Jerusalem, the city that he loved, when Jerusalem 
 forsook him, God will not spare London, the city he has 
 privileged, when London proves untrue to him. It is 
 as applicable to the 19th century as to the age in which 
 it was first uttered, " Righteousness exalteth a nation, 
 but sin is a reproach to any people." Sin is disor- 
 ganisation ; and wherever it is introduced, there society 
 loses all its cohesive properties, becomes a rope of sand, 
 ready to fall asunder when the external repressive 
 power that keeps it together is for a moment withdrawn. 
 But let a people be leavened with real religion ; let our 
 homes be vocal Avith prayer, with thanksgiving and 
 praise ; let our churches be pure, steadfast, protesting 
 against apostasy, and maintaining truth ; let our pulpits 
 resound with evangelical religion ; let our people of all 
 classes, and in all ranks, and of all degrees, from the 
 highest to the lowest, fear God, honour his ordinances, 
 and walk before him : then the nation will have in its 
 bosom, if any nation can have it, the element of immor- 
 tality. God never forsakes a people till that people 
 forsake him. Nations rarely fall by external assault ; 
 it is generally by internal corruption. We need never 
 tremble about our safety : though France should send 
 afloat yet a mightier fleet than she has at Cherbourg, 
 though Napoleon's military avalanches should again 
 rush down from the Pyrenees and the Alps, though 
 popes should send ship-loads of cardinals, our island 
 may rest upon the waters, and smile, in conscious 
 security, whilst our country cleaves to our country's 
 God. But let irreligion, pantheism, popery, and infi- 
 delity, and drunkenness, and Sabbath-breaking, and all 
 the sins that do abound and, I fear in many quarters, 
 increasingly abound gain the mastery; and let pro- 
 testing voices, and pleading cries, and praying hearts be 
 still ; then our palladium is gone, the shields of the 
 Lord are removed. The least aggression will ruin thp 
 
JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 443 
 
 country that has lost God ; the mightiest armament 
 shall fail to scathe it when God is recognised as its 
 strength, its glory, its portion. Righteousness, I repeat, 
 exalteth a nation, and sin is the ruin of any people. 
 
 We learn, too, that when sin thus runs along the 
 streets, degrades and defiles the people universally, 
 nothing it can attempt can save it. All the policy of 
 imperial Rome ; all the manosuvring and compromises 
 of the priests, the scribes, and the Sadducees ; all the 
 coalitions into which the people of Jerusalem entered, 
 were utterly unable to avert their ruin; they rather 
 contributed to hasten its sure and certain doom, just 
 because sin was there. So, to apply it to other nations ; 
 the arms and squadrons of Xerxes, the legions of Caesar, 
 the armies of Napoleon, did not save them ; and the 
 wooden walls of England will not guard us, or any 
 other nation, from utter ruin, if w r e do not keep our- 
 selves in the faith, the fear, and the hope of the Gospel. 
 When I speak of national religion, I do not mean some 
 transcendental view of it: one way for us to have 
 national religion for all practical purposes is for each 
 man to be a Christian. It is not by struggling to carry 
 some measure in the House of Commons, however 
 valuable it may be, that we shall make our nation 
 Christian ; it is by each man being so. One brick laid 
 upon the ground does more to complete a building than 
 a thousand castles built in the air. One family becom- 
 ing truly and decidedly Christian is a greater contri- 
 bution to the Christianity of our land than the most 
 brilliant act of Parliament : I do not undervalue the 
 latter ; yet the days for getting such acts are ceasing, 
 whereas the days for being Christians are multiplying. 
 Never were men more called upon than in the present 
 day to "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in 
 the work of the Lord." 
 
 We learn from all these predictions to leave for a 
 moment the immediate topic under review, and to revert 
 to all we have been contemplating in the nine chapters 
 of Daniel, over which I have so rapidly passed what 
 man is without true religion. The magi of Chaldea 
 
444 PKOPHET1C STUDIES. 
 
 showed themselves to be but fools; Nebuchadnezzar, 
 Cyrus, Belshazzar, the royal despots of the earth how 
 poor are they, how lustreless, beside the quiet grandeur 
 of the prophet Daniel, and the three Hebrew jouths 
 that counted not their lives dear for Christ's sake ! The 
 Gospel elevates the humblest, and ennobles the highest ; 
 to the grandeur of the man it adds all the glory of the 
 saint, and makes individuals and nations beautiful in 
 that real and only beauty which the king's daughter 
 alone has the beauty of holiness, and righteousness, 
 and truth. 
 
 We learn, too, how God rules and acts in all the 
 affairs of men. The great image was the shadow of 
 what all history is : a nation's dignity was merely a 
 higher or lower place assigned it in the great image 
 being cla} r , or iron, or silver, or gold, as God might ap- 
 point. The same God that ruled in Babylon is the 
 God that rules now. " God '*," not God was; or, 
 rather, "Jehovah is his name; God, who was, and is, 
 and is to come." 
 
 How important must the Saviour have been felt to 
 be by Daniel ; and how important was he known to be 
 of God, seeing that all prophecy is literally the testi- 
 mony of Jesus ! Daniel cannot close a great cycle in 
 his prophecy without closing it with the exhibition of 
 the Prince the Messiah ; Isaiah's harp never rises to its 
 noblest strains except when he tunes it to the Name, 
 and sweeps it in the prospect of, a coming Messiah ; 
 Malachi closes the Old Testament prophecy, as Daniel 
 closes his predictions, by giving the glad hope that the 
 Messiah, the Sun of righteousness, was about to rise 
 with healing under his wings. Christ is the key-note 
 of all the songs of David, the burden of all prophecy, 
 the alpha arid the omega of the whole Bible. 
 
 We gather another lesson also, that the same reli- 
 gion we have, Daniel had : he was as much a Christian as 
 Martin Luther, Cecil, Newton, Whitfield, or any other 
 great and distinguished Christian or minister of Christ 
 in modern times. There never was sanctioned by God 
 but one true religion. There are many current reli- 
 
JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 445 
 
 gions ; there is and has been but one that bears the 
 superscription and the stamp of God. There is the 
 religion of man, the religion of the priest ; but there is 
 but one that is true that is, the religion of God. This 
 Christianity is as truly, if not as clearly, in the Old 
 Testament as in the New. Isaiah was as truly an 
 Evangelist as John ; so much so, that he has been called 
 the evangelical prophet, although that phrase is objec- 
 tionable, for Jeremiah, Malachi, and Daniel were just 
 as evangelical as Isaiah. They all proclaimed one 
 Saviour ; they all taught one sacrifice ; they all built 
 up our hopes of glory upon one great foundation, Christ 
 Jesus. The overshadowing angels on the mercy-seat, 
 like the Old and New Testaments, while the tips of 
 their wings touched each other, both looked down upon 
 one propitiatory or mercy-seat. Like the twin lips of 
 an oracle, the old covenant and the new equally utter 
 and announce Christ and him crucified as the great 
 substance of the hopes of men. 
 
 And. what dignity, let me add, in the next place, 
 does this give to God's word ; and what a lowly, though 
 an important place does prophecy impart to man's 
 history ! There is something wonderfully striking in 
 this that the calendars of nations arc the commentaries 
 on the prophecies of God's word. Whenever the his- 
 torian is wanted, Josephus steps forth from his country, 
 and Gibbon emerges from the shadow of the Alps where 
 he sojourned, Alison comes from the north, Hume leaves 
 infidelity, and each sits down to write facts ; Christians 
 read the facts ; and lo ! they are the rebounds of pro- 
 phecy, the echoes of God's ancient word ; and, con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, the sceptic Hume, the atheistic 
 Gibbon, the accomplished and Christian Alison, the Jew 
 Josephus, attest in their histories that God's word is 
 true, and that " holy men of old spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost." So, in the same manner, 
 everything that is now discovered, everything that daily 
 occurs, serves more and more to show the truth of God's 
 word. Daniel writes, two thousand years ago, that 
 towards the end of our dispensation " many shall run 
 
446 PROPHETIC STUDIES. 
 
 to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased;" and to 
 prove Daniel's prediction, the railway appears, and with 
 it the mysterious whispering wire, that knits together 
 isles and continents, so that the mother in London will 
 yet convey messages in a few minutes to her son at 
 Calcutta, and receive a message in reply ; all spring up 
 when the moment comes, to testify how truly the 
 ancient prophet spake, when he said, "Many shall run 
 to and. fro, and knowledge shall be increased." 
 
 In the next place, how humbling to great men are 
 the truths embodied in the word of God ! Hannibal, 
 Caesar, Napoleon, all the great generals and mighty cap- 
 tains that have successively stepped upon the stage to 
 win splendour for their names, and glory for the armies 
 of their country, to vindicate injured rights, to deliver 
 oppressed nations ; came forward, as they meant, to do 
 their own behests, and lo ! they are found to have been 
 doing God's word, filling up the great outline of God's 
 predicted and pro-written Providential government ; 
 and so Hannibal, Caesar, Alexander, and Napoleon were 
 but the pens that the ready writer used, but the chisels 
 in the hand of the Great Statuary, as he carved out in 
 history what he had so clearly predicted in ancient pro- 
 phecy. When we take our stand on prophetic ground, 
 what composure, what quiet does it give us to see this, 
 and be satisfied (and I am as satisfied of it as I am of 
 my own existence), that all things are going right, that 
 everything is evolving its appropriate issue, that all oc- 
 currences are stepping in to fulfil God's sure word, and 
 to accomplish God's grand purposes ! Do not be alarmed, 
 my dear brother, when a leaf shakes with the wind, as 
 if the church of Christ were about to perish. Do not 
 suppose, when nations withdraw their endowments, and 
 imperial crowns their shields, from the Christian church 
 when popery enters here, and infidelity spreads there, 
 and divisions and exasperation abound elsewhere, that the 
 church of Christ is about to fall. It remains ; it gathers 
 strength from the wreck ; and grandeur from surround- 
 ing ruin. The fracture of the earthen vessel is only the 
 letting forth of the inner perfume ; and the noise, and 
 
JEEUSALKM AND THE JEWS. 447 
 
 quarrels, and debates that we hear are not the overturn- 
 ing of the glorious fabric ; they are only the settling of 
 its sure and its everlasting foundation. Let us then 
 acquaint ourselves with God, and with God especially 
 as he is revealed in his word, and be at peace. 
 
 In conclusion, let me ask, Have you, my hearer, my 
 reader, an interest in Messiah ? Do you stand in him 
 as the stand-point from which you can review all the 
 movements of the nations of the earth ? Is it well, first, 
 with thine own soul ? and if it be well there, by its 
 being washed in that Saviour's blood, arrayed in his 
 righteousness, trusting in his name ; then be still, and 
 know that he is God; rejoice in the hope of glory, 
 for He in whom you trust has engraven you on the 
 palms of his hands, and holds you in imperishable 
 remembrance. 
 
APPENDIX.* 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 * : THR pi'edictions of things to come relate to the state of the 
 Church in all a.-es: and amongst the old prophets, Danid is 
 most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood : and 
 therefor* in those things which relate to the last times, he must 
 be made the key to the rest. 5 ' Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on 
 Danid. 
 
 " The Jews do not reckon him (Daniel) to be a prophet ; and 
 therefore place his prophecies only among the Hagiogi-apha : and 
 they serve the I'salms of David after the same rate. The reason 
 which they give for it in respect of both is, that they lived not 
 the prophetic manner of life, but the courtly ; David, in his own 
 palace, as King of Israel, and Daniel in the palace of the King of 
 Babylon as one of his chief counsellors and ministers in the 
 government of that empire. And in respect of Daniel they fur- 
 ther add, that, although he had divine revelations delivered unto 
 him, yet it was not in the prophetic way, but by dreams and 
 visions of the night, which they reckon to be the most imperfect 
 manner of revelation, and below the prophetic." Prideaux's 
 Connexion. Anno 534. 
 
 " Never were any prophecies delivered more clearly, or fulfilled 
 more exactly, than all these prophecies of Daniel were 1'orphvrv, 
 who was a great enemy of the Holy Scriptures, as well of the OJd 
 Testament as of the New, acknowledged this. And therefore, he 
 contends, that they were historical narratives written after the 
 facts were done, and not prophetical predictions, foretelling them 
 to come. This Porphyry was a learned hen then, born at Tvre, 
 in the year of Christ 233, and there called Malehus ; which name, 
 on his going among the Greeks, he changed into that of Porphyry, 
 that signifying the same in the Greek language which Malehus 
 did in the Phoenician, the language then spoken at Tyre. He 
 
 *'See at the end of Rev. Dr. Nolan's Warbu i- tou Lecture*, and Rev. P. 
 Miles' Lectures ; to both of which I am indebted for long and useful notes. 
 
 O G 
 
450 APPENDIX. 
 
 being a bitter enemy to the Christian religion, wrote a large 
 volume against it. containing fifteen books, whereof the twelfth 
 was wholly against the prophecies of Daniel. Those concerning 
 the Persian kings and the Macedonian that reigned as well in 
 Egypt as in Asia, having been all, according to the best his- 
 torians, exactly fulfilled, he could not disprove them by denying 
 their completion ; and therefore, for the overthrowing of their 
 authority, he took th-j qu;to contrary cou 'se. an'! laboured to 
 prove their truth ; and from hence alleged, that being so exactly 
 true in all particulars, they could not therefore be written by 
 Daniel so many years before the facts were done, but by some 
 one else under his name, who lived after the time of Antiochus 
 
 Epiphanes For which purpose, he made use of the 
 
 best Greek historians then extant. Such were Callinicus Sutorius, 
 Diodorus Siculus, Hieronymus, Polybius, Posidonius, Claudius 
 Thocn, and Andronicus Alypius ; and from them made evident 
 proof that all that is written in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, 
 was truly, in every particular, acted and done in the order as 
 there related ; and from this exactness of completion, endea- 
 voured to infer the assertion mentioned, that these prophecies 
 were written after the facts were done, and therefore are rather 
 historical narratives relating to things past, than prophetical pre- 
 dictions, foreshowing things afterwards to come. But Jerome 
 turns the argument upon him, and with more strength of reason 
 infers, that this way of opposing these prophecies gives the 
 greatest evidence of their truth, in that what the prophet foretold 
 is hereby allowed to be so exactly fulfilled, that he seemed to un- 
 believers not to foretel things to come, but to relate things past. 
 Jerome, in his Comments on Daniel, makes use of the same 
 authors that Porphyry did ; and what is in these Comments are 
 all the remains which we now have of this work of that learned 
 heathen, or of most of those authors which he made use of in it." 
 Pridcaux's Connexion. Anno 164. 
 
 PKOPHECY AND HTSTOKY. 
 
 " Whatever is now done, was foretold : whatever is now seen, 
 was first heard. If earthquakes swallow up cities ; if islands are 
 invaded by the sea ; if foreign and domestic wars distract states ; 
 if kingdom rises up against kingdom ; if there are famine, and 
 pestilence, and slaughters in divers places ; if the wild beasts of 
 the mountains lay waste many regions ; if the humble are exalted, 
 and the lofty are laid low ; if justice is rare, and iniquity abounds ; 
 if the regard for every good and wholesome discipline waxes cold ; 
 if even the times and seasons vary from their appointed order, all 
 these have been predicted by the Providence of God. While we 
 suffer these calamities we read of them ; when we recognise them 
 
APPENDIX. 451 
 
 us the objects of prophecy, the truth of the Scriptures which pre- 
 dict them is proved. The daily fulfilment of prophecy is, surely, 
 a full proof of revelation. Hence, then, we have a well-founded 
 beli i-f in many things which are yet to come, namely, the con- 
 fidence arising from our knowledge of the past, because some 
 events, still future, were foretold at the same time with others 
 which are past. The voice of prophecy speaks alike of each ; 
 the Scriptures record them equally ; the same Spirit taught the 
 prophets both. In the predictions, there is no distinction of 
 time ; if there be any such distinction, it is made by men ; while 
 the gradual course of time makes that present which was future, 
 and that past which was present. How can we, then, be llamed 
 for believing also what is predicted respecting the future, when 
 our confidence is founded upon the fulfilment of prophecies relating 
 to the present and the past ?'' Tke Apology of TertuUian, ch. xx. 
 Chevallier's Trans. 
 
 THE FORCE OF PROPHECY. 
 
 " Suppose that, instead of the spirit of prophecy breathing 
 more or less in every book of Scripture, predicting events relative 
 to a great variety of general topics, and delivering, besides, 
 almost innumerable characteristics of the Messiah, all meeting 
 in the person of Jesus, there had been only ten men in ancient 
 times who pretended to be prophets, each of whom exhibited only 
 five independent criteria as to place, government, concomitant 
 events, doctrine taught, effects of doctrine, character, sufferings, 
 or death ; the meeting of all which, in one person, should prove 
 the reality of their calling as prophets, and of his mission in the 
 character they have assigned him : suppose, moreover, that all 
 events were left to chance merely, and we were to compute, from 
 the principle employed by mathematicians in the investigation of 
 such subjects, the probability of these fifty independent circum- 
 stances happening at all Assume that there is, according to 
 the technical phrase, an equal chance for the happening or the 
 failure of any one of the specified particulars, then the probability 
 against the occurrence of all the particulars in any way, is that of 
 tlie 50th power of 2 to unity ; that is, the probability is greater 
 than 1125,000,000,000,000 to 1, or greater than eleven hundred 
 and twenty-jive millions of millions to one, that all these circum- 
 stances do not turn up, even at distinct periods. This com- 
 putation, however, is independent of the consideration of time. 
 Let it then, be ivcollected further, that if any one of the specified 
 circumstances happen, it may be the day after the delivery of the 
 prophecy, or at any period from that time to the end of the 
 world ; this will so indefinitely augment the probability against 
 the contemporaneous occurrence of merely these fifty circum- 
 
 Q G 2 
 
452 APPENDIX. 
 
 stances, that it surpasses the power of numbers to express 
 correctly the immense improbability of its taking place. Be it 
 remembered, also, that in this calculation I have assumed the 
 hypothesis most favourable to the adversaries of prophecy, and 
 the most unfavourable possible to the well-being of the world, 
 and the happiness of its inhabitants; namely, the hypothesis 
 that everything is fortuitous ; and it will be seen how my argu- 
 ment is strengthened by restoring things to their proper state. 
 If everything were left to blind chance, it appears that the pro- 
 bability against the fulfilment of only fifty independent predictions 
 in the sarae time, place, and individual, would be too great to 
 express, numei'ically ; how much greater, then, must it be, in 
 fact, when all events are under the control of a Being of matchless 
 wisdom, power, and goodness, who hates fraud and deception, 
 who must especially hate it when attempted under his name and 
 authority, who knows all that occurs in all places, and who can 
 dissipate, * with the breath of his mouth,' every deceiver, and all 
 their delusions \ The more we know of the prophecies, and of 
 history, whether sacred or profane, the more we are struck with 
 the correspondence of predictions and events ; their coincidence, 
 in hundreds of instances, is so palpably notorious, that none can 
 deny it : every principle of reason, every result of correct com- 
 putation, instituted with a view to this inquiry, is in favour of 
 the positions maintained by Christians in all ages. Imagine 
 these to be still doubtful, and what is there else that is stable and 
 certain ?" Letters of Dr. Glint kus Greg>ry, Letter VI. (See 
 Emerson on Chances, Prop. 3 ; Wood's Algebra, Art. 419, Chances.) 
 
 THE FOUB, GREAT EMPIRES. 
 
 " It was from Daniel's prophecy, too, that the distinction first 
 arose of the four great empires of the world, which hath been fol- 
 lowed by most historians and chronologers in their distribution of 
 times. These four empires, as they are the sul ject of this pro- 
 phecy, are likewise the subject of the most celebrated pens, both 
 in former and in later ages. The histories of these empires are 
 the best written, and the most read of any ; they are the study 
 of the learned, and the amusement of the polite ; they are of use 
 both in schools and in senates ; we learn them when we are 
 young, and we forget them not when we are old ; from hence 
 examples, instructions, laws, and politics, are derived for all ages ; 
 and very little, in comparison, is known of other times, or of other 
 nations." Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, Diss. 13. 
 
APPENDIX. 453 
 
 THE STONE. 
 
 " In an ancient book of theirs, written by R. Simeon Ben 
 Jochai, the author interprets this stone, cut out of the mountain 
 without hands, to be the same with him who, in Gen. xlix. '24, is 
 called the Shepherd and Stone of Israel ; as it is by Saadiah 
 Gaon, a later writer; and in another of their writings, reckoned 
 by them very ancient, it is said that the ninth king (for tliey 
 speak often) shall be the King Messiah, who shall reign from one 
 end of the world to the other, according to that passage, the stone 
 which smote the image, Arc. ver. 35 ; and in one of their ancient 
 Midrashes, or expositions, it is interpreted of the King Messiah : 
 and so R. Abraham Seba." Dr. GUI's Commentary on JJaniel ii. 34. 
 
 CITY OF BABYLON. 
 
 " And, besides these, there were also four half-streets, which 
 were built but of one side, as having the wall on the other. 
 These went round the four sides of the city next the walls, and 
 were each of them two hundred feet broad, and the rest were 
 about one hundred and fifty. By these streets thus crossing each 
 other, the whole city was cutout into six hundred and seventy-six 
 squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side, 
 that is, two miles and a quarter in compass. Round these 
 squares, on every side towards the streets, stood the houses, all 
 built three or four stories high, and beautified with all manner 
 of adornments towards the streets. The space within, in the 
 middle of each square, was all void groui.d, employed for yards, 
 gardens, and other such uses." Prideaux. Anno 570. 
 
 " For the further securing of the country, Nebuchadnezzar 
 built, also, prodigious banks of brick and bitumen on each side of 
 the river, to keep it within its channel, which were carried along 
 from the head of the said canals down to the city, and some way 
 below it. But the most wonderful part of the work was within 
 the city itself; for there, on each side of the river, he built from 
 thu bottom of it a great wall, for its banks, of brick and bitumen, 
 which was of the same thickness with the walls of the city ; and, 
 over against every street that crossed the said river, he made, on 
 each side, a brazen gate in the said wall, and stairs Lading down 
 from it to the river, from whence the citizens used to pass by boat 
 from one side to the other, which was the only passage they had 
 over the river, till the bridge was built which i have above men- 
 tioned. The gates were open by day, but always shut by night. 
 And this prodigious work was carried on, on both sides of the 
 river, to the length of one hundred and sixty furlongs, which rtr 
 
454 APPENDIX. 
 
 twenty miles of our measure, and therefore must have begun two 
 aiiles and a half above the city, and continued down two miles 
 and a half below it ; for through the city was no more than fifteen 
 miles." Ibid. 
 
 " Next this temple, on the same east side of the river, stood 
 the old palace of the kings of Babylon, being two miles in com- 
 pass Exactly over against it, on the other side of the river, 
 stood the new palace ; and this was that which Nebuchadnezzar 
 built. It was four times as big as the former, as being eight 
 miles in compass. It was surrounded with three walls, one within 
 another, and strongly fortified, according to the way of those 
 times." Ibid. 
 
 " These eight towers, being as so many stories one above 
 another, were each of them seventy-five feet high, and in them 
 were many great rooms with arched roofs, supported by pillars. 
 .... The uppermost story of all was that \\hich was most sacred. 
 .... Over the whole, on the top of the tower, was an observatory, 
 by the benefit of which it was that the Babylonians advanced 
 their skill in astronomy beyond all other nations .... For when 
 Alexander took Babylon, Culisthenes, the philosopher, who accom- 
 panied him thither, found they had astronomical observations for 
 one thousand nine hundred and three years backwards from that 
 time : which carrieth up the account as high as the one hundred 
 and fifteenth year after the flood, which was within fifteen years 
 after the tower of Babel was built. This account Calisthenes sent 
 from Babylon into Greece to his master Aristotle, as Simplicius, 
 from the authority of Porphyry, delivers it unto us in his 2nd Book 
 De Casio." Ibid. 
 
 " This stood till the time of Xerxes (n.c. 479) : but he, on his 
 return from his Grecian expedition, demolished the whole of it, 
 and laid it all in rubbish : having first plundered it of all its 
 immense riches, among which were several images or statues of 
 massy gold " Ibid. See Jer. li. 44. 
 
 " What was most wonderful in it were the hanging gardens, 
 wlnYh were of so celebrated a name among the Greeks. They 
 contained a square of four plethra (that is. of four hundred feet) 
 oil every side, and were carried up aloft into the air, in the 
 manner of several large terraces, one above another, till the 
 highest eq tailed the height of the walls of the city The ascent 
 was from terrace to terrace, by stairs ten feet wide. The \\hole 
 pile was sustained by vast arches built upon arches, one above 
 another, and strengthened by a wall, surrounding it on every 
 side, of twenty-two feet in thickness . . . on the top of the arches 
 were first laid large Hat stones, sixteen feet long, and four broad, 
 and over them \\a.s a layer of reed, mixed with a great quantity 
 
APPENDIX. 455 
 
 of bitumen, over which were two rows of bricks, closely cemented 
 together by plaster, and then over all were laid thick sheets of 
 lead : and all this floorage was contrived to keep the moisture of 
 the mould from running away down through the arches. The 
 mould or earth laid hereon was of that depth, as to have room 
 enough for the greatest trees to take rooting in it ; and such were 
 planted all over it in every terrace, 'as were also all other trees, 
 plants, and flowers, that were proper for a gr.rde.n of pleasure. 
 In the upper terrace there was an aqueduct or engine, whereby 
 water was drawn up out of the river, which from thence watered 
 the whole garden." Ibid' 
 
 THE SON OF MAN. 
 
 "This Son of Man the Jews themselves confess to be the pro- 
 mised Messias, and they take ths words to signify his coining, 
 and so far give testimony to the truth ; but then they evacuate 
 the prediction by a false interpretation, saying, that if the Jews 
 went on in their sins, then the Messias should come in humility, 
 according to the description in Zachary, loicly. and riding upon 
 an ass (ix. 9) ; but if they pleased God, then lie should come in 
 glory, according to the description in the prophet Daniel, u'i'h the 
 clouds of heaven: whereas these two descriptions are two several 
 predictions, and therefore must be both fulfilled. From whence 
 it follovveth, that being Christ is already come, lowly and sitting 
 upon an ass, therefore he shall come gloriously with the clouds of 
 heaven. For if both those descriptions cannot belong to one and 
 the same advent, as the Jews acknowledge, and both of them 
 must be true, because equally prophetical ; then must there be a 
 double advent of the same Mesxiaa," ' Indeed the Jews do so 
 generally interpret this place of Daniel of the Messias, that they 
 made it an argument to prove that the .Messias is not yet come, 
 because no man hath yet come with the clouds of heaven." 
 Bishop Pearson on the Creed, Article VII. 
 
 THE MILLENNIUM. 
 
 "That the kingdom in Daniel and that of 1000 years iu the 
 Apocalypse are one and the same kingdom, appears thus : 
 
 " First. Because they begin ab eodem termino, namely, at the 
 destruction of the Fourth. Roast : that in Daniel, when the beast 
 (then ruling in the wicked horn) was slain, and his body destroyed 
 and given to the burning flame, Dan. vii. 1 1, 22, 27. That in the 
 Apocalypse, when the beast and the false prophet (the wicked 
 
456 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 horn in Daniel) were taken, and both cast alive into a lake of 
 fire, burning; with brimstone, Apoc. xix. 20, 21, &c. 
 
 " Secondly Because St. John begins the Regnum of a thousand 
 years from the same session of judgment described in Daniel ; as 
 appears by his parallel expression borrowed from thence. 
 
 DANIEL says, chap. vii. 
 
 Ver. 9. / belield till the thrones were 
 pitched doicn . . . and the judg- 
 ment (i.e. judges) not. 
 
 22. And judtfiient tro.t (liven to the 
 
 saints of tlte Mont fligh. 
 And the .taints po&srmu-d the king- 
 dom ; viz. with the Son of Man 
 who came in the clouds. 
 
 ST. JOHN says, chap. xx. 
 
 Ver. 4 I saw thrones, and they sat 
 -upon them. 
 
 And judgment was given unto them. 
 
 And the smntx lived and reigned 
 with Christ a thousand years. 
 
 u Now if this be sufficiently proved, That the thousand years 
 begin with the day of judgment, it will appear further out of the 
 Apocalypse that the judf/ment is not consummate till they be 
 ended : for Gog and Magog's destruction, and the universal 
 resurrection, is not till tli -n : therefore the whole thousand years 
 is included in the day ofjudf/ment. 
 
 *' Hence it will follow, that whatsoever Scripture speaks of a 
 "kingdom of Christ, to beat his second appearing < r at the destruc- 
 tion of antichrist, it must needs be the same which Daniel saw 
 should be at that time, and so consequently be the kingdom of a, 
 thousand years, which the Apocalypse includes between the begin- 
 ning and consummation of the great judgment. 
 
 " Ergo, that in Luke xvii. from verse 20 to the end. 
 
 "And that in Luke xix. from the llth verse to the 15th 
 
 inclusively. 
 
 "And that in Luke xxi. 31. When ye see these things come to 
 pass, knoio that the kingdom of God is at hand. See what 
 went before, viz. Ihe Son of man's coming in a cloud with 
 pon:er and great glory ; borrowed from Daniel. 
 " And that in 2 Tim. iv. 1. / charge thee before God, and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who xhall, judge the quick and the dead at 
 his appearing and his kingdom. 
 
 " By these we may understand the rest ; taking this for a 
 sure ground, that this expression of [The son of Man'x coming in 
 the clouds of liearcn'] so often inculcated in the New Testament, 
 is taken from and hath ref-rence to the Prophecy of Dan'u I, being 
 nowhere else found in the Old Testament." Mede, Book IV. 
 Epist. 15, page 7(>3. See likewise Book III. page 532 ; n!so 
 Wintle on Dun. vii. 14. 
 
APPENDIX. 457 
 
 The following very important discussion I take from Hengsten- 
 berg : 
 
 TEACES OF TIIE BOOK IN PRE-MACCABEAN TIMES. 
 
 " To the eternal arguments of the genuineness belong, lastly, 
 the traces of the existence of our book in the pre-Maecabean 
 times. If those traces are not of such a nature as to suffice alone 
 for a proof of the genuineness, and to have equal weight with 
 really important counter-arguments, yet, since such counter- 
 arguments are nowhere to be found, they are, in connexion with 
 all the other pro fs of the genuineness, of no small importance. 
 
 " a. According to Josephus, Arch xi. 8, ">, the Book of Daniel 
 was shown to Alexander the Great, and that prophecy was re- 
 ferred by him to himself, in which a Greek was announced as the 
 conqueror of tiie Pers : an empire. Now, in order to enfeeble this 
 testimony, attacks have been directed, partly against the whole 
 narrative, partly against ihis particular point in it. To judge of 
 the former, we must previously place more exactly before us the 
 contents of the narrative. 
 
 " During the siege of Tyre, Alexander commanded the Jewish 
 high priest to do him homage, and send him troops and provisions. 
 The high priest, true to the oatii which he had taken to the still 
 living Dar.us, had refused this. Alexander deferred his revenue 
 till the conclusion of the siege of Tyre and Gaza. After that, he 
 marched against Jerusalem. The high priest is in great con- 
 sternation ; public prayers and i-acrifices are commanded ; after 
 these he is tranquillised by God in a dream, and commanded to 
 go himself, with the priests in their official habiliments, and with 
 the rest of the people in white garments, to meet the conqueror. 
 This is done as soon as Alexander jipproaches the city. The 
 procession meets him at a place where there was a view of the 
 citv and temple. Alexander "joes immediately to the high priest, 
 embraces him, and testifies his veneration for the name of God 
 on his mitre To the wondering question of Paimt nio, why he, 
 to whom all others testified their veneration, honours the Jewish 
 high priest, Alexander replies, that the homage is not rendered 
 to the high priest, but to his God ; for that he had seen him in 
 a vision in this very expedition, when he was yet in Macedonia ; 
 that He had promised to undertake the leading of his army, and 
 to give him the Persian dominion ; that this coincidence of the 
 dream with the reality gave him a firm hope of victory. He then, 
 attended by the high priest, and surrounded by the priests, 
 marched into the city, sacrificed in the temple, according to the 
 direct! us of the hij-h priest, and showed great honour both to 
 him and to tlu priests Then they showed him the Book of 
 Daniel. On his demanding that he should ask some favour for 
 the people, the high priest asked for exemption from tribute in 
 the seventh year, as being the fallow year. Alaiiy Jews then, 
 
458 APPEXDIX. 
 
 on the command of Alexander, determined to participate in the 
 expedition, The Samaritans, under the pretext that they had 
 affinity with the Jews, tried to obtain a share in the favours im- 
 parted to them ; but in this they did not succeed. 
 
 " The truth of this whole account has been assailed, after the 
 example of V. DALE (divert sup. Arijteam de LXX. interpret^ 
 p (i8 sqq ), by several moderns, on the following grounds: 1. 
 ' The circumstance that Alexander, after the conquest of Tyre, 
 marched to Gaza, from thence back to Jerusalem, and from thence 
 to Egypt, is chronologically false. He would then have made a 
 useless circuit of several days. All writers, too, a^ree that he 
 went immediately from Gaza to Egypt. Thus PRIDEAUX, 1. 
 c. iii. p. 115, and after him, word for word, GRIESINGER, p .'33. 
 Bat there is no difficulty in discovering the reason why Alex- 
 ander marched first to Gaza and then to Jerusalem. Gaza would 
 seem to him by far the more important ; thy brave Persian satrap 
 Betis had hired Arabian mercenaries, and laid up provisions in 
 that strong city for a long siege ; the walls were very high, the 
 siege extremely difficult (comp. ARRIAN cxp. Al. p. \5\,edBlan- 
 corji). Alexander might hope tl at. if he succeeded in taking 
 this place the rest, including Jerusalem, would submit to him 
 without drawing his sword, and the result showed that in this 
 calculation lie was not deceived. This advantage was certainly 
 well worth the circuit of a few davs Moreover, t lis very repre- 
 sentation of the march of Alexander, so improbable at first view, 
 speaks in favour of the trustworthiness of Josephus. Had he 
 not confined himself strictly to his authorities, he would certainly 
 have placed the coming of Alexander to Jerusalem between the 
 siege of Tyre and of Gaza. The statement of t!ie other histotical 
 sources, that Alexander marched immediately from Gaza to 
 Egypt, proves nothing ; it is a mere aryumentum a silent io t 
 founded on the omission of a diversion of some days, which is the 
 less surprising considering the abundance of important incidents 
 which the life of Alexander affords. Besides, it affects the oppo- 
 nents in like manner ; for Alexander must have been in Jeru- 
 salem, as we shall afterwards see ; but the ancient writers make 
 him pass just as immediately from Tyre to G;iza, as from Gaza 
 to Egypt. 2. ' It is not matter of history, when Josephus makes 
 Parmenio say to Alexander, that all men offered him the irpocr- 
 Kui'rjffiG (ri SijTTore, Trpocncvvovvrwv avrbv cnrdvrcov, CIVTOQ 
 TrpoatcvviiGEit TOV 'lovdaitoiv ap%i/>a). Not till a later period 
 did Alexander think of exalting himself into a god, and demand- 
 ing the TrpofjKvinjcri^ as an acknowledgment of his divine dignity.' 
 But surely nothing was more natural than for the subjects of the 
 Persian empire to transfer to him the customary mark of honour, 
 even without his demanding- it ; and that he assumed it will'nKjly 
 may be supposed from his subsequent conduct. 3. ' Chaldeans 
 are mentioned in the retinue of the king ; yet at that time they 
 were still subject to the Persian king.' Hut what hinders our 
 
APPENDIX. 459 
 
 assuming that, even before the taking of Babylon, Chaldee rene- 
 gades had deserted to Alexander, as Josephus seems to intimate 
 in express terms ? This may the more readily be imagined, as the 
 Babylonians afterwards received Alexander with joy, as the 
 restorer of their worship, to which the Persians had borne an ill 
 will. 4. " The dream of the high priest looks very like a fiction.' 
 Ikit if we set aside all supernatural operations, and suppose that 
 the high priest only dreamed what bad passed through his waking 
 soul, or that he only gave out that he dreamed it, certainly all in 
 the narrative that concerns the high priest's share in the affair 
 has the highest probability. The whole contrivance was admi- 
 rably suited to the character of Alexander. It could not have 
 been forgotten by the high priest that, on the capture of Tyre, 
 Alexander had .-pared all those who had taken refuge in the 
 temple, that he had sacrificed to Hercules, had institut d a great 
 festival in honour of him, and dedicated a Tyrian ship to him 
 (comp. USSHER. z. J. 3673.) The measure which he chose, 
 therefore, must have appeared to him the most suitable for 
 mitigating the wrath of Alexander. 
 
 " Let us now pass on to establish the truth of the narrative by 
 positive arguments, in which whatever else has been advanced 
 against it will find a sufficient reply. 
 
 " In several main particulars the narrative is confirmed by 
 express historical testimonies. ARRIAN says that Judea was 
 not mastered by force of arms, but surrendered of its own accord 
 (1. ii. p. 1.50 : Kctl ifv aurut TO. fj-fv a\\a Ti) l\a\ai(JTivi]Q KaXov- 
 nki]g 'S.vpiag TrpoGKtxwpijKora 77077.) The personal presence of 
 Alexander in Judea is remarked, apart from Josephus, not only, as 
 SCHLOSSER asserts (Weltyesch. i. p. 170), by the Arabian writer 
 MAKRIZI, but also by PLINY (hidt nat. xii. 26), who speaks of an 
 observation made in natural history in connexion with this event. 
 That Jews served in the armv of Alexander is reported by the 
 cotemporary heathen writer HECAT^EUS ABDKRITA. How great 
 the favour of Alexander must have been towards the Jews, 
 appears from the statement, although a false one, of the same 
 writer (in Jos. c. Ap. ii. 4), that Alexander granted to the Jews 
 the region of Samaria. The genuineness of his book has indeed 
 been called in question by an anonymous author in EICHHOKN'S 
 Bibl. f. bibl. Litt. Th. 5, p. 432, sqq., who maintains that the 
 writing was forged by some nameless Jew. Hut the only argu- 
 ment advanced for this assertion, the predilection for the Jews 
 displayed in the fragments of 'let/atoms, is, as ZORN has already 
 shown (Hecatcei Abd fraytnenta. Alton. 1730, ami. p. 5), certainly 
 not sufficient to establish it. It must be well remembered that 
 those who have preserved to us the f agments of HECAT.ECS, 
 JOSEPHUS, and EUSEBIUS, select only what was favourable to the 
 Jews It appears from the fragments of HECATE us themselves, 
 that he was an enlightened heathen, for whom, therefore, Judaism 
 had some attractions, and who, as was often the case in those 
 
460 APPENDIX. 
 
 times, had a certain leaning towards it. How few external reasons 
 there were for suspecting the book, is clear from the fact that 
 even UEKENMUS PHILO, in OKIGEN c. Ctkum, 1. 1, did not venture 
 decidedly to reject its genuineness, and that JOSEPH us could dare, 
 in the face of his heathen readers, boldly to appeal to its authority. 
 What, moreover, is decisive against this assertion, is the great 
 want of acquaintance with the older history of the Jews, which the 
 author clearly displays. Neither a Jew nor a Jewish proselyte 
 could relate that the Persians (instead of the Chaldeans; carried 
 away many myriads of Jews to Babylon So gross an error, also, 
 as that Samaria was granted to the Jews, could hardly have 
 come from a Jew. But the favour of Alexander towards the Jews 
 is clear from another circumstance. After the founding of Alex- 
 andria he not only granted them the free observance of their 
 religion and laws, but guaranteed them the same privileges in 
 that respect as the Macedonians themselves (comp. PRI UEAUX 1. c. 
 p. J26.) But if the favour of Alexander towards the Ji-ws is 
 established, we may draw thence a conclusion for the truth of the 
 whole narration. For it is correctly observed by JAHN (Arc/idol. 
 II. i. p. 300), ' if this principal point, the favour shown towards 
 the Jews, be correct, there must have been some great cause for 
 it, corresponding to the character of Alexander ; and, since that 
 assigned by Josephus is of such a nature, there is no reason to 
 doubt of it.' We have brought forward this pass-age, also, that it 
 nuiy be seen how correctly BLEEK has read, when he maintains, 
 1. c. p. 184, that even JAIIN is satisfied to vindicate simply the 
 main fact, the favour shown to the Jews, as historically true. 
 Even the special circumstance, that the high priest in full costume, 
 and particularly with the head-dress (tiri rrJQ KtpaXfjs 'i^ovra 
 rr\v KiSapiv K. T. X.), went to meet Alexander is confirmed l>y a 
 passage of JUSTIN, xi. 10 tune in Syriam proficiscitur, uli obi-L-s 
 cum in f id-is multos Orientis reycs hahuit. c M* pro m ritis t>in- 
 gulorum atiis in societatcm recepit, aliis ref/num adtmit, svfectix in 
 loca eorum alils rerjibus. Finally, the truth of the narrative as a 
 whole is confirmed by other ancient Jewish writers, who auree 
 with Josephus in in the essential circumstances ; compare the 
 passages in HESS. (Gcscldchte clcr Reyenten in d Exil. ii. p. 37), 
 who well deserves to be consulted on this incident. 
 
 " But that which has no express historical confirmation is 
 recommended KO strongly by its internal truth, that we cannot 
 think of fiction in the matter. For instance, the behaviour of 
 Alexander isso very correspondent with his historical character, 
 that persons have only manifested their ignorance of history in 
 trying from this point in particular to obtain arguments aguinst the 
 truth of the narration. Alexander had a twofold reason tor his 
 kindly behaviour towards the Jews. In the then state of things 
 (the Persian empire was indeed weakened, but not for a long 
 while after conquered), it would be to him of no little importance 
 to lay under obligation to him a people who were not insignificant, 
 
APPENDIX. 461 
 
 and in this way to bind them firmly to him ; and then the way in 
 which the high priest came to meet him offered him a welcome op- 
 portunity of doing it, according to his custom of perverting religion 
 as the means to his ends, and representing himself as a favourite 
 of Deity. We maintain, against HKSS, 1. c. p. 33, that the decani 
 of Alexander in all probability was fabricated by him. Could 
 anything else be expected of a man who. soon afterwards, sent 
 forward p-rsons to bribe the priests in the temple of Jupiter 
 Ammon to declare what he wished ? who, on the expedition 
 against the Scythians, demanded from the seer, Aristander, 
 when he foretold misfortune, that he should invent another pro- 
 phecy promising success (AaaiAN, 1. iv. p *246')? who, when the 
 Chaldeans cautioned him not to go to .Babylon, expressed his 
 decided disbelief of all prophecy, by quoting the verse of 
 Euripides : 
 
 ( Aaiu.vx, p 470), and yet constantly inquired of the seers ? But 
 how much the character of Alexander inclined him to such a 
 political use of religion, may be shown by many examples From 
 this tendency of his, various tales originated by which lira history, 
 even in his own time, was disfigured. Thus, the account of the 
 two ravens, who, according to the statement of Ptolemy Lagus, 
 led the army on the expedition through the wilderness to the 
 temple of Jupiter and back again ; or, according to Calisthenes, 
 in Plutarch, even brought back the several stragglers to the 
 army. Men tried by such failles to gain the favour of the king. 
 Alexander desired nothing more than that, on the expedition to 
 India, certain tribes should receive him as the third son of 
 Jupiter. (PaiDKAUX iii. p. 150) On his return from India he 
 instituted, in imitation of Bacchus, a procession of three days. 
 (Paii). p. 153.) Jn order to attain this end, he submitted to 
 exertions and sacrifices, in comparison of which the favours con- 
 ferred on the Jews are not deserving of mention. So. in order 
 to procure for himself the advantages which the Persian kings 
 derived from their divine honours, he undertook a tedious, diffi- 
 cult, and dangerous journey to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, 
 on which he and his whole army nearly perished with thirst. He 
 submitted humbly to the demand of the priests, that no one 
 besides himself should enter the temple. At a time when his 
 power was much more established, he had the temple of Belus, at 
 Babylon, restored at immense cost. When it is asserted that 
 Alexander would not have condescended to sacrifice in the 
 temple under the direction of the high priest, it se< ms to be for- 
 gotten that he did the very same thing under the direction of the 
 Chaldean priest, at Babylon, in the temple of Belus ; and, indeed, 
 his whole conduct there is very similar, in a religious point of 
 view, to that at Jerusalem. Altai AN says. p. 1%' : trOa )} KO.I 
 roTt,* XaXdaioiQ lvkrv\(., /ecu oaa idoicti XaAfozioif a^tyi TO. itpti ra 
 
462 APPENDIX. 
 
 Iv 'Ba/3v\a>m eirpaKr ra TI aXXa /cat r<p B/;X^ KaQa tKeivoi 
 
 Let us now turn specially to the statement of Josephus, 
 touching the prophecies of Daniel. Here also it may be easily 
 shown how well it was contrived that the prophecies about him- 
 self should be laid before Alex., how extremely suitable to 
 Alexander is the behaviour ascribed to him on that occasion. 
 Alexander knew too well the influence which prophecy exercised 
 on the whole world at that time, not to avail himself of this 
 means, among others, for the establishment of his authority, and 
 for the gratification of his vanity. He endeavoured by the voices 
 of the seers of the most diverse nations to get himself declared 
 the favourite of the gods, while in secret he laughed at super- 
 stition, certainly at least when the prophecies were not altogether 
 to his mind. Plutarch remarks generally, as characteristic of 
 him, that he always prided himself much on having prophecies in 
 his favour ((rvfupiXoTii-iovntvog atl Tofg (jLavrti'/jiaai). The sooth- 
 sayer, Aristander, was constantly in his train; even an ordinary 
 Syrian woman, who passed for a prophetess, was not considered 
 l>y him too mean to be allowed access to him day and night 
 (compare ARRIAN, p. 2fii)) ; the priests of Jupiter Ammon must 
 make him out by an oracle to be a son of their god ; the 
 Chaldean sa^es, on his entrance into Babylon, came to meet 
 him in solemn procession, and he found much to transact with them. 
 " The objections which have been raised against the exhibition 
 of the prophecies of Daniel to Alexander need to be hardly more 
 than quoted to show their weakness. 1. ' How could Alexander 
 read a Hebrew writing ? How could h J make out the symbolical 
 language ? Why did he not feel himself offended at seeing himself 
 represented as a he-goat, and his great empire as a passing show V 
 All these objections rest on the false supposition, which has not 
 the least foundation in the text of Josephus, that Alexander him- 
 self read the prophecies of Daniel. They were shown to him, 
 and he was t Id their contents ; and the king 1 , careless about 
 what was really contained in the book, caught eagerly at it, 
 because the alleged contents were quite according to his wish, 
 just as the Assyrians (compare GES. zu Jes. i. p. 946), without 
 further inquiry, made use of the Hebrew prophecies, in which, as 
 they might have learnt by mere hear.-ay, an irruption on their 
 side was predicted as a divine judgment As regards the image 
 of the he-goat, it is judging quite according to our ideas in the 
 present day, when it is asserted that it must have appeared 
 offensive to the king ; in the symbolism of the Babylonians and 
 Persians, as we shall hereafter i-ee, the he-goat was a very honour-; 
 able symbol, and Alexander was surely familiar enough by this 
 time with the symbolical spirit of the east not to take such a 
 thing offensively. And, besides, just that prophecy which of all 
 pointed most distinctly to Alexander, and the one therefore that 
 was probably laid before him, chap. xi. 2, 3, is quite destitute of 
 
APPENDIX. 463 
 
 imagery. It is true, in the prophecies which foretel Alexander's 
 greatness, there is at the same time predicted the speedy dismem- 
 berment of his empire after his death. But who shall say that 
 they did not content themselves with imparting to him only just 
 as much as would dispose him favourahly towards the nation ? 
 And, supposing any one should, without reason, assume the con- 
 trary, have we not other instances in which Alexander, from 
 among prophecies which announced both success and misfortune, 
 joyfully appropriated the former, and allowed the others to rest 
 in peace (com p. ARIIIAN, p. 151) ? 
 
 "2. 'In both prophecies (viii. 21, xi. 2, 3) the express com- 
 mand was laid on Daniel to close them up or to seal them, and 
 they are thus declared to be unintelligible. It must therefore be 
 allowed that, in the time of Alexander, no one as yet could 
 understand the meaning of these prophecies.' This argument 
 again is peculiar to BLEEK. It is sufficient for its refutation to 
 remark that in the passages quoted it is not an absolute obscurity 
 that is spoken of, but that which is only relative and partial. 
 This is clear, if not sufficiently from the nature of the case, at 
 least quite so from a comparison of chapter x. 1 with xii. 8. In 
 the first pnssaue, it is said that Daniel obtained an inflight into 
 the vision, chap. x. 12 ; in the second,' I heard it, but understood 
 it not,' and Daniel receives the command to seal up the vision, 
 because it was destined for a future period. If a gross con- 
 tradiction is not meant to be set up here, one is compelled to 
 take the understanding and the non-understanding relatively. 
 But if this is the case, then there could not have been, at least 
 as to those prophecies which refer to Alexander, especially at 
 the time when they had already begun to be fulfilled, a non- 
 understanding, since they belong to the clearest in the book. 
 That a Greek would some day destroy the Persian empire, is 
 declared in such explicit and direct terms that even a child must 
 understand it, and nothing further was said to Alexander by the 
 Jews, even according to Josephus ; the personal reference to 
 himself was his own work. But we will not linger any longer on 
 the refutation of such an argument. 
 
 "Thuswe think we have sufficiently justified the testimony of 
 Josephus to the existence of the Book of Daniel in the time of 
 Alexander the Great, and consequently to its genuineness, since 
 the question can only be whether Daniel is genuine, or whether 
 composed in the time of Ant. Epiph. Of course, if there existed 
 any decisive grounds against the genuineness, the statement of 
 Josephus alone would not suffice to invalidate them ; but we have 
 alre idy seen that such is not the case. And thus it looks quite 
 gratuitous for BLEEK, p. 185, to suppose that the Jews might easily 
 have appealed to prophecies in relation to Alexander, and that it 
 is merely a fiction of Josephus to say they were the prophecies of 
 Daniel in particular. 
 
 " We add in conclusion, further, on the historical character of 
 the whole relation of Josephus, a remark of a modern historian, 
 
464 APPENDIX. 
 
 whose hostile disposition towards revealed religion and towards 
 the chosen people, makes him discover in their history in other 
 respects a tissue of lies and fables, and whose testimony, there- 
 fore, as that of an embittered, blinded enemy, is of peculiar 
 weight. Li'.o says, in his Vorlesunt/en iiber die (Jeschiciiie de* Jiid. 
 Volkes, p. 200 : * The entire tale has nothing improbable in itself ; 
 armed resistance on the part of the high priest would have been 
 folly ; he might thus have peaceably gone to meet Alexander. 
 And how readily Alexander allowed the Asiatic world to believe 
 that he stood in near connexion with the ^ods of the nations 
 which he had subdued, is known from other sources. It has been 
 regarded as improbable that Alexander should not have hastened 
 immediately from Gaza to Egypt ; but to march from Gaza to 
 Kjrypt by way of Jerusalem, was at the most a circuit of only a 
 few days, and Judea no unimportant point in an expedition to 
 Egypt ; this mountain land must on no account be left in the 
 rear, in the hands of enemies.' 
 
 "I. The dying .Mattathias, 1 Mace. ii. 59, CO, exhorts his rela- 
 tives, among other things, to steadfastness, by referring to the 
 example of Daniel and his three companions : * Ananias, Azarias, 
 Misael, by believing, were saved out of the flame. Daniel, for 
 his innocency, was delivered from the mouth of lions.'* Now 
 several, as BERTHOLDT, maintain that Mattathias can have had 
 be/ore him here only the several tales in question, circu ating in- 
 dependently of each other. which assumption rests on the 
 demonstrably incorrect hypothesis of -a plurality of authors ; or 
 that he may refer to oral tradition, which is refuted by the fact, 
 that all the other numerous examples adduced by him are bor- 
 rowed, without exception, from the sacred writings. BLEEK. on 
 the contrary (p. 1JJ3), allows that the passage is really to be 
 regarded as a testimony to our book of Daniel, but avers that we 
 have not here Mattathias' own words, but a discourse put into 
 his mouth by the historian. This assertion, it is true, cannot be 
 Combated with decided certainty ; but it could not be rightly con- 
 sidered as made out. unless we could from other sources prove 
 the spuriousness of Daniel : and, since this is not the case, this 
 testimony deserves always to be alleged among the arguments for 
 the genuineness. Even supposing the correctness of BLSKK'S 
 position, it is at least so far of importance, as it shows how lirmly 
 people were persuaded of the genuineness at a time so near the 
 assumed origin of the Book of Daniel. A reference to Daniel is 
 perhaps also found in the words of Mattathias, 1 Mace ii. 49 : 
 ' Now is pride established, and rebuke, and the time of destruc- 
 tion, and the wrath of indignation.'f Coinp. Dan. viii. 19 : 
 
 * 'Avaviaf, 'AZapivc, Mwrai}A irtffTtvaavrt^ imoQrjffav IK 
 AaviijX tv ry aTrXoTijri ai)Tov ippuaOij tK 
 
 vvv lffntpi\0ri iiTTfprjpavia Kal iXty/tof /cat Kctipbs icara- 
 Kal bpyri QV/.IOV. 
 
AiPENDIX. 465 
 
 behold I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of 
 the indignation ; for at the time appointed the end shall be.'* 
 Mat. appears to intimate that the grievous time pointed at by 
 Daniel is now arrived. 
 
 " c. The Alexandrine translators have introduced the doctrine 
 of guardian angels of kingdoms, which in the whole of the O. V. 
 occurs only in Daniel, into two passages, in which so small a space 
 of it is contained, that only a previous acquaintance with this 
 doctrine could have led them to give this translation. In Deut. 
 xxxii. 8, (God has defined the boundaries of the people according 
 to the number of the children of Israel.) they translate the words 
 Snr ^31 ID^tj'j by, 'according to the number of the angels of 
 God ;'f in Isa, xxx. 4, the words rrri ^3$? ]**=& ^ ^ tyt ' For 
 there are in Tanos, as princes, wicked angels.'^: It has. on the 
 other hand, been objected that the LXX. might have taken the 
 dogma thus introduced from the popular belief, which originated 
 in their intercourse with heathen nations, and independently of 
 the Scr'pture. But we saw before, how unfounded the assertion 
 is that the Jews borrowed the doctrine of the tutelary spirits of 
 nations from the Persians, among whom it did not at all exist ; 
 and it is to be well observed that this doctrine is by the Jews 
 constantly founded on Daniel (comp. IIJSEXMENGER. i. p 806. 
 Jo, a Lent, t/uohiffia Jud., p. 276.) It is true, however, that this 
 argument can only puss for a secondary argument, s ; nce it must 
 be allowed possible, although not probable, that the Jews derived 
 this doctrine from gross misunderstanding of some passage of the 
 Bible besides Daniel. 
 
 "cZ. More important than the two preceding is the proof now 
 to be adduced of the existence of the Book of Daniel previously 
 to the times of the Maccabees. Here we must begin with making 
 good, certain presumptions, which form the groundwork of it. 
 
 "I. It is time at length to examine the assertion, which is as 
 generally as corfidently made, of a Hebrew or Aramaean original 
 of the First Book of the Maccabees, now that we have so long 
 and variously quoted it with its alleged arguments in our 
 favour. This examination naturally cannot be institut d here 
 comprehensively, and so as to exhaust the subject ; yet this much, 
 at least, may be briefly shown, that the arguments hitherto 
 alleged for a non-Greek original are not tenable. We are re- 
 minded that ORIGEN quotes the title of the book in Hebrew (<)RIO. 
 in Ecs. //. Eccl vi. 25 : tw ?t TOVTWV tarl TO. MaKKnpaVcdj 
 uTrtp t7riyyp7rrai ^dpj3r)9 Sapfiavt. "EX.), which, it is said sup- 
 poses, of course, that in his time the whole book was in existence 
 
 * idov tyw oTrayylXXw ffot a IGTO.I fcTr' 
 ro?<; vioTt; TOU Xaou <rotr tn yap IIQ uipaQ Kaipov 
 
 . 
 
 eara apiOfiut' dyytXwv GtoD. 
 
 <m tiaiv iv 'Vdvtt dpx^yot ayytXoi 
 
 HH 
 
466 ALTKM-i.X 
 
 in Hebrew or Aramiean ; that Jerome had even seen the Hebrew 
 original (Prol. gal : Maccahceorum primvm librum Hcbraicum 
 reperi.) But these testimonies show nothing more than that in 
 the time of Origen and Jerome the book existed also in Hebrew 
 or Aramaean ; if Origen and Jerome regarded this as the origiral 
 work, that is not at all to the purpose. The Hebrew or Aramaean 
 copy might just as well be a translation, as we possess such 
 translations of most of such apocryphal writings as were written 
 in Greek.- It is further alleged that in the book many expressions 
 occur which do not receive their full explanation till they are 
 translated back again into Hebrew. But were this argument 
 valid, ail the books of the N T. might, with little difficulty, be 
 proved to have had a Hebrew or A rarntean original The occur- 
 rence of Hebraisms in tlti-t book, however, assuming its Greek 
 original, is still more conceivable, if we remember that the 
 Greek language was then much more recent arid strange to the 
 Jews. And, what is more, the very Hebraisms which have b;'eu 
 produced as the most convincing (comp e.f/. EICHHOR.X, End. in 
 die Apokr p. 219, sqq.) are found in the LXX , and, as probably 
 taken by the author from them, serve rather for proof that Greek 
 was the language of the original. Thus, e <j., for y/roi/xaaflr/ i, 
 /3a<riXc/a IVMTTIOV 'AvTioxov, i. 1 ( >, comp 1 Sam. xx. ,30, 1 Kings 
 ii. 12, 1 Chro:i. xvii. 11 ; for irciij u i^otnriac,' [uvct; 710 VO/.H ; J, ii. 
 24, comp. Ezra ii. 68. vii. 15, &c. ; for dXXotyvXci in the sense of 
 Philistines, 1 Kings xiii 2. Of more importance wculd be the 
 proof from errors in translation, if the only vouchers that have 
 been adduced for this did not rest on insecure a sumptions. 
 Thus in chap. iv. 16, jri ir\r]povvTCQ 'lovca rafira, 'whilst Judas 
 was saying this,' TrX/jpoaj is said to be used in a sense quite 
 unusual, and only to be explained from the exchange of y^'and 
 H^. But here it may first be asked whether 7rX?/pow has really 
 the meaning ascribed to it, to say, and not rather that which 
 occurs not rarely in the LXX. and in the N. T , to complete, to 
 do. In chap. vi. 1, (iorlv 'EXv/tdtfj iv TIJ HtoaiSi TroXit,-), we are 
 told, such a sad rrror in the geography as the changing of the 
 province Elymais into a city, can only be explained bv supposing 
 that the Greek translator, from ignorance of ueographv, translated 
 the Hebrew nrio, as Aquila does, Dan. viii, '2, by city, instead of 
 province. This assertion miyht have some plausibility, if there 
 did not occur in the First Book of the Mace., in the other accounts 
 relating to foreign geography and history, numerous and almost 
 its great mistakes. These are all the arguments for a mm Greek 
 original of the book. On the contrary, among other tilings may 
 be noted the following. We have above shown that the autl.or 
 of the First Book of the Maccabees made use of Daniel ; and 
 that he copied, not the original, but the LXX., is shown by the 
 ftvquent verbal agreement in the expressions. That the ex- 
 pression /3<^Xvyjua rrjc; tpjj/iwaswg is borrowed from the LXX. 
 even BJLEEK (p. 181) allows. Now, it inigut be objected that 
 
APPENDIX. 467 
 
 several of the expressions quoted (although not by any moans all ; 
 even for (3oe. r. ip. THEODOTION has, chap. xi. 5i, f3ci\vyjj,a. 
 tftavitrpbvov) are translated in the same way by THEODOTION, 
 and that therefore the agreement of the First Book of the Mace. 
 with the Alexandrine version c;m only be accidental. But this 
 objection is rendered invalid, if we consider that THEODOTION, 
 not only in general, as Jerome and Epiphanius have already 
 remarked (comp. among the moderns, e.g., DE WETTE, p. Ml), 
 but in particular in dealing with Daniel, as the most cursory 
 comparison will prove, did not by any means give a new trans- 
 lation, but only retouched and impi'oved the Alexandrine. Now, 
 if the using of the Alexandrine version in the First Book of the 
 Maccabees, as it lies before us, is established, is it at all likely that 
 the alleged Greek translator introduced this agreement ? Would 
 he not have independently translated, not merely the book as 
 a whole, but these particular passages that relate to the Book 
 of Daniel ? Moreover, Josephus has nowhere made use of a 
 non-Greek original ; he rather follows constantly our Greek book, 
 and, indeed, often in its very words. The Syrian translator, too, 
 has translated from the Greek. Lastly, there is no reason to doubt 
 that the Chaldee copy of the First Book of the Maccabees, still 
 existing, and edited by BARTOLOCCI, is the same that Origen and 
 Jerome meant. This, however, may be immediately seen to be a 
 bad and disfigured copy of our First Book of the Maccabees. 
 
 " 2. It has been frequently maintained that the First Book of 
 the Maccabees could not have been composed till after the death 
 of John Hyrcanus, ("06 B.C.), because, according to chap. xvi. 
 23, 24, the memoir of the life and deeds of Hyrcanus already 
 existed as a complete whole at the time of the composition (comp. 
 e.g., EICHHORN, p. 247, BERTHOLDT, p. 1048.) But this passage 
 Kai TO. \onrd rijjv \6ybjv 'Iwdvvov idov raura ykypcnrrai i-jrl 
 (JifiXtov 7/jupwy dp\itp(i)crvvr](; auTOV, d<b ov kys.vi}9r] dpxiepevg 
 fj-^rd TOV Travzpa CIUTOV), on the contrary, shows that the book 
 was composed, although certainly a considerable time after the 
 beginning of the reign of Hyrcanus, yet before the end of it, 
 otherwise why should the terminus a qu') be expressly assigned, and 
 not the terminus ad quern ? We must make the more use of this 
 indication, because we are compelled by the internal complexion 
 of the book to place the time of its composition as early as possible. 
 Ancient and modern scholars are agreed that the book, as far as 
 regards the native accounts, possesses in a high degree the 
 character of trustworthiness and historical fidelity, that it is dis- 
 tinguished in particular by an exact and correct chronology. 
 Now, how can these marks of excellence, which appear in an 
 especially striking light on comparison with the Second Book of 
 the Maccabees, be otherwise explained than on the assumption 
 th it the book was written at a time comparatively near the 
 incidents depicted in it, so that the author could write the truth 
 if he really wished to ? This assumption is the more necesssary, 
 
 H H2 
 
468 APPENDIX. 
 
 the more numerous were the fictions and exaggerations by which 
 the Jewish national pride by degrees disfigured the history of the 
 Maccabees. We can avoid it only on the hypothesis that there 
 were older written authorities ; but this is very improbable, 
 because the author nowhere refers to such sources, not even whore, 
 as in chap. i\. 23, we might surely expect such a reference, tho 
 more so as the historical books of the O. T , which the author is 
 perpetually copying, are accustomed to quote their authorities. 
 Besides, in the closing verses of the book that are adduced, there 
 seems contained an intimation that beyond the period whosj 
 history the author described, no written records existed. For 
 when the author closes his work with the death of Simon, and 
 pronounces the continuation of it unnecessary because the his- 
 tory of Hyrcanus was to be found written elsewhere, it surely 
 seems to follow that from the same reason he would not have 
 written the earlier history, if there had already existed trust- 
 worthy earlier records respecting it. 
 
 "3. The Alexandrine version of Daniel, as appears from the 
 foregoing remarks, must have been made before the First Book 
 of the Maccabees, and, indeed, probably a considerable time 
 before, since the way in which the author makes use of it seems 
 to suppose its distribution and reception by the church in Pales- 
 tine. We have a second testimony to its earlier composition in 
 the prologue to Jesus Sirach, composed about the year 130 B.C., 
 in which, as DE WETTE also (1 c. p. 75) is inclined to assume, 
 the Greek translation of the entire O. T. is supposed complete. 
 Lastly, an indication of the time of composition is perhaps 
 furnished us by the translation itself. In chap x. 1, it renders 
 the words -\- - b Ka * T0 ^^n^Q TO iffvo 
 
 TO Trpdoray/irt. By TO TrX/jO. TO ia-%. are probably intended the 
 Jews at the time of the Maccabees, as those who, according to 
 chap. xii. 9, 10, will receive a full insight into the vision which 
 was partially closed up at the time it was given. But a very 
 exact definition like this, for which there is not the slightest 
 ground in the text, can only be explained by supposing the author 
 to have lived in the Maccabean time itself, and observed the 
 mighty influence exerted upon it by the prophecies of Daniel. 
 
 "Now, according to these explanations, the Alexandrine version 
 is in any case separated by only a very small interval of time 
 from the composition of the book itse'.f. if we are to regard it as 
 spurious. According to BLEKK (p 288), chaps, i vi. were com- 
 posed during the time that the Jewish worship was abolished by 
 Antiochus Epiphanea very soon after the consecration of the 
 altar of burnt-offering for heathen sacrifices ; the prophetic 
 sections probably somewhat later, after the restoration of the 
 Jewish worship by Judas Maccabceus, shortly before, or im- 
 mediately after, the death of Antiochus Epiphanes ; the whole, 
 therefore, within the years 167 163 B.C. But we should cer- 
 tainly expect that a book, whose author and translator are quite 
 
APPENDIX. 463 
 
 cotemporary, or at most separated by only a very small interval 
 of time, would be more correctly translated than all the other 
 far older books of the O. T. ; and in like manner, too, that no 
 traces of variation in the translation would recur, which, indeed, 
 in a work only just come to light, are scarcely to l.e conceived. 
 But now. in the present case, the very contrary is found. The 
 translation of Daniel is the very worst of all, so bad that tho 
 ancient church rejected it a thing that, with their high venera- 
 tion for the LXX., says much and substituted the translation of 
 THEODOTION: comp. DE WETTE, 1. c. p. 76. Gross misunder- 
 standings of the original are so frequent on every hand, that it is 
 not worth while to quote particular instances, especially as 
 MICHAELIS has already, in his dissertation on this version (Or. 
 bibl. iv. p. 17, sqq.) collected a sufficient quantity of them Many 
 times, e.f/. x. 8, the translator gives mere words without any 
 sense. Perhaps it will be attempted to charge this character of 
 the translation on the Alexandrine origin of it. But, for one 
 thing, this origin is very far from proved, since it does not follow 
 from the composition of most parts of the LXX. at Alexandria, 
 that they were all composed there ; for another, it cannot be 
 supposed that, with all the active intercourse between the Jews 
 in Palestine and in Egypt, a proof of which would be furnished 
 by the speedy transmission and immediate translation of the book, 
 the complete understanding of it which the Jews of Palestine 
 must have possessed in the time of the Maccabees, should have 
 been withholden so entirely from the Alexandrines ; and, finally, 
 the feet that the Alexandrine version was in Palestine aLso the 
 received one, as appears from its being taken as the basis in the 
 First Book of the Maccabees and in the N.T., shows that Daniel 
 was tio better understood there than in Egypt. Nor is it less 
 true that traces are found of variations, although MiCHAELis 
 (1. c. p. 34 sqq ) has ascribed much to that source, which can be 
 ascribed only to a paraphrastic freedom, or to ignorance of the 
 language, and to mistakes, on the part of the translator. Comp. 
 e.g. chap. v. 21 (7r\fjpt]Q TWV r)/ipwv, Kaf 2vOoo tv yrjpti); chap. 
 xi. 4 (/cat trtpovq ci$dti raura,) &c." Hengstcnberg on J)aniel, 
 pp. 224240, Edinburgh, 1348. 
 
 THE PAPACY. 
 
 The strongest expressions I have used in describing the Papacy 
 in the Lecture ending at page 245, are justified by the occur- 
 rences of 150. 
 
 The head of the Apostasy has taken ecclesiastical possession of 
 England divided it among his creatures appointed Cardinal 
 Wiseman as their head and Archbishop of Westminster. Per- 
 haps the most expressive comment on this Lecture will be found 
 in the documents themselves. 
 
470 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE PAPAL BULL. 
 
 Apostolic Letter of His Holiness Pope Pirn 7X, establishing 
 an Episcopal Hierarchy in England. 
 
 " Ad perpetuam rei memoriam." 
 
 " The power of governing the universal church, entrusted by 
 our Lord Jesus Christ to the Roman pontiff, in the person of St. 
 Peter, Prince of the Apostles, has maintained for centuries in 
 the apostolic see the admirable solicitude with which it watches 
 over the welfare of the Catholic religion in all the earth, and pro- 
 vides with zeal for its progress. Thus has been accomplished 
 the design of its Divine founder, who, by establishing a chief, has 
 in his profound wisdom ensured the safety of the church unto the 
 uttermost time. The effect of this solicitude has been felt in 
 most nations, and amongst these is the noble kingdom of Eng- 
 land. History proves that since the first ages of the church, the 
 Christian religion was carried into Great Britain, where it flou- 
 rished until towards the middle of the fifth century. After the 
 invasion of the Angles and Saxons in that island, government, as 
 well as religion, fell into a most deplorable state. At once our 
 most holy predecessor, Gregory the Great, sent the monk Augus- 
 tine and Ins followers ; then he created a great number of 
 bishops, joined to them a multitude of monks and priests, brought 
 the Anglo-Saxons to religion, and succeeded by his influence in 
 re-establishing and extending the Catholic faith in all that 
 country, which then began to assume the name of England. 
 But to recall more recent facts, nothing seems more evident to 
 us in the history of the Anglican schism of the sixteenth century 
 than the solicitude with which the Roman pontiffs, our pre- 
 decessors, succoured and supported, by all the means in their 
 power, the Catholic religion, then exposed in that kingdom to the 
 greatest dang-ers, and reduced to the last extremities. It is with 
 this object, apart from other means, that so many efforts have 
 been made by the Sovereign pontiffs, either by their orders or 
 with their approbation, to keep in England men ready and 
 devoted to the support of Catholicism ; and in order that young 
 Catholics endowed by nature might be enabled to come on to the 
 continent, there to receive an education, and be formed with care 
 in the study of ecclesiastical science, especially in order that, 
 being in sacred orders, they may on their return to their country 
 be able to support their countrymen by the ministry of their word 
 and by the sacraments, and that they may defend and propagate 
 true faith. 
 
 " But the zeal of our predecessors will perhaps be more clearly 
 admitted, as regards what they have done to give the Catholics of 
 England pastors clothed in an episcopal character at a time when 
 
APPENDIX. 471 
 
 a furious and implacable tempest had deprived them of the pre- 
 sence of bishops and their pastoral care. First, the apostolic 
 letter of Gregory XV., commencing with these words, ' Ecclesia 
 Romana,' and dated the 23d of March, 1623, shows that the Sove- 
 reign pontiff as soon as possible deputed to the government of 
 English and Scotch Catholic bishops, William Bishop, conse- 
 crated Bishop of Chalcis, with ample faculties and powers. After 
 the death of Bishop, Urban VIII. renewed this mission in his 
 apostolic letter, dated January 4, 1625, addressed to Richard 
 Smith, and conferring on him the bishopric of Chalcis, and all the 
 powers previously resting on Bishop. It seemed subsequently, 
 at the commencement of the reign of James II., that more 
 favourable days were about to dawn upon the Catholic religion. 
 Innocent XI. profited at once by this circumstance, and in 1685 
 he deputed John Leyburn, Bishop of Adrumede, as vicar-apos- 
 tolic for all the kingdom of England. Subsequently, by another 
 apostolic letter, dated 30th January, 1688, and commencing as 
 follows ' Super cathedram,' he joined with Leyburn three other 
 vicars-apostolic, bishops in partibus, so that all England, by the 
 care of the apostolic nuncio in this country, Ferdinand, Arch- 
 bishop of Amosia, was divided by that pontiff into four districts ; 
 that of London, the west, the centre, and the north, which at first 
 were governed by apostolic vicars furnished with proper faculties 
 and powers. In the accomplishment of so grave a charge, they 
 received rules and succour either by the decisions of Benoit XIV., 
 in his Constitution of May 30, 1753, which commences with the 
 words, ' Apcstolicum ministerium,' or by those of other pontiffs, 
 our predecessors, and our Congregation for the Propagation of 
 the Faith. This division of all England into four apostolic vicar- 
 ages lasted till the time of Gregory XVI., who, in his apostolic 
 letter, 'Muneris apostolici,' dated July 3, 1840, considering the 
 increase of the Catholic religion in England, and making a new 
 ecclesiastical division of the country, doubled the number of 
 vicarages, and confided the spiritual government of England to 
 the vicars-apostolic in London, of the west, the east, the centre, 
 of Lancaster, York, and the north. The little we have just said, 
 proves cleai-ly that our predecessors applied themselves strongly 
 to use all the means their authority gave them to console the 
 Church of England for its immense disgraces, and to work for its 
 resurrection. Having before our eyes, therefore, the good 
 example of our predecessors, and desirous, by imitating them, of 
 fulfilling the duties of the supreme apostolate ; pressed, besides, 
 to follow the movements of our heart for that portion of the 
 Lord's vineyard, we proposed to ourselves, from the commence- 
 ment of our pontificate, to pursue a work that was so well begun, 
 and to apply ourselves in the most serious manner to favour 
 every day the development of the Church in this kingdom. For 
 this reason, considering as a whole the state of Catholicism in 
 England, reflecting on the considerable number of Catholics, 
 
472 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 which keep still increasing, remarking that every day the obstacles 
 are falling off which stood in the way of the extension of the 
 Catholic religion. we have thought that the tin:e was come when 
 the form of i cclesiastic;il government should be resunud in 
 England such as it exists, freely exists, in other nations, where no 
 particular cause necessitates the ministry of vicars-apostolic. 
 We have thought, that by the progress of time and things, it was 
 no longer necessary to I'ave the English Catholics governed by 
 vicars-apostolic, but on the contrary, that the changes which had 
 already been made neceisitated the ordinary form of episcopal 
 government. 
 
 " We have been confirmed in these thoughts by the desires 
 expressed to us by the vicars-apostolic in England, as well as by 
 numbers of the clergy and laity distinguished by virtue and rank, 
 and by the wishes of the great majority of English Catholics. 
 ]n maturing this design we have not failed to implore the aid of 
 the Almighty and Most Gracious God, and that he would grant 
 us grace in this weighty affair to resolve upon that which should 
 be most suitable to augment the prosperity of the Church. We 
 have further besought the assistance of the blessed Virgin Mary, 
 Mother of God. and of the saints wh; se virtues have made 
 England illustrious, that they would deign to obtain by their 
 intercession witli God the happy success of this enterprise. \Ye 
 have since commended the whole business to the grave and 
 serious consideration of our venerable brothers the cardinals of 
 the holy Roman Church, forming our Congregation for Propa- 
 gating the Faith. Their sentiments having been found completely 
 conformable to our own, we have resolved to sanction them, and 
 carry them into execution. It is for this reason, after having 
 weighed the whole matter most scrupulously, that of our own 
 proper motion, in our certain knowledge, and in the plenitude 
 of our apostolic power, we have resolved, and do hereby decree 
 the re-establishment in the kingdom of England, and according 
 to the common laws of t':e Church, of a hierarchy of bishops, 
 deriving their titles from their own sees, which we constitute by 
 the present letter in the various apostolic districts. 
 
 ** To commence with the district of London, it will form two 
 sees to wit, that of Westminster, which we hereby elevate to be 
 metropolitan, of archiepiscopal dignity, and that of Sou hwark, 
 which we assign to it as suffragan, together with those which we 
 proceed to indicate. The diocese of Westminster will include 
 that portion of the aforesaid district which extend-* to the banks 
 of the Thames, and comprehends the counties of Middlesex, 
 Essex, and Hertford ; that of Southwark. on the south of the 
 Thames, will include the counties of Beds, Southampton, Surrey, 
 Sussex, and Kent, with the IsU-s of Wight. Jersey, Guernsey, and 
 others adjacent. In the northern district there \y\\\ be but one 
 episcopal see, which will take its name from the town of Hag- 
 glestown, and have for its circumscription that of the existing 
 
APPENDIX. 473 
 
 district. The district of York will also be a diocese, whose 
 capital will be the town of Beverley. In the district of Lanca- 
 shire th.re will be tv>o bishops, of whom one, the Bishop of 
 Liverpool, will have for 1m diocese the Isle <f .\Jona, the districts 
 of Lonsdale, Amounderness. and i\ est Derby ; and the other, 
 the Bishop of Salf'ord, w 11 extend his jurisdi tion over Saif. rd, 
 Blackburn, and Le\ land Tiie county of Ch ster, though belontr- 
 ing to this district, will be united to another dit/cese. In the 
 district of Wales two episcopal sees will be established, that of 
 Salop and that of Merioneth and Newport united. The diocese 
 of Salop will contain the counties of Anglesea, Carnarvon, 
 Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth, and Montgomery, to which we join 
 the county of Chester, detached from the district of Lancaster, 
 and that of Salop from the centre. To the diocese of the Bishop 
 of Merioneth and Newport are assigned the counties of Breck- 
 nock, Glamorgan, Carmarthen, Pembroke, and Radnor, also the 
 English counties of Hereford and Monmouth. In the western 
 district we create two sees, (,'lif on and Plymouth ; the first 
 comprehending the counties of Gloucester. Somerset, and Wilts ; 
 the second those of Devon. Dorset, and Cornwall. The central 
 d. strict, from which we have detached the county of Salop, 
 will have two episcopal sees. Nottingham and Birmingham : to 
 the first we assign the counties of N<tts, Derbv, Leicester, 
 Lincoln, and Uutland ; to the second the counties of Stafford, 
 Bucks, Oxford, and Warwick In the eastern district there will 
 be one see, which will take its name from the town of North- 
 ampton, and retain the present circumscription of the district, 
 except the counties of Lincoln and Rutland, which we have 
 assigned to the diocese of Nottingham. 
 
 " Thus, in the very flourishing kingdom of England there will 
 b'J one single ecclesiastical province, with one archbishop and 
 twelve suffragans, whose zeal and pastoral labours will, we hope, 
 by the grace of God, bring new and daily increase to the power 
 of Catholicism. For this reason we reserve to ourselves and suc- 
 cessors the right to divide this province into several, and to 
 increase the number of its bishoprics as new ones may be 
 required, and in general to settle their boundaries as it may 
 appear meet before the Lord 
 
 " Meanwhile, we enjoin the archbishop and bishops to furnish 
 at stated seasons reports of the state of their churches to our 
 Congregation of the Propaganda, and not to omit informing us on 
 all points concerning the spiritual good of their flocks. We shall 
 continue to avail ourselves of the aidof the Congregation of the i'ro- 
 pa_anda in all that concerns the affairs of the Church in England. 
 But in the sacred government of the clergy and people, and all 
 which concerns the pastoral office, the archbishop and bisliops of 
 England will enjoy all the rights and faculties which bishops and 
 archbishops can use, according to the disposition of die sacred 
 canons and the apostolic constitutions, aud they will iiKcwise be 
 
474 APPEXDIX. 
 
 equally bound by all the obligations to which other bishops and 
 archbishops are held by the common discipline of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 " Their rights and duties will not be in any case impaired by 
 anything that is at present in vigour, whether originating in the 
 former form of the English Church, or in the subsequent mis- 
 sions instituted in virtue of special constitutions, privileges, or 
 customs, now that the same state of things no longer exists. And 
 in order that no doubt may remain, we suppress, in the plenitude 
 of our apostolic power, and entirely abrogate all the obligatory 
 and juridical force of the said special con>titutions. privileges, 
 and customs, however ancient their date. The archbishop and 
 bishops of England will thus have the integral power to regulate 
 all that belongs to the execution of the common law, or which are 
 left to the authority of bishops by the general discipline of the 
 Church. As for us, most assuredly they shall never have to 
 complain that we do not sustain them by our apostolical autho- 
 rity, and we shall always be happy to second their demands in all 
 which appears calculated to promote the glory of God and the 
 good of souls. In decreeing this restoration of the ordinary 
 hierarchy of bishops in England, and the enjoyment of the com- 
 mon law of the Church, we have had principally in view the 
 prosperity and increase of the Catholic religion in the kingdom of 
 England ; but we have also desired to gratify the wishes of so many 
 of our reverend brethren governing in England, under the s-tyle of 
 vicars-apostolic, and also of a great number of our dear children of 
 the Catholic clergy and people. Many of their ancestors presented 
 the same prayer to our predecessors, who had begun to send 
 vicars-apostolic to England, where no Catholic bishop could exer- 
 cise the common ecclesiastical law in his own church, and who 
 afterwards multiplied the number of vicars-apostolic, and of dis- 
 tricts, not because religion was submitted in this country to one 
 exceptional rule, but rather because they would prepare the 
 foundation for the future rebuilding of the ordinary hierarchy. 
 
 " This is why we, to whom it has been given by the grace of 
 God to accomplish this great work, declare here that it is not in 
 any manner in our thoughts or intentions that the bishops of 
 England, provided with the name and rights of ordinary bishops, 
 should be destitute of any advantages, of whatever nature they 
 may be, which they formerly enjoyed under the title of vicars- 
 apostolic. It would be contrary to reason to allow any act of 
 ours performed at the earnest prayer of the English Catholics, 
 and for the benefit of religion, to turn to their damage, leather we 
 cherish the firm hope that our dear children in Christ, whose alms 
 and largesses have never been wanting to sustain in England re- 
 ligion, and the prelates who govern there as vicars, will exercise 
 a still larger liberality to the bishops who are now attached by 
 permanent bonds to the English Church, in order that they may 
 not be deprived of temporal aid, which they will require to orna- 
 
APPENDIX. 475 
 
 ment their temples and adorn the Divine service, to support the 
 clergy and the poor, and for other ecclesiastical services. Finally, 
 lifting the eyes to the almighty and gracious God, from whom 
 comes our help, we supplicate him with all instance, obsecration, 
 and action of grace, to confirm by Divine grace all that we have 
 decreed for the good of the Church, and to give of his grace to 
 those whose it is to execute these decrees, that they may feed the 
 flock of God committed to their care, and that their zeal may be 
 applied to spread the glory of his name. And, in order to obtain 
 the most abundant succour of celestial grace, we finally invoke, as 
 intercessors with God, the holy Mother of God, the blessed apos- 
 tles St. Peter and St. Paul, with the blessed patrons of England, 
 and especially St. Gregory the Great, in order that the solicitude 
 we have displayed, notwithstanding the insufficiency of our merit, 
 to restore the episcopal sees of England, which he founded in his 
 days with so much advantage to the Church, may likewise redound 
 to the good of the Catholic Church. We decree that this apostolic 
 letter shall never be taxed with subreptice or obreptice, nor be 
 be protested for default either of intention or any defect what- 
 ever, but always be made valid and firm, and hold good to all 
 intents and purposes, notwithstanding the general apostolic edicts 
 which have emanated from synodal, provincial, or universal 
 councils, the special sanctions as well as the rights of former sees 
 in England, missions apostolic, vicarages constituted in the pro- 
 gress of time notwithstanding, in one word, all things contrary 
 whatsoever. We likewise decree that all which may be done to 
 the contrary by any one, whoever he may be, knowing or ignorant, 
 in the name of any authority whatever, shall be without force. 
 We decree that copies of this letter, signed by a notary-public, 
 and sealed with the seal of an ecclesiastic, shall be everywhere 
 received as the expression of our will. 
 
 " Given at St. Peter's, at Rome, under the seal of the fisher- 
 man, the 24th of September, 1850, and in the fifth year of our 
 pontificate. 
 
 u CARDINAL LAMBRUSCHINI." 
 
 Cardinal Wiseman next issues the following pastoral letter, 
 which was read in all the Romish Churches : 
 
 THE RESTORATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY. 
 
 u Nicholas, by the Divine mercy of the Holy Roman Church, 
 by the title of St. Pudentiana, Cardinal Priest, Archbisl'op of 
 Westminster, and Administrator Apostolic of the diocese of South- 
 wark, to the clergy, secular and regular, and the faithful of the 
 said archdiocese and diocese. 
 
476 APPENDIX. 
 
 " The great work (it says) is complete ; what you have long 
 desired and prayed for is granted. Your beloved country has 
 received a pace among the fair churches which, normally" con- 
 stituted, form the splendid aggregate of Catholic communion ; 
 Catholic England has l>een restored to its orbit in the ecclesias- 
 tical firmament, from which its light had long vanished, and 
 begins now anew its course of regularly adjusted action round the 
 c-:ntre of unity, the source of jurisdiction, of light, and of vigour. 
 How wonderfully all this has been brought about how clearly 
 the hand of God has been shown in every step, we have not now 
 leisure to relate ; but we may hope soon to recount to you by word 
 of mouth. In the meantime we will content ourselves with assur- 
 ing you that, if the concordant voice of those venerable and most 
 eminent counsellors to whom the Holy See commits the regu- 
 lation of ecclesiastical affairs in misiionary countries, if the 
 overruling of every variety of interest and designs, to the render- 
 ing of this measure almost necessary, if the earnest prayers of our 
 Holy Pontiff and his most sacred oblation of the Divine sacrifice, 
 added to his own deep and earnest reflection, can form to the 
 Catholic heart an earnest of heavenly direction, an assurance that 
 the Spirit of truth, who guides the church, has here inspired its 
 supreme head, we cannot desire stronger or more consoling evi- 
 dence that this most important measure is from God, has lu's 
 notion and blessing, and will consequently prosper." 
 
 Dr. Ullathorne, Bishop of Birmingham, was enthroned on 
 Sunday last : Father Newman, one of the seceders from the Pro- 
 testant Church, preached the sermon on the occasion, in the 
 course of which lie said " The mystery of God's Providence is 
 now fulfilled, and though he did not recollect any people on earth 
 but t lose of Great Britain, who having once rejected the religion of 
 God, were again restored to the bosom of the Church, God had 
 done it for them It was wonderful in their eyes. The holy 
 hierarchy had been restored. Tke grave loan opened, and Christ 
 was coming out /" 
 
 The Bishop of London, whose sympathy with the Bishop of 
 Exeter's views of baptism is so much to be regretted and 
 deplored, seems recalled to his earliest and best conviction by 
 this invasion, and thus writes in reply to a memorial from the 
 Westminster Clergy : 
 
 " Fulham, October, 28, 1850. 
 
 " Reverend and dear Brethren, The sentiments expressed in 
 the address which you have presented to me are in entire accord- 
 ance with mine, and I am persuaded that they will be responded 
 to by the unanimous feeling of Protestant England. 
 
APPENDIX. 477 
 
 " The recent assumption of authority by the Bishop of Rome, 
 in pretending to parcel out this country into new dioceses, and to 
 appoint archbishops and bishops to preside over them, without 
 the consent of the Sovereign, is a schismatical act without pre- 
 cedent, and one which would not be tolerated by the govern- 
 ment of any Roman Catholic kingdom. 1 trust that it Will not 
 be quietly submitted to by our own. 
 
 "Hitherto, from the time of the Reformation, the Pope has 
 been contented with providing for the spiritual superintendence 
 of his adherents in this country, by the appointment of vicars- 
 apostolic bishops who took their titles as such, not from any 
 real or pretended sees in England, but from some imaginary 
 dioceses in part ib as infidtliu'ai. In this there was no assumption 
 of spiritual authority over any other of the subjects of the 
 English Crown than those of his own communion. i ut the 
 appointment of bishops to preside over new dioceses in England, 
 constituted by a Papal brief, is virtually a denial of the legitimate 
 authority of the British Sovereign and the English episcopate; a 
 denial also of the validity of our orders, and an assertion of 
 spiritual jurisdiction over the whole Christian people of the realm. 
 
 ' That it is regai'ded in this light by the Pope's adherents in 
 this country is apparent from the language in which they felicitate 
 themselves upon this arrogant attempt to stretch his authority 
 beyond its proper limits. A journal which is generally believed 
 to express the sentiments of a large portion of them at least, (not, 
 I believe, of all,) points out, in the following words, the difference 
 between the vicars-apostolic and the pretended diocesan bishops. 
 Alluding to certain members of our Church, who are accused of a 
 leaning towards Rome, it says : In this act of Pope Pius IX. 
 they have that open declaration for which they have been so 
 long professing to look. Rome, said they, has never yet formally 
 spoken against us Her bishops, indeed, are sent here, not as 
 having any local authority, but as pastors without flocks ; Bishops 
 of Tadmor in the Desert, or of the ruins of Babylon, intruding 
 into territories which they cannot formally claim as their own. 
 This specious argument is once for all silenced. Rome has more 
 than spoken she has spoken and acted. She has again divided 
 our land into dioceses, and has placed over eai-h a pastor, to 
 whom all baptized persons, without exception, within that dis- 
 trict, are openly commanded to submit themselves in all eccle- 
 siastical matters under pain of damnation ; and the Anglican 
 sees, those ghosts of realities long passed away, are utt.rly 
 ignored.' 
 
 ' The advisers of the Pope have skilfully contrived so to shape 
 this encroachment upon the rights and honour of the Crown and 
 Church of England, that his nominees to imaginary dioceses will 
 not actually offend against the letter of the law by assuming the 
 titles which he has pretended to confer upon them ; but that it is 
 contrary to the spirit of the law there can be no doubt. As little 
 
478 AH-KVDIX. 
 
 doubt can there be that it is intended as an insult to the Sovereign 
 and the Church of this country. 
 
 " With respect to the conduct proper to be pursued by you 
 on this occasion, it ought, in my opinion, to be temperate and 
 charitable, but firm and uncompromising. 
 
 " You will do well to call the attention of your people to the 
 real purport of this open assault upon our reformed church ; and 
 to take measures for petitioning the Legislature to carry out the 
 principle of the statute which forbids all. persons, other than the 
 persons authorized by law, to assume or use the name, style, or 
 title of any archbishop of any province, bishop of anv bishopric, 
 or dean of any deanery in England or Ireland, bv extending 
 the prohibition to any pretended diocese or deaneries in these 
 realms. 
 
 "It is possible that such prohibitions might not have the effect 
 of preventing the assumption of titles by the Papal bishops, when 
 dealing with their own adherents : but it would make the assump- 
 tion unlawful, and it would mark the determination of the people 
 of this country not to permit any foreign prelate to exercis: 
 spiritual jurisdiction over them. 
 
 " But there are other duties besides those of protesting and peti- 
 tionini:, the performance of which seems to be specially required 
 of us by the present emergency. Unwilling as I am to encourage 
 controversial preaching, 1 must say that we are driven to have 
 recourse to it by this attempted usurpation of authority on the 
 part of the Bishop of Rome, and by the activity and subtlety of 
 his emissaries in a'l parts of the kingdom. We are surely called 
 upon for a more than ordinary measure of watchfulness and 
 diligence in fulfilling the promise which we gave when \\a were 
 admitted to the priesthood, 'to banish and drive away all erro- 
 neous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word.' 
 
 " Let us be careful as well in our public ministrations as in our 
 private monitions and exhortations, to refrain from doing or sav- 
 ing anything which may seem to indicate a wish to make the 
 slightest approach to a church which, far from manifesting a 
 desire to lav aside any of the errors and superstitions which com- 
 pelled us to sep irate from it, is now reasserting them with a 
 degree of boldness unknown since the Reformation ; is adding 
 new credenda to its articles of faith, and is undisguisedly teaching 
 its members the duty of worshipping the creature with the wor- 
 ship due only to the Creator. 
 
 'After all, I am much inclined to believe that in having 
 recourse to the extreme measure which has called forth your 
 address, the Court of Rome has been ill-advised as regards the 
 extension of its influence in this country, and that it has taken a 
 false step. That step will, I am convinced, tend to strengthen 
 the Protestant feeling of the people at large, and will cause some 
 persons to hesitate and draw back who are disposed to make 
 concessions to Koine, under a mistaken impression that she has 
 
Aprvv ; ' 479 
 
 abated somewhat of her ancient pretensions, and that a union of 
 the two churches might possibly be effected without the sacri- 
 ficing of any fundamental principle. Hardly anything could more 
 effectually dispel that illusion than the recent proceeding of the 
 Roman Pontiff. He virtually condemns and excommunicates the 
 whole English Church, Sovereign, bishops, clergy, and laity, and 
 shuts the door against every scheme of comprehension save 
 that which should take for its basis an entire and unconditional 
 submission to the spiritual authority of the Bishop of Rome. 
 
 " That it may please the Divine Head of the Church, who is 
 the true centre of unity and the only Infallible Judge, to guide 
 and strengthen us in these days of rebuke and trial, to open our 
 eyes to the dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions, and to 
 unite us in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, 
 is the earnest prayer, 
 
 " Reverend and dear Brethren, 
 
 " Of your affectionate friend and Bishop, 
 
 (Signed) "C.J.LONDON." 
 
 " To the Rev. the Clergy of the City and 
 Liberties of Westminster." 
 
 Without making any remarks on the measure of 18-9, that 
 altered so materially the position of Roman Catholics in England, 
 it is not uninteresting to recall to recollection the words of Lord 
 Eldon, addressed to the House of Lords on xhat occasion. 
 
 " 1 know that sooner or later this bill will overturn the aris- 
 tocracy and the monarchy. What I have stated is my notion of 
 the danger to the establishments. Have they not Roman Catholic 
 archbishops for every Protestant archbishop ? Roman Catholic 
 deans for every Protestant dean ? Did not the Roman Catholic 
 ecclesiastics dispute against Henry VIII. in defence of the power 
 of the pope ? And, in Alary's time, were not the laws affecting 
 the Roman Catholics repealed, not by the authority of parlia- 
 ment, but through the influence of the legate of the pope ? And, 
 even though you suppress these Roman Catholics \v!,o utter those 
 sediiious, treasonable, abominable, and detestable speeches, 
 others will arise who will utter speeches more treasonable, more 
 abominable, and more detestable. No sincere Roman Catholic 
 could, or did look for less than a Roman Catholic king, and a 
 Roman Catholic parliament. Their lordships might flatter them- 
 selves that the dangers he had anticipated were visionary, ami 
 God forbid that he should say that those who voted for the third 
 reading of the bill will not have done so, conscientiously believ- 
 ing that no danger exists, or can be apprehended from it. But, 
 in so voting, they had not that knowledge of the danger in which 
 
480 APPENDIX 
 
 they were placing the great, the paramount interests of this Pro- 
 tot taut Jstate ; ihcv had not that knowledge of its true interests 
 and situation which they ought, to have. Those with whom we 
 are dealing are too wary to apprise you, l>y any indiscreet con- 
 duct, of the danger to which you are exposed When (said the 
 noble earl, in a tone peculiarly solemn and impressive) when 
 those dangers shall have arrived, 1 shall have been consigned to 
 the urn, the sepulchre, and mortality ; but that they will arrive, 
 1 have no more doubt than that I yet continue to exist. You 
 hear the words of a man who wi.l soon be called to his great 
 account. God forbid therefore, that L should raise my warning 
 voice did I not deem this measure a breach of every notion that I 
 have of a civil contract a breach of every article of the consti- 
 tution, and contrary to the .spirit of those oaths which 1 have 
 taken to my King and to that constitution. Pardon, my lords, a 
 man far advanced in years, who is willing to give up his existence 
 to avert the dangers with which all he loves, all he reveres, are 
 threatened. L solemnly d -claro that I had rather not be living 
 to-morrow morning, than, on awaking, find that I had consented 
 to this measure. Believing it as 1 do, after nil the consideration 
 which I have given it, to bean a' rogation of all those j a\s which 
 I deem to be necessary to the safety of the Church a violation 
 of those laws which I hold to be as necessary to the preservation 
 of the Throne as of the Church, and as indispensable to the exist- 
 ence of the Lords and Commons of this realm as to that of the 
 King and of our holy religion ; feeling all this. I repeat that I 
 would rather cease to exist, than upon awaking to-morrow morn- 
 ing, find that I had consented to a measure fraught with evils so 
 imminent and so deadly, and of which, had I not solemnly ex- 
 pressed this my humbl but firm conviction, I should have been 
 acting the part of a traitor to my country, my Sovereign, and my 
 God." 
 
 LOUD JOHN 11USSELL S LETTER. 
 
 One of the redeeming signs of the times is the following nolrie 
 letter from the Prime Minister of England. It is as much the 
 exponent of his own feelings, 1 doubt not, as it is the evidence of 
 the depth and strength of the current of indignation that has set 
 in against the daring intrusion of the " Little Horn." 
 
 In all probability the steps taken by Pius IX., so much in 
 advance of our expectations, will hasten his approaching ruin. 
 
 " Quern Deus vult perdt-re prius dementat," seems an axiom 
 singularly applicable here. 
 
 The papal invasion is worth havinir, for the sake of the hidden 
 Protestantism it has manifested, and the dormant feeling which 
 i t has awakened. 
 
APPENDIX. 481 
 
 " TO THE EIGHT REV. THE BISHOP OF DURHAM. 
 
 "My dear Lord, I agree with you in considering ' the late 
 aggression of the Pope upon our Protestantism' as ' insolent and 
 insidious,' and I therefore feel as indignant as you can do upon 
 the subject. 
 
 " I not only promoted to the utmost of my power the claims of 
 the Roman Catholics to all civil rights, but I thought it right, 
 and even desirable, that the ecclesiastical system of the Roman 
 Catholics should be the means of giving instruction to the nume- 
 rous Irish immigrants in London and elsewhere, who without 
 such help would have been left in heathen ignorance. 
 
 " This might have been done, however, without any such inno- 
 vation as that which we have now seen. 
 
 "It is impossible to confound the recent measures of the Pope 
 with the division of Scotland into dioceses by the Episcopal 
 Church, or the arrangement of districts in England by the 
 Wesleyan Confei*ence. 
 
 " There is an assumption of power in all the documents which 
 have come from Rome a pretension to supremacy over the 
 realm of England, and a claim to sole and undivided sway, which 
 is inconsistent with the Queen's supremacy, with the rights of our 
 bishops and clergy, and with the spiritual independence of the 
 nation, as asserted even in Roman Catholic times. 
 
 " I confess, however, that my alarm is not equal to my 
 indignation. 
 
 "Even if it shall appear that the ministers and servants of 
 the Pope in this country have not transgressed the law, I feel 
 persuaded that we are strong enough to repel any outward 
 attacks. The liberty of Protestantism has been enjoyed too long 
 in England to allow of any successful attempt to impose a foreign 
 yoke upon our minds and consciences. No foreign prince or 
 potentate will be permitted to fasten his fetters upon a nation 
 which has so long and so nobly vindicated its right to freedom of 
 opinion, civil, political, and religious. 
 
 " Upon this subject, then, I will only say that the present state 
 of the law shall be carefully examined, and the propriety of adopt- 
 ing any proceedings with reference to the present assumptions of 
 power deliberately considered. 
 
 "There is. a danger, however, which alarms me much more 
 than any aggression of a foreign sovereign. 
 
 " Clergymen of our own Church, who have subscribed the Thirty- 
 nine Articles, and acknowledged in explicit terms the Queen's 
 supremacy, have been the most forward in leading their flocks, 
 ' step by step, to the very verge of the precipice.' The honour 
 paid to saints, the claim of infallibility for the Church, the super- 
 stitious use of the sign of the cross, the muttering of the Liturgy 
 so as to disguise the language in which it is written, the recom- 
 mendation of auricular confession, and the administration of 
 
 I I 
 
482 APPENDIX. 
 
 penance and absolution all these things are pointed out by 
 clergymen of the Church of England as worthy of adoption, and 
 are now openly reprehended by the Bishop of London in his 
 Charge to the clergy of his diocese. 
 
 " What, then, is the danger to be apprehended from a foreign 
 prince of no great power, compared to the danger within the 
 gates from the unworthy sons of the Church of England herself ? 
 
 " I have little hope that the proppunders and framers of 
 these innovations will desist from their insidious course. But I 
 rely with confidence on the people of England, and I will not 
 bate a jot of heart or hope, so long as the glorious principles and 
 the immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall be held in reverence 
 by the great mass of a nation which looks with contempt on the 
 mummeries of superstition, and with scorn at the laborious 
 endeavours which are now making to confine the intellect and 
 enslave the soul. 
 
 " I remain, with great respect, &c. 
 
 " J. RUSSELL." 
 " Downing-street, Nov. 4." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ABSOLUTION, in ancient offices, 
 simply a prayer, not a judicial 
 act, 421 
 
 Accidental, nothing is, 69. 
 
 Allusions, scriptural, instances of, 
 417 
 
 Ancient of Days, who ? 247 ; de- 
 scribed by Daniel, 248 ; described 
 by John, '248 ; comes before the 
 Millennium, 252 ; what follows re- 
 vela' ion of 252. 
 
 Ancient prophecy echoed by our 
 Sfciviour, 441. 
 
 Apostles refer to Book of Daniel, 4 ; 
 they all believed the Book of 
 Daniel inspired, 5. 
 
 Artaxerxes, third edict given by, in 
 the seventh year of his reign, 408. 
 
 Atonement, objections to, 344 ; na- 
 ture of, 361 ; considered, 371 ; joy- 
 ful news, 376 ; faith in, makes 
 happy and safe, 377 ; we need none 
 but Christ's to be delivered from 
 sin, 386. 
 
 Austria smitten second by the stone. 
 95. 
 
 Authenticity of Dock of Daniel, 8. 
 
 Babylon, apostasy of the earth, to 
 be destroyed by Christ's kingdom, 
 107. 
 
 Babylon, description of, by Jere- 
 miah, chap, xxvii. 5 8, 47; Bible 
 predictions against, 48 ; descrip- 
 tion of siege of, 52 ; modern 
 travellers describe complete ruin 
 of, 54 ; its power, duration of, 55 ; 
 type of destruction of, described in 
 the Apocalypse, 57. 
 
 Babylon, the king of, his like? and 
 dislikes, 17; like the world, 17; 
 his wishes, 17 ; his reason for 
 changing the names of the He- 
 brew youths, 17 j his endeavours 
 to convert the three Hebrew 
 youths, 18. 
 
 Baptism, not surely and always re- 
 generation, 105. 
 
 Beast, wild, a symbol of a nation 
 without the Gospel of Jesus, 230. 
 
 Belly and thighs of brass, the 
 Graeco- Macedonian, or third uni- 
 versal kingdom, 92. 
 
 Belshazzar, festival of, women pro- 
 sent at, 8 ; feast of, 163; not neces- 
 sarily sinful, 163 ; the sin that 
 characterised it, 164 ; its accom- 
 paniments, 167. 
 
 Bible, the truth of, nothing insigni- 
 ficant which establishes it, 9 ; 
 change in all, except, 73 ; reasoni 
 for cleaving to it, 240 ; should be 
 possessed in our hearts, 24 1 ; the 
 secret of a country's safety, 384. 
 
 Body, the, kings may control, 116. 
 
 Breast and arms of silver, the Medo- 
 Persian, or S3cond universal king- 
 dom, 92. 
 
 Business, adopt that which requires 
 no sacrifice of principle, 38. 
 
 Ceremonies and forms evanescent, 
 97. 
 
 Channing, Dr., remarks on his 
 creed, 359. 
 
 Charlemagne, 42. 
 
 Children, hearts of, tender, 14 ^in- 
 dutiful, one reason why they are 
 so, 40 ; should be accustomed to 
 self-s;icrifice,220 ; should be taught 
 to pray, 221 ; should have heart as 
 well as head education, 222. 
 
 Chrism, meaning of. 393. 
 
 Christ, the stone cut out without 
 hands, 82 ; his kingdom is secondly 
 a kingdom of persons, 104 ; coming 
 of, description of, 250 ; comes with 
 the speed of lightning, 251 ; his 
 death expiatory, ^43; voluntary, 
 
 344 ; accompaniments of, peculiar, 
 
 345 ; accompanied by miracles, 
 
 346 ; leading descriptions of, 347 ; 
 appellatives of, 347 ; commercial 
 appellatives of, 350 ; sacrificial ap- 
 pellatives of, 352 ; nature of, ob- 
 jective and occasional, 354 ; nature 
 of, remote relation or final deci- 
 sion, 357 ; nature of, expressive of 
 
 Divine action, 358 ; his mission, 
 one end of it to seal up the vision 
 and prophecy, 391 ; the Holy One 
 of G >d, 392 ; anointing of, what is 
 meant by, 392 ; is the Key to un- 
 lock the Psalms, 394 ; cut off in 
 the midst of the last seventy 
 
484 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 weeks, 411 ; his preaching emi- 
 nently popular, 412 ; the true Mel- 
 chizedec,the King of righteousness, 
 419; every action and word of, 
 bear the stamp and superscription 
 of Messiah the Prince, 420 ; to add 
 to his laws is treason, 420 ; hit law, 
 and law of Caesar, come sometimes 
 into collision, 420 ; as King, be- 
 stows forgiveness, 420 ; can alone 
 absolve, 420; as King, sends forth 
 ministers of the Gospel, 422 ; the 
 King, gives the Holy Spirit, 423 ; 
 in his kingly office, will decide at 
 the judgment-day, 423 ; his kingly 
 office intranslerable, 424 ; Prince 
 of Peace, 426 ; his kingdom, the 
 entrance into it, 429 ; his kingdom, 
 comes quietly, 429. 
 
 Christian, a, does not live to him- 
 self, 210. 
 
 Christians, real, need not to be con- 
 vinced of inspiration of Daniel, 6 ; 
 manv like JSaaman, 27. 
 
 Christianity, inward, the Church's 
 strength, 98. 
 
 Christmas, Christ not born on, but 
 before it, 410. 
 
 Church government, not the main 
 thing, 37. 
 
 Church of God, captive in Babylon, 
 44. 
 
 Church of Rome, constructed on the 
 ruins of the Roman empire, 65; 
 what she depends on lor her 
 power, 114; secures the homage of 
 all the senses, 1 15. 
 
 Church, the, Christ has been with 
 from the beginning of the world. 
 127 ; description of, 127 ; Tekel 
 applied to, 190 ; a Christian, when, 
 203. 
 
 Coming of Christ, passages which 
 announce it. 246. 
 
 Commands of God, never hesitate to 
 comply with, 12ft 
 
 Condemnation, the greatest, a neg- 
 lected Gospel, a rejected Saviour, 
 395. 
 
 Conduct, a Christian's, estimated by 
 the world, 193. 
 
 Confession, two sorts, 315; true, is 
 full and explicit, 316 ; of Daniel, 
 specific, 316; of sins, must be to 
 God himself, 318. 
 
 Congregations, all should have 
 schools, 23. 
 
 Conscience, sin in the, awful power 
 of, 212. 
 
 Corruption, the greatest when it is 
 the corruption of that which is 
 pure, 112. 
 
 Covenant, one only confirmed by 
 
 Christ, the New Covenant pre- 
 dicted in Jer. xxxi. 31, 411; 
 UUb. x. 15-18, 411 ; the New 
 Testament dispensation, 411. 
 
 Crucifix, the true, 342. 
 
 Daniel exposition of, 1 ; figures of, 
 2 ; Jows' objections to Book of, 2 ; 
 the author of Book of, 2 ; the au- 
 thor, evidence of, 2 ; contemporary 
 of Kzekiel, 3 ; the Book of, re- 
 ceived by the Jews as authentic, 
 3; the Book of, translated by 
 Alexandrian Jews, 3; the Book 
 of, in Septuagint, 3 ; the Book of, 
 written partly in Chaldee, 3; New 
 Testament, allusions to, 4 ; (illu- 
 sion to, in 2 Thess. Hi. 5; the 
 Book of, alluded to in Heb. xi. 33, 
 5 ; Book of, its distinctive features, 
 9; Book of, great object of it to 
 depress all that is human and exalt 
 all that is divine, 9 ; prophecy of, 
 partly fulfilled, 10; the Book of, a 
 duty to study, 11 ; very young 
 when made a captive, 12 ; called a 
 child, 12; his reason for refusing 
 to eat and drink the king's meat 
 and wine, 13; reason of his firm- 
 ness, 13; had a religious education, 
 13; education of, under God, the 
 the means of his preservation, 13; 
 of noble birth, 15 ; a scholar, 15; 
 skilled in all the learning of his 
 times, 15 ; a Hebrew, 16 ; his ac- 
 quaintance with all branches of 
 knowledge, 17; not like many 
 modern Christians, 20 ; his adhe- 
 rence to truth at all times, 20 ; 
 invitation to study him, 20 ; date 
 of the writing of, proved. 22 ; re- 
 mark about, 22; sought dutj rather 
 than smile of kinxs, 25 ; his con- 
 duct teaches a lesson, 26 ; faith- 
 fulnes-s of.gives a tone to his whole 
 lite, 28 ; trusted in goodness of Ins 
 cause, 31 ; his gentleness and 
 courtesy, 31 ; not a loser by adhe- 
 rence to principle, 33 ; explains 
 the vision of the king, 44; explains 
 what the image represented, 44 ; 
 the reason why he consented to be 
 the head of the astrologers, 173; 
 reason why he prayed at an open 
 window, 203 ; prayer sustained the 
 inner life of, 204 ; his nearness to 
 God, in private that made him 
 consistent in public, 204 ; his life 
 instrumental, in God's hand, in 
 conversion of Darius, 209; educated 
 in the Gospel, 220 ; s>elf-sacrifice a 
 result of his education, 220; a 
 sketch of, by an ancient writer, 
 225 ; intensity of his pra>er, 330 ; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 485 
 
 the time he prayed, 338 ; his re- 
 ligion and ours the same, 444. 
 
 Darius, his decree, 217; edict of, 
 second period, recorded in Ezra 
 vi., 403. 
 
 Death not a natural thing, 208 ; the 
 Christian victorious over, 208 ; 
 only the removal to life in the case 
 of a Christian, 208. 
 
 Diity, pictures of, objectionable, 
 247. 
 
 Dream of Nebuchadnezzar, 129. 
 
 Dreams, conclusions to be come to 
 respecting them, 57. 
 
 Duties of to-day best preparation 
 for to-morrow's trials, 35. 
 
 Duty not a thing of longitude and 
 latitude, 25 ; the same everywhere, 
 25 ; manner in which Daniel dis- 
 charged his, 201. 
 
 Early martyrs, Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego, 110. 
 
 Earthly g imdeur treated in Scrip- 
 ture as fading grass, 64; minds, 
 chairacteristics of, 187. 
 
 Edict, fourth, given to Nehenaiah in 
 the '20th year of Ar axerxes, 407. 
 
 Education, Christian, a blessing, 22. 
 
 Elliot, Mr., his belief drawn from 
 Scripture, 96. 
 
 Empire of head of gold, 43; of Cy- 
 rui described b.y Xenophon and 
 Herodotus, 62 ; silver, overthrown 
 by Alexander, 63 ; Roman, much 
 said of it by Daniel, 65 ; fourth 
 universal, further proved by Gib- 
 bo-. 67 ; the iron, 77. 
 
 Empires, the four, their names, 46; 
 Medo-Percian and Graeeo-Macedo- 
 nian, oO ; four universal only, 92. 
 
 Eucharist not a fast but a feast, 
 378. 
 
 Events often turning-points in one's 
 character, 27. 
 
 Evidence conclusive that Jesus is 
 the Messiah, 397. 
 
 Facts i ecorded in >he Bible are at- 
 tasted by heathen historians, 114; 
 tending to prove that the heavens 
 do rule, 158 ; a repetition of, be- 
 fore stated, 226. 
 
 Faith not our Saviour, 378. 
 
 False religion only a corruption of 
 the true, 112. 
 
 Fasting considered, 280; true, the 
 nature of, 284 ; the end of, 285 ; 
 to be observed in the spirit and not 
 in the letter, 287 ; advocated by 
 Jerome, 290. 
 
 Feast of Belshazzar, not necessarily 
 sinful, 163; the sin that charac- 
 terised it, 164. 
 
 France smitten by the stone, 95. 
 
 Gates frequently referred to in the 
 
 Bible, 111. 
 
 Gentile law of God's worship, 202. 
 Germany smitten third by the stone, 
 
 Gibbon, his description of Koran, 
 267. 
 
 God our only refuge in trouble, 87 ; 
 he rules, and in this fact he de- 
 signs good to us and glory to him- 
 self, 155; he reigns, evidences 
 that, 164; weighs all motives and 
 men. 178 ; never forsakes his peo- 
 ple till they forsake him, 442. 
 
 God's people, their frequent expe- 
 rience, 45; word more powerlul 
 than princes, 55; doings to be 
 viewed in connexion with another 
 world, 157. 
 
 Gold, fall of the head of, 52 ; head of, 
 the Babylonian or first universal 
 kingdom, 92. 
 
 Good, all things work for, 219. 
 
 Gospel, the character of, 100. 
 
 Grace, pray for, 205. 
 
 Grandeur, earthly, described in 
 Scripture as fading gra*s, 64. 
 
 Heathens note a purer life sooner 
 than a pure creed, 1 96. 
 
 Heaven, we must be fitted for it by 
 the Holy Spirit, 387. 
 
 Hebrew youths, circumstances of, 
 22; the beautiful answer of, to 
 Nebuchadnezzar, 118 ; felt duty to 
 God greater than loyalty to an 
 earthly king, 1 23 ; their faith in 
 God's promises. 125. 
 
 Herodotus, Babylon described by, 
 48; describes siege of Babylon, 
 53 ; describes empire of Cyrus, 62. 
 
 Hesitation wrong in matters of re- 
 ligion, 126. 
 
 High Prie.st. Jesus is the, of his 
 Church, 417. 
 
 History, the echo of truth in the 
 prophecies of God, 42 ; uncon- 
 scious echo of God's prophecy 67. 
 
 History a: id historians attest the 
 truth of God's word. 445 
 
 Hooker, a passage from, 225. 
 
 Horn, littl>-, 229; the Papal power 
 now reigning at Kome, 231 ; pro- 
 phecy of, fulfilled, ^32 ; another 
 feature to identify it with Papal 
 power, 235 ; wasting away of. 243 : 
 what meant by, 262 ; rise and pro- 
 gress of, 265 ; when did it begiu 
 to fail ? 270. 
 
 Horns, three, the three states of the 
 Church, 95. 
 
 Houses, in taking them prefer those 
 which are nearest to a Gispel 
 ministry, 33. 
 
486 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 Howell's, Mr , a saying of, 99. 
 
 Image, the mystic stone, smiting the, 
 75 ; ten toes of ten kingdoms, 93 
 
 India, use of secular education in, 1G. 
 
 Isa ah and Daniel, of a royal tribe, 
 15. 
 
 Islamism adverse to Christianity, 
 270. 
 
 Italy, smitten fourth by the stone, 95. 
 
 Jerome advocated fasting and monk- 
 ery, '290. 
 
 Jerusalem, Daniel's prayer for, ap- 
 propr are to present times, 327 ; 
 command to rebuild it, the com- 
 mencing period of the 70 weeks, 
 399 ; its destruction, 432 ; temple 
 of, only possible remains, a stone, 
 433 ; what Orist says in predict- 
 in;* its ruin, 43$; God's anger to it 
 has a limit, 439. 
 
 Jesus Chris' , refers to Book of Daniel 
 4 ; his greatness in minute affairs 
 of this lie, ^9 ; hi* faithfulness in 
 itrea- as well as in littl-3 things. 29 ; 
 works of, contracted with those of 
 Mahomet, 2(59 ; grand character- 
 istic s of death of, 396 ; results of 
 death of. embodied in Dan. ix. 24, 
 396 ; the Messiah, irresistible evi- 
 dence that he is, 415 ; the object 
 and hope of all ti*ue believers, 
 417. 
 
 Jews, their objections to Book of 
 Daniel, 2 ; the gathering to their 
 own land, 107 ; reason why they 
 always looked to Jerusalem when 
 they prayed, 202; law ot their 
 worship, 203 
 
 Josephus asserts authenticity of 
 Daniel, 30 ; his comments on Daniel 
 31 ; some account of, 34 ; like our 
 modern philosophers, 34 ; a fa^t 
 related by, 214. 
 
 Judgment-day, description of, 4?3. 
 
 Kingdom, fourth, strong as iron, 61. 
 
 Kingdom. Christ's first, isakingdom 
 of principles, 97. 
 
 Kingdom of God, main elements of, 
 100 
 
 Kingdom of Christ, external cha- 
 racteristics of, 105; a ('a* hollo 
 king lorn, 105; united kingdom, 
 106; a holy kingdom, 106; to de- 
 stroy all oth.-r kingdoms, and cover 
 the earth, 1 07 ; com s speedily, 
 108 ; saints only will occupy, 253; 
 description of, 253. 
 
 Kingdoms, universal, four, 41. 
 
 Kingdoms, part of, now severed from 
 the Pope, 95. 
 
 Kings should be prayed for, that 
 they may have grace not to set up 
 any idols, 113. 
 
 Knowledge, secular, not to be dis- 
 couraged, 36. 
 
 Koran, Gibbon's description of, 267. 
 
 Law, by deeds of, none can be justi- 
 fied, 183. 
 
 Layard, his disclosures, 46. 
 
 Learning, man's, a great aid in prov- 
 ing the inspiration of the Bible, 9. 
 
 Lessons, practica , 238. 
 
 Living religion, the great defence 
 against Puseyism and Popery, 241. 
 
 Mahomet, his mission, Gibbon tes- 
 tifies to, 268 ; a finished hypocrite, 
 270. 
 
 Malachi prophecies the downfal of 
 the Jews, 436. 
 
 Man, prayerless, is graceless, 205. 
 
 Marshal Massena, anecdote of, 200. 
 
 Martyrs, when required, receive 
 from God a martyr's spirit, 117. 
 
 Man, all weighed by God, 179; their 
 affairs Go;l rules, 444. 
 
 Messiah, important offices of, 417. 
 
 Messiahship, pretenders to, no dis- 
 proof of claims of Jesus, 399. 
 
 Millennium, description of, 253. 
 
 Milton, a passage from, 235. 
 
 Minister, a, has no power to absolve 
 from sin, 421 ; none true but those 
 commissioned by Jeus. 422. 
 
 Monkery opposed by Vigilantius, 290. 
 
 Moses pre licte 1 the down!al of the 
 Jews, 435. 
 
 Mo' her, a, her lessons, 23. 
 
 Motives, all weighed by God, 178. 
 
 Music, Nebuchadnezzar knew the 
 charm of, 115. 
 
 Name, Christian, a beautiful thing. 
 24. 
 
 Napoleon, 42. 
 
 Nation, a, its duties, 189. 
 
 Nation, Jewish, great end and pur- 
 pose of, 414. 
 
 Nations, Tekel may be applied to, 
 189. 
 
 Nebuchalnezzar tried an artful 
 plan to convert the three Hebrew 
 youths, 23, 24 ; his conduct quite 
 popish. 111; the image that ap- 
 peared to, 1 1 3 ; his dream and the 
 interpretation, 129 ; the epistle of, 
 pervaded by missionary feeling, 
 132 ; his dream expatiated on, 133 ; 
 his experience teaches the bless- 
 ings ol' affliction, 1 38. 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, on Daniel, 1. 
 
 Newton, Bishop, 1. 
 
 Newton, John, remark about, 23. 
 
 IS'ineveh, its destruction, 46. 
 
 Oifering and oblation ceased six 
 months before and eighteen 
 months after Christ's death, 413. 
 
 Oratorios, remarks on, 166 
 
INDEX. 
 
 487 
 
 Palestine, present state of, fulfils the 
 prediction, 437 ; Chateaubriand 
 depicts present state of, 438. 
 
 Parents spoken to, 37. 
 
 Pator, his oilice not kingly, 425. 
 
 Peace, the consequence of justifica- 
 tion by faith, 99 ; Christianity 
 gives perfect, '201 ; confidence in 
 God gives perfect, '201 ; the Chris- 
 tian enjoys even in suffering, 208 ; 
 true way to have it, 426 ; none to 
 the wicked, 427. 
 
 Pentecost, the evidence of Christ's 
 kingly office, 423. 
 
 People of God, characteristics of 
 187; a suffering people, 208. 
 
 Peter believed Book of Daniel in- 
 spired, 5. 
 
 Popery more corrupt than heathen- 
 ism, 112. 
 
 Porphyry, his opinion of Daniel, 10. 
 
 Porte, or gate, Turkey the only 
 country now using the word, 111. 
 
 Prayer, the only resource in trial 
 43; God answers, 43; necessity 
 of, 98 ; with or without a liturgy, 
 does not necessarily constitute a 
 person a subject of the true king- 
 dom, 104 ; a privilege as well as a 
 duty, 205 ; efficacy of, 27H ; the 
 age of, still lasts, 279 ; importance 
 of, cannot be overrated, 2'J4 ; 
 hymn on, 294; the end of, 2 ( .)- r ) ; 
 works no change in God, 290 ; 
 not an atonement for sin, 297 ; 
 not a penance, /98 ; should be 
 addressed to God as our Father, 
 
 301 , should be offered in the 
 name of Christ. 302 ; should be in 
 the strength of the Holy Spirit, 
 
 302 ; should be intense, earnest, 
 3>>4 ; should be made for temporal 
 blessings, 305 ; should be made 
 chiefly for spiritual blessings, 30G ; 
 to be made for foes as well as 
 friends, 308 ; encouragement to, 
 309 ; real intensity of, 328 ; Chris- 
 tian elements of, 330 ; not to be 
 for ourselves alone. 333 ; to be 
 combined with painstaking. 335 ; 
 of Daniel, the answer to it was 
 imim-diate, 340. 
 
 Predi tiutis of St Paul, the echo of 
 the prophecies of Daniel, 244. 
 
 Pride, GoJ will abase, 139 ; the 
 great lesson taught in the dream 
 of Nebuchadnezzar, 139 ; the ele- 
 ments of human, 142 ; power ano- 
 ther source of, 142 ; various sources 
 of, 142 ; the Gospel alone can 
 humble, 144. 
 
 Priests, no such office in Christ's 
 church, 421. 
 
 Prime-minister, Daniel an honest, 
 197 
 
 Princes, God's Word more powerful 
 than, 55. 
 
 Principle the path of the highest 
 expediency, l^(j. 
 
 Promises to be turned into prayer, 
 306. 
 
 Prophecies, evidence of the fulfil- 
 ment of, 52. 
 
 Prophecy, history of the echo of, 48 ; 
 reflected even in newspapers, 73 ; 
 study of, u.=eful, 89 ; what it indi- 
 cates by four notable horns his- 
 tory teaches 2GO: result of study 
 of, 261 ; fulfilment of, useful les- 
 sons drawn from, 272 ; spirit of, 
 departed from the Jews 409 years 
 before the Christian era, 409. 
 
 Prophets, all point to Jesus, 394 ; all 
 proclaim one Saviour, 445. 
 
 Propositions, three, which neces- 
 sitate the sort of death Christ 
 suffered, 3GG. 
 
 Proverb, a German, 83. 
 
 Providence of God reveals to i 
 the truth of God's prophetic Word, 
 413. 
 
 Psalms all celebrate Jesus, 394. 
 
 Reconciliation, Christ shall bring 
 in, 389. 
 
 Refuge, cities of, an appeal to fly to, 
 190. 
 
 Regeneration not the consequence 
 of baptism 105 ; what it is, 144. 
 
 Regime, ecclesiastical, not essential 
 to the existence of the kingdom ol 
 Ci.rist, 98. 
 
 Religion, to some a mere romance, 
 37 ; real, to be showed in little 
 things as well as great, 30; the 
 great thing, 34 ; true, nothing 
 permanent without, 71 ; all na- 
 tions without it deteriorate, 7 1 ; 
 established by Jaw, not to be fol- 
 lowed unless it be the true one, 
 121 ; evangelical, the religion of 
 the Bible, 239 ; one only true. 44->. 
 
 Riches, rank, worthlessness of. 88 
 
 Righteousness, Christ's, twofold. 99. 
 
 Rite, nor ceremony, neither c<tn jus- 
 tify, 415. 
 
 Roman Empire, much said of it by 
 Daniel, 65 ; divided in:o ten king- 
 doms, 93. 
 
 Roman, or iron kingdom, the fourth 
 universal kingdom. 92. 
 
 Roman Catholic, how contrasted 
 with the Christian, 213. 
 
 Rome, the fourth empire of Daniel, 
 testimony to, by Gibbon, 66; 
 Church of, to be swept away by 
 the coming of the Lord, 244. 
 
488 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Romish Church constructed on the 
 
 ruins of ihe Roman Empire, 65. 
 Sabbath, when used for trade, a de- 
 
 secration of the holy vessels, 167. 
 Sabbaths, never to be sacrinced, 39 ; 
 the poor man's privilege. 39. 
 -"rifice and oblation ceased, reason 
 
 v, 413. 
 
 Saivudon, what it is. 430. 
 Satan, his presence in the rise and 
 fall of Mahommedanism, 273 ; his 
 power limited, 1'73. 
 
 Sermun, the evidence of a good 
 one, 9. 
 
 Sermons unregarded become awful 
 judgments, 175. 
 
 Seventy weeks, disputes about, 397 ; 
 are 70 weeks of years, or 490 
 years, 400 ; difficulties about when 
 they commence, 402 ; a difficulty 
 about, 408. 
 
 Shadracl), Meshach. and Abed-nego, 
 reference to, 6; their being fed at 
 the royal table coroborates the 
 fact that Daniel lived at the time 
 alleged, 6. 
 
 Shorter Catechism, its excellence, 
 13. 
 
 Sin, acknowledgment of, 311; not 
 made by God, 311 ; whence from, 
 Bible does not say, 311; source of 
 evil, 311 ; wrong dons to man's 
 conscience, 311; wrong done to 
 the affections, 313 ; an injury done 
 to reason, 313; injury done to the 
 s ml, 313; injury done to society, 
 314; hateful to God, 314; for- 
 giveness of, 320 ; God alone for- 
 gives, 320 ; unlike even thing else, 
 370 ; the cause of the ruin of men 
 and cities. 441. 
 
 Siiuu'.arity, fear it not in matters of 
 religiun. 123. 
 
 So^ietv, difference of God's and 
 niiii's plan for the ameliora ion 
 of, 10?. 
 
 Soul, importance of its safety, 3G ; 
 the, kings cannot control, ll'i. 
 
 Stone, which is Christ, to fall sud- 
 denly on the ten kingdoms, 94 ; 
 France smitten by the, 95. 
 
 Strabo, Babylon described by, 48. 
 
 Strengtn and victory, source of, 30. 
 
 Bartering to a Christian is paternal, 
 38") ; to an unbeLever is penal, 
 3*o. 
 
 Symbol, every, has its counterpart 
 in fact and history, til ; the four 
 kingdoms depicted under a new, 
 
 228 ; first, image of different 
 metals, 228 ; second, four wild 
 beasts, 228. 
 
 Tekel explained, 179: how to es- 
 cape this inscription, 183. 
 Ten toes, or divisions of fourth king- 
 dom, 41. 
 
 Ten kingdoms, 41 ; description of, 
 79 ; startling fact respecting, 80. 
 
 Thanksgiving to be made when 
 
 prayer is answered, 44. 
 Time, a, in prophetic language, is a 
 year, 237. 
 
 Transgression, to finish, the first 
 work that Daniel predicts Christ 
 is to accomplish, 32. 
 
 Truth of God lasting, 94. 
 
 Truth needs no apology, 138 ; it 
 triumph, 255 ; set forth by ancient 
 writers hieroglyphically, 259. 
 
 Vial, seventh, 84 
 
 Victory and strength, source of, 30. 
 
 Vi^ilantiua opposed fasting and 
 monkery, 290. 
 
 Visible Churches, members of, not 
 all members of Christ's kingdom, 
 430. 
 
 Vision of the king explained, 44. 
 
 "Warriors and statesmen unwittingly 
 fulfilling prophecy, 68. 
 
 Ways, many, to prove that the nar- 
 rative Daniel relates is from his 
 pen, 7. 
 
 Weeks, seventy, commencing period 
 of, the seventh year of reign of 
 Artaxerxes, 408. 
 
 Weighed and found wanting, 183; 
 who are. 183. 
 
 Woman, what has raised her to her 
 proper position, 383. 
 
 Word, God's, stronger than all be- 
 sides, 93 ; truths of, humbling, 
 453 
 
 Works, God's, in all, infinite detail 
 and patient labour, 28. 
 
 Xenophon, his authority to prove 
 the fact that women went to fes- 
 tivals, 8 ; description of the last 
 king of Babylon by, 8 ; his de- 
 scription of city of Babylon, 47 ; 
 describes empire of Cyrus, 62. 
 
 Years, 490, divided by the prophet 
 into three periods, 401. 
 
 Young men need every argument to 
 convince them of the inspiration 
 of Scripture, 6; a lesson to, 33. 
 
 Youths, the Hebrew, their firm ad- 
 herence to principle, 19; circum- 
 stances of, 22. 
 
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