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gion, while it sets aside all rank and gradation within the Church itself. But the hope here presented to us is widely different. When the stone has smitten the image, it becomes a great mountain. It is not the dead level of a spiritual democracy, but ordinances of royalty and righteous dominion, which will then everywhere prevail. For mountains are, in all Scripture, emblems of princes and sovereigns, who, from the height of superior power, shed their fertilizing streams on the people that rest, like quiet valleys, beneath their shade. Such will be, as revealed in this vision, the economy of Messiah's kingdom. No level monotony will be found in it, but all the ranks of a wellordered polity. Even among the saints of the resurrection, one star differeth from another star in glory.” Variety and sovereignty are alike impressed upon all the works of God. It is only in the desert wilderness that we find an unbroken level, one monotonous waste of sand. But far different are the features of the good land of promise. The spiritual, as the natural Canaan, is " a land of hills and valleys ;" and more abundantly, by this sweet interchange, "drinketh water of the rain of heaven." And when the predicted mountain shall fill the whole earth, the emblem implies that holiness and love will be dispensed, in beautiful gradation, and through righteous ordinances, from the supreme Ruler to the various tribes of sojourners in the lower world. The delusions of spiritual democracy and national atheism will have disappeared, along with tyranny and idolatrous superstition. For the saints of the Most High will then possess the kingdom, and the bare thought of ruling apart from the will and word of Christ will have passed away as a hateful dream of the kingdom of darkness.

III. A further lesson to be drawn from these predictions is THE DEEP AND SURPASSING INTEREST OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVES. There is a kingdom to be established on the ransomed earth, in which the Son of

man will reign for ever. The King himself has appeared, but only for a very little season, here below. An inspired record remains, which reveals to us the thoughts, and words, and actions, during his sojourn on earth, of this everlasting King. Viewed in this connexion with the coming kingdom, what a fresh interest is thrown around every narrative, and each separate verse, of these holy Gospels! Each is a seed of eternal things. Each reveals to us some maxim of wisdom, or love, or holiness, in the heart of Him who will shortly be invested, and that visibly, with universal dominion. How vast an expansion, then, will every one of these truths receive in that kingdom of God! For the same word declares to us that "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." When the whole earth shall be receiving the law from His mouth, and shall walk in the light of His presence, every one of those gracious sentences, or actions of holy love, will be revealing more and more, through eternal ages, their secret excellence and divine beauty. Then will be seen in all its brightness, the true blessedness of the meek, the merciful, and the pure in heart. Then will He who is now the light of the Gentiles, be also manifestly the peculiar glory of his people Israel. The heavens will then be opened, according to his promise, and the angels of God be seen ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Every miracle will be realized in its spiritual antitype; and every parable disclose some unsuspected depth of eternal wisdom. These simple records of the Lord Jesus, now despised by the proud and the worldly hearted, will yield to saints and archangels fresh themes of wondering meditation, when thousand upon thousand ages shall have rolled away. And thus the parable of our Lord will be fulfilled; the mustard-seed will have spread into a mighty tree, and will overcanopy with its delightful shadow a ransomed universe.

Our wisdom, then, must be to realize, even now, this intimate connexion between the Gospels of our Lord and Saviour, and the kingdom that is to be revealed.

We may thus, by the blessing of God, be preserved from two opposite evils. There is a Judaizing and carnal tone of thought, in which the hidden glory of the cross is forgotten, and the sensible and outward elements of the Christian hope replace those, and thrust them out of the memory, which are spiritual and divine. On the other hand the Gospel itself may be turned into a mere abstraction, a string of dogmas, a dry and heartless skeleton of doctrines, from which the life has entirely passed away. But the connexion suggested by this vision is a safeguard against either danger. The prospect of the visible glory will maintain its heavenly dignity and power, when we read the prophecies in the light which beams from the cross and the resurrection of our Lord. And again, the doctrines of the Gospel will be felt as living realities, when we associate them with the visible manifestation of Messiah's kingdom. The word itself will resume its original meaning, in all its delightful freshness, as "the glad tidings of the kingdom of God." Seen in this light, it reveals to us the person and character of the great King, the maxims of His government, the character of those who sit nearest to Him in his kingdom, the depth of His agony endured out of love to rebels, the way of recovery to His favour, the assurance to every true penitent of a place and a share in His future and eternal dominion. The cross, interpreted by the coming glory, becomes a still deeper mystery of love, and appeals to the affections of the sinner with an added emphasis of Divine power. And the hope itself of that kingdom becomes more spiritual and heavenly, when we read it in the holy light of the inspired gospels, and learn to connect it with the sufferings of our incarnate Saviour. "The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom." Such were the two opposite temptations in the apostolic age. The union of these two great themes of prophecy, "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that shall follow," is the divine and effectual remedy against either delusion. May we have

grace and wisdom, in these days, to use it aright! Thus we shall be preserved, alike from the snare of fanatical excitement, destructive of peace and spiritual discernment; and from that speculative and abstract faith, which strips the Gospel of its true glory, and casts aside the great hope of the Church-the coming of the Lord Jesus in the clouds of heaven.

CHAPTER XX.

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.

DAN. H. 47.-" THE KING ANSWERED UNTO DANIEL AND SAID, OF A truth IT IS THAT YOUR GOD IS A GOD OF GODS, AND A LORD OF KINGS, AND A REVEALER OF SECRETS, SEEING THOU COULDEST REVEAL THIS SECRET. VIII. 28.-" HITHERTO IS THE END OF THE MATTER. AS FOR ME, DANIEL, MY COGITATIONS MUCH TROUBLED ME, AND MY COUNTENANCE CHANGED IN ME; BUT I KEPT THE MATTER IN MY HEART."

THE Course of these sacred visions has now been unfolded, from its beginning to its close. The general outline of their application has first of all been defined by clear and simple proofs, confirmed by the general assent of every age of the church. The history of the three first empires, and of the fourth in its earlier stage, has been briefly described, and found to be in full agreement with the prophetic symbols. The meaning of the ten kings and of the little horn has next been submitted to a close and full examination. The application of these to the kingdoms of Western Europe, and the papacy of Rome, has been established by various proofs,—the order of the prophecy, the strict meaning of the terms, and the clear fulfilment of each separate element of the prediction. The moral difficulties supposed to lie against this exposition have also been examined, and found to supply a further argument in its favour, while some lessons of deep interest to a spiritual mind have been derived from a review of the whole history.

The vision has next conducted our thoughts from the past events of Providence to the future kingdom of God. The nature of this kingdom has been examined. Three

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