seed and the name of Israel, he assures us, | Matt. 25: 31, will be reached "When the Son shall forever afterwards endure, and be as per- of man shall come in his glory and all the holy manent as the new heavens and the new earth. angels with him ;" for then will he sit upon the (See Jer. 31: 35, 37; 33: 25, 26.) These throne of his glory. This is a promise, therenew heavens and new earth are, we doubt not, fore, for which the apostles still wait, depending the regeneration to which our Lord refers; and on the faithfulness and the power of their Lord the thrones of judgment he promised his apos- and Master. Nor are the twelve tribes of Israel tles over the twelve tribes of Israel are to be yet gathered. This is another note of time, enjoyed in this new and blessed condition of all which serves to establish the futurity of the rethings. generation. Many interpreters deny that the twelve tribes of Israel ever will be restored, but although the Saviour does not here expressly declare that they shall be, yet he assumes it as a purposed event. His words are: "Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judg The apostle Paul (Rom. 8:18–23), evidently refers to the same era. He describes the earth as travailing and groaning now; but waiting, nevertheless, with intense expectation for a glorious change. For the creature, that is, the physical creation itself, he says, shall be de-ing the twelve tribes of Israel." livered from its present bondage of corruption, and made to share in the glorious liberty of the children of God. This deliverance, we conceive, will be accomplished by the regeneration of which our Lord spoke. We understand Isaiah 6:3; 11: 9; 40: 5, as referring to the same era and condition of the earth. Rev. 21: 5 seems to be a repetition of the prophecy of Isaiah; at least the language is so similar that the writer must have had the words of the prophet in his mind. Those who restrict the word to the resurrection of the bodies of the saints, curtail its meaning. It includes physical nature, as the passages cited prove; to which we may add, Isaiah 32: 14, 15; 41: 18, 19; 43: 19, 20; 51: ; 55: 13; 11: 6, 8; 35:9; 65: 25; Hosea 2 18. Even the lower orders of animal nature will share in it (Isa. 11; 65: 25; Ezek. 34: 25; Rom. 8: 19-22) as well as man, and the whole body of the elect church. (Matt. 25: 31-40; 1 Cor. 15: 43–52; Philip. 3: 20, 21.) "When the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory." All the terms in which this promise is expressed are very striking and significant; thrones-sitting on thrones-judging, or ruling over, the twelve tribes of Israel—in the palingenesia (the regeneration), when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory. The promise hinges on greater events than the world has ever yet witnessed. The Saviour assumes that they are all unalterably fixed in the Divine purpose, and the very fact that he assumes them as certainties, shows his interpretation of the Scriptures which predict them. He observes the same method in the promise he gave them at the institution of the Supper. (Luke 22 : 28–30.) Those who refuse to receive these promises in their full and literal sense, commit themselves to the work of explaining the most important prophecies relating to the destiny of Israel, in opposition to the plain and obvious meaning of the language in which they are expressed. But all difficulties of interpretation disappear, if we but admit what the Scriptures plainly teach, that the present is not the final In this expression we have a note of the dispensation of God's government over men on time appointed for the fulfilment of the pro- earth (see note on Acts 3: 21), but designed mise. The Saviour promised his apostles that chiefly for the preparatory work of the gatherthey should sit upon thrones in the regenera-ing of the Church. This done, the dispensation tion, at the time when he should sit upon the throne which belongs to him as the Son of Man. The regeneration or palingenesia he spoke of is, therefore, still future. The precise epoch of its commencement, as we learn from will be closed, and the close of it will be signalized by the restoration of Israel to the land God covenanted to give Abraham for an everlasting possession—the coming of the Son of Man for the judgment of all nations (Matt. 25: 31); the resurrection and glorification of the elect Church, and the inauguration of a new dispensation, variously called the restitution of all things (Acts 3:21), the new heavens and the new earth (Isa. 65: 17; 2 Pet. 3: 13), the world to come (τnv oikovμevnv τnv μeddo voav, Heb. 2: 5), and in this place the regeneration, during which the apostles, in fulfilment of this promise of the Saviour, will be intrusted with the government of the twelve tribes of Israel, but in what manner it is impossible for us to conjecture. There is nothing preposterous or degrading in the idea of the apostles reigning over Israel in the new earth. The reign of Jehovah over Israel during the theocracy was personal. (1 Sam. 87.) He appeared at times in human form, and he gave them symbols of his presence in his temple. But the earth was not then what it will be in the regeneration of it. How can it be degrading to the apostles or detract from their happiness to serve God as kings in the way of his appointment? To depreciate the rewards which the Saviour promises, or to argue that they are less glorious or desirable than those which he might bestow under some different arrangement or ordering of things, betrays not only great presumption, but a spirit not unlike that which the Lord often rebuked. (Mark 9: 33; Matt. 20: 21, 26, 27.) STUDY OF THE PROPHETS. A WORD IN SEASON. BY WILLIAM LEASK, D.D.* THE rectification of one error is a great thing; the redemption of one forgotten truth from beneath the pile of human tradition is a greater still; and the successful appeal to men to rally around Christ the Saviour-King is the greatest of all. May this loftiest of honors wreathe the brow of every man who is holding out the Bible to poor wandering humanity, and crying, "Lo! it is the proclamation of God, that he intends * HAPPY YEARS AT HAND: Outlines of the Coming Theocracy. By William Leask, D.D., London. Ward & Co., 27 Paternoster Row, 1861, pp. 214. setting up a glorious kingdom upon this longdistracted and bleeding planet." Happily the number of such men, though still few, is rapidly on the increase. Great and longforgotten truths are beginning to reappear. Thoughtful men have been for many years ill at ease. Results at efforts to evangelize the world have been sadly out of proportion to the efforts themselves. What does God intend to do with this world,—this great, beautiful, and populous world, the scene of so many miseries, so many mighty acts, so many Divine miracles, and so many and such long-continued struggles between the powers of good and evil? Shall it be converted? If so, by what instrumentality, and when ?—and that "when ?" has come back from every idol-temple and lofty mountain in a long and sickly echo. And again the dreary "when ?" has gone up to heaven from the prayer-meeting, fallen doubtfully from the preacher's lips, rolled heavily in the large missionary meeting, and passed around the globe like a desolate thing seeking a resting-place, and finding none. Or, does God intend suddenly to destroy the works of his hands, to set fire to the earth, and sweep it to destruction, just at the time when multitudes were beginning to hope that signs of better days were budding forth to gladden the eyes of the nations? Shall the earth-Adam's earth, man's earth, CHRIST'S earth-speedily be seen by startled angels flying in its orbit through the heavens, one vast globe of intensely heated fire, like the steamship in flames rushing madly through the hissing sea? Such awful questions as these have long engaged the thoughts of devout thinkers, but no satisfactory answer was obtained. Some few men, however, hinted that it might be well to open the books of prophecy, and to try to realize the import of the visions of holy seers. But the habits, prejudices, and theories of the churches and pastors were all against that. not with prophecy." "It cannot be understood." "Preach the Gospel." phecy alone." Such were the precepts of our teachers. Well, but we may ask, What shall we read, if not prophecy? How much Bible will be left to us, if all its predictions be excluded? Does it honor the Holy Spirit to say "Meddle "Let pro But then it is objected that certain students of prophecy have made calculations of dates and periods which the event has falsified. Nothing more likely; and yet we see not much more harm in making calculations from prophecy, than in making them from the results of the missionary efforts of the last fifty years to ascertain how long it will be before the world shall be converted at the same rate, which à celebrated missionary did not long ago, and gave us as the result the astounding answer of a million of years! So far as the hopes of men are at present concerned, he might just as well have said "Never." But we do not plead for calculations, but for facts. God will take care of "the times and seasons;" let us believe the facts, and go cheerfully to work just as he has bidden us, and all will shortly be well. The kingdom will come. that prophecy cannot be understood? Is it not far more likely that he intended us to be made acquainted with leading facts, by presenting them in appropriate language, than that he designed to speak so obscurely that in effect it should amount to entire silence? Surely he is the Revealer, not the Concealor. Hath not God revealed them to us by his Spirit, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God? Does not Paul speak of the guilt of the people and rulers of Jerusalem, in not knowing the voice of the prophets which were read every Sabbath day? Does not Peter say that we do well to take heed to the sure word of prophecy, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place? Does not John, in his preface to the Apocalypse, say, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein, for the time is at hand?" Was it not by consulting the prophecy of Jeremiah that the captive Daniel understood that the years of the captivity in Babylon were nearly expired? Does not our blessed Jesus, the Prince of the prophets, give us signs, and command us to watch them, and attend to them, and lift up our heads when they appear? Are not the children of Issachar celebrated as men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do? Is not the testimony of Jesus the spirit of prophecy? Is it not the design of prophecy to bear testimony to Him? How should we know that Jesus is the Christ but by comparing his life, doctrines, deeds, and sufferings with the prophecies that described them so long before? And as to preaching the Gospel, why, you cannot do that faithfully, nay, you cannot do it at all, if you resolve to have nothing to do with prophecy; for the Gospel is itself the fulfilment of one series of prophecies, and the utterance of another; the Gospel is the grandest prophecy in the world—a long, beautiful, and most sub-suring us that God our father intends that his lime prediction, embracing heaven and earth in its mighty circumference, and resting not until earth shall be like heaven, and both shall be one in Christ. And if we meddle not with prophecy, assuredly it will meddle with us, and the result will not be much to the credit either of our discernment or our piety. Still further, it is objected that students of prophecy have taught such wild and extravagant things, that sober-minded men must avoid the danger. Of course, to the travellers on the beaten path those theories do appear wild and extravagant; but the proper question seems to be, Is the beaten path the right one? Everything is extravagant which crosses our preconceptions, and disturbs the traditions of our fathers; but it does not follow, because it presents to our vision a field of whose existence we were ignorant, that it is not therefore true. But the objection, if it has any force, has too much: for some men, who carefully shunned prophecy, have formed wild and extravagant notions of the doctrines of Christianity; and shall we, therefore, cease to read the Gospel of our salvation, and abandon all hope of ascertaining what its leading doctrines are? Surely not, especially when that Divine gem, the Lord's Prayer, stands in the middle of the Gospel like a mountain of light in a very fruitful field, as will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our Lord would never have taught us to pray for a thing which it was not the intention of God to perform. When the will of God shall be done upon the earth as it is done in heaven, then earth will be like heaven. Most earnestly, therefore, do we pray: "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy king- | it may be said, with truth, that now, at last, the dom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so Stephanos' of the First Seal has been given to in earth;" and the answer will be graciously one man, who has both the WILL and the POWER given, first, in the hidden principles and laws of to go forth conquering and to conquer. (Rev. this kingdom within us, subduing our thoughts vi.) What may actually happen we do not at to holy loyalty to our sovereign Lord; and in present inquire; but the facts which we have due time in the establishment, over all the stated are well worth noticing, and are in comearth, of the visible, powerful, and glorious plete accordance with prophecy. At present kingdom of Christ, when all kings shall fall we have to view this subject in a different light. down at his feet, and all nations shall serve A few days ago the statue of Napoleon was him. That kingdom prayed for, is not the removed from its pedestal to make room for the Gospel, not the Church, and not heaven; but new one in the garb of a Roman emporer. The something which we must find from the pro- good taste of this change was very much quesphetic page. tioned in Paris; upon which an article appeared in the French journals assigning the reason of the change. And what was the reason assigned? That the Roman dress was necessary for the 'APOTHEOSIS' of the emperor. Nothing less than the Apotheosis! The ancient Roman emperors, after death, were raised to the rank of gods by the servile flattery of the Senate. They were worshipped as gods, and sacrifices were offered to them. Now we are told that the A STRIKING INDICATION. WE have just received the December number of "The Last Vials," by Rev. R. A. Purdon, or Torquay, England. It is devoted to an exposition of some of the "signs of the times," in connection with the doings of Napoleon III. For the benefit of our readers we extract the following remarkable passage: "For more than half a century a statue of the great Napoleon has stood on the summit of a triumphant column at Paris, in the ordinary dress of the original, the well-known riding coat and the hat. That statue has just been removed, and is to be replaced by another in the costume of an ancient Roman emperor. One part of that costume is the memorable laurel crown, the 'Stephanos' of the book of Revelation. (Rev. vi.) By this means the Napoleonic dynasty will be exhibited as the direct representative of the ancient Roman emperors, and as the continuation of the Roman line, which was snap. ped asunder 1400 hundred years ago by the Gothic invasion. The line fell to the ground, and was trailed in the dust of fourteen centuries. The first Napoleon raised it from the dust, and the third Napoleon has received it from the hands of his great predecessor. He now exhibits the Roman dynasty, revived in the Napoleonic line: and he does this at the central point of power, civilization, and intellect, in PARIS,the political capital of the world. The statue wears the Roman crown, or 'Stephanos;' the coins and the medals of Napoleon the third bear the same crown upon their obverse; and 'The new first Napoleon is to be honored with an 'Apo- Alas! will none come to the help of the human soul in this gloom? Is it its destiny forever to await the mind, the liberator, the huge rider of Pegasus and the hippogriffs, the aurora-hued combatant who descends from the skies with wings, the radiant knight of the future? "Shall it always call to its aid the gleaming lance of the ideal in vain? Is it condemned to hear the Evil coming terribly through the depths of the abyss, and to see nearer and nearer at hand, under the hideous water, that dragon head, those jaws reeking with foam, that serpentine warring of claws, distensions, and rings? "Must it remain there with no ray, no hope, abandoned to that horrible approach, vaguely scented by the monster, shuddering, dishevelled, wringing its hands, forever chained to the rock of night, hopeless Andromeda, white and naked in the darkness ?" Such is the confessed weakness of the world's boasted might. Such its feeling after the Great Deliverer, if haply it may find him, its blind yearning for the Lord from heaven. Les Miserables is a remarkable book. It is the effort of a great intellect to depict the vices and disorders of our social systems, and to grapple with the problem of their cure. The first part of the task, however, is far more successfully performed than the last. The diseases of society are exposed with marvellous skill. Its corruptions are laid open with a keen lancet. But the author breaks down in the attempt to suggest a cure. His remedy is simply "light." "The true division of humanity," he says, "is into two classes, the luminous and the dark. To diminish the number of the dark, to increase the number of the luminous, behold the aim! This is why we cry: education, knowledge! to learn to read is to kindle a fire; every syllable spelled sparkles." Throughout the book there is an incessant clamor for light. Were the light he craves that true Light which came down from heaven, there would be hope. But it is rather the culture of native powers, and knowledge to determine and apply all social forces to the elevation of mankind. "All progress is tending toward the solution. Some day we shall be astounded. The human race rising, the lower strata will quite naturally come out from the zone of distress. The abolition of misery will be brought about by a simple elevation of level.” And yet now and then we detect secret misgivings, lest, after all, the remedy should prove inadequate. Here is another sigh for relief. "Nevertheless, he who follows the social clinic shakes his head at times. The strongest, the tenderest, the most logical have their moments of fainting. "Will the future come? It seems that we may almost ask this question when we see such terrible shadow. Sullen face-to-face of the selfish and the miserable. On the part of the selfish, prejudices, the darkness of the education of wealth, appetite increasing through intoxication, a stupefaction of prosperity which deafens, a dread of suffering which, with some, is carried even to aversion for sufferers, an implacable satisfaction, the me so puffed up that it closes the soul. On the part of the miserable, covetousness, envy, hatred of seeing others enjoy, the deep yearnings of the human animal towards the gratifications, hearts full of gloom, sadness, want, fatality, ignorance, impure and simple. "Must we continue to lift our eyes towards heaven? Is the luminous point which we there |