Jan. 1, 1868. nent for its vast height, great splendour, and immense riches." "However, prodigious, large, and magnificent as it was, it was finished in fifteen days." "He also rebuilt the old city, and added another to it on the outside . . . . building three walls about the inner city, and three about the outer." The passage goes on to describe the magnificent adornments of the city and gardens, all which building and adornment was accomplished during an apparently short portion of one King's reign. We are not told that Babylon will be rebuilt in the latter days, but we are told that the city Babylon will then be destroyed. It is called mystery: why doubt or try to explain away this mystery more than any other difficulty of the Apocalypse? It is a book replete with miracle and mystery, and cannot be literally fulfilled except by miraculous power. Babylon may arise as Jerusalem is arising in these latter days. These are the days when men haste to get rich by merchandise. The King who will reign over Babylon the Great shall cause his name to be marked on all who may buy and sell. This city is described as a woman decked with gold and precious stones. Compare her with the woman spoken of by Zechariah, "This is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah." (A woman is the emblem of a city, and an ephah is the emblem of merchandise.) This woman is called wickedness, and is cast into the midst of the ephah, which is lifted up between the earth and the heaven, and borne whither? To build it an house in the land of SHINAR. This wickedness appears to be the mysterious woman of the Apocalypse. Has this mysterious house been built for her in the land of Shinar yet? "The daughter of Chaldea" (Babylon), described in Isaiah xlvii., bears a close comparison with the Babylon of the Apocalypse. The one "says in her heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow." The other "says in her heart, I am, I sit a queen, and am no widow." The people of the Lord are warned to flee out of each. Sudden destruction by fire overwhelms each. The similarity is so striking that we must incline to the belief that the Babylon of the Apocalypse may be a literal Babylon, and that this prophecy in Isaiah is not yet fully fulfilled. To fulfil prophecy literally, contemporaneous events must agree with such prophecy. There may yet be a future daughter of Babylon. The opinion of at least one ancient writer was, "That Babylon shall come through the sea, and receive plagues again." The seven last plagues that we read of in the Apocalypse are to be poured on the seat, and kingdom of the beast, which has been described as Babylon; the sixth upon the great river Euphrates (the Babylonish river) whereon the beast will be; it is on his seat, his kingdom, his worshippers, and his river Euphrates, the seven last plagues are poured out, and not on THE RAINBOW." Jan. 1, 1868. Jerusalem, "the holy city," "which gave glory to the God of Heaven." We read more than once that the men of the beast's kingdom "blasphemed the God of Heaven." Babylon and Jerusalem have each been great cities before, yet to complete the fulfilment of prophecy, it appears that each must again be great; and the restoration of Israel is remarkably connected with the period when both will again be great, as their dispersion was with the former greatness of these two cities. This literal reading of the Apocalypse is the true one. We must expect that at the coming of "the Word of God" to destroy the beast, and his armies, the oft endured Babylonish yoke will be broken, and depart from Israel for ever! THE DAUGHTER OF BABYLON. Old Testament. "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. ... I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of its place." "Oh thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come." "Babylon is suddenly fallen . . . and shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons." "The wild beasts of the desert, and the owls shall dwell there." "Babylon... that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad." "And carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants." "Thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate." "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, deliver ye every man his soul. . . . Every man that goeth by Babylon shall hiss at all her plagues." "The violence done unto me and to my flesh, be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say." "As she hath done, do unto her." "Behold I am against thee . . . and will make thee a burnt mountain." THE WOMAN, BABYLON. "And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." "Come hither, and I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." "Babylon the great is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." "And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." "Reward her as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works." "And she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord who judgeth her." Jan. 1, 1868. Can any candid inquirer read these comparisons without thinking that Babylon may yet arise, and be carried by the beast of the Apocalypse? We cannot understund mysteries, but we can believe them. This interpretation may seem difficult, but nothing is impossible with the Omnipotent, "who ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." When the time comes for the saints of the Most High to possess, we will rejoice that our God was long suffering. With the times and the seasons we have nothing to do; but let not our faith fail. "By faith Enoch was translated." We know not when that mysterious change may happen to all who belong to Jesus; but when it takes place, such numbers will be gathered, that the event cannot remain a hidden mystery. It is the voice of Christ which will awake the dead. Surely the living also will hear that welcome bridegroomvoice. St. Paul leads the Corinthians, Thessalonians, Romans, all Christians who are looking for the Lord, to expect translation. "We shall all be changed." The uncertainty of the time has ever since urged Christians to greater purity in thought, word, and deed. Let us strive to enter into the gates of that city whose builder and maker is God, always remembering our Saviour's words, "What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch!" These words were addressed to Peter, James, John, and Andrew. These disciples were desired to watch for an event which they never lived to see. We have positive proof of the death of each. This shows that a state of watchfulness was designed by our Lord for all Christians, that their lamps should ever be found burning. Signs may appear at any moment, in the sun, in the Jan. 1, 1808. moon, and in the stars; the powers of heaven may be shaken at any hour, and then! "Behold I come quickly," will fulfil the promise. Persecution may first arise-an earthly king may first be worshipped; but our part is to wait patiently for Jesus. The signs, after which the Bridegroom cometh quickly, may be manifest in broad sunshine, when day is brightest, or in dark midnight, when gloom is deepest ! E. THE STUDY OF PROPHECY. "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 daystar arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."2 Peter, i. 19-21. THE THE study of prophecy, which the apostle here recommends and enjoins, is now very generally neglected, and even despised, and to engage in any such study, is, with many persons, to furnish conclusive proof of weakness of intellect. "A well meaning man," they say, "but, poor fellow, he has bewildered himself among the prophecies." "Behold this dreamer cometh!" Dr. South once remarked of the Apocalypse that it either found a man mad, or made him so, and the sentiment is now practically adopted by a majority of the professing Church, so that all possible shafts of wit and ridicule are hurled upon the heads of those who venture to explore the sublime pages of this book, or indeed any book in which God has unfolded the map of the future to his children. John wept to see the seven-sealed book remain unopened; now the church smiles, and almost sneers at its opened marvels. She clings tenaciously to her forms of faith; professes great veneration for what she styles the practical portions of the Scripture, and yet enshrouds in darkness the most practical and important of all its instructions, those which relate to the completion of those divine purposes, whose conception occupied an eternity. Surely this course is most mistaken, injurious, suicidal, a device of the evil one, intended to lead the Church and the world astray. The apostle says of prophecy, "whereunto ye do well that ye take heed"; let us seek to enforce his injunction. I. Let us remember that prophecy is a portion of the inspired Word of God, and as such claims our earnest attention. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God"—is God-breathed. Prophecy so far from being an exception to this statement, is its most striking illustration. If men needed inspired guidance to teach them how to narrate the things they had themselves seen and done; how much more did they need that guidance to enable them to foretell things they had not seen Jan. 1, 1868. and of which they could not otherwise have conceived. Truly, "the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The same Almighty influence which guided the pen of the biographer of Abraham, guided the fingers which swept the lyre of Isaiah; the same great Revealer of secrets who made known to Moses the story of the creation, revealed also the secrets of the night visions to Daniel; the same hand which wrought the fourfold narrative of the life of Jesus, penciled upon imperishable canvas the visions of the Apocalypse, and flooded the ear of the seer of Patmos with the sound of the melody of heaven. To scorn prophecy, is to scorn the Bible; to neglect prophecy, is to neglect the Bible, and slight the Bible's God. II. The prominent position which prophecy occupies in the Word, is a proof of its importance. They who slight and neglect prophecy slight and neglect a very considerable portion of inspired truth. Sixteen books of the Old Testament, and one of the New, are entirely occupied with this subject; another book in which the Church has ever found great delight, (the Psalms) is largely occupied with prophetical compositions; while occasional references of the same character gleam forth, bright and beautiful as the stars at midnight, throughout history, gospel, and epistle. The grandest Old Testament worthies, "the glorious company of the apostles," the Great Teacher himself, were all prophets. The sublimest doctrines of our religion, are many of them prophecies of things still buried in the darkness of the future; the second advent, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment, the universal kingdom of Christ, the eternal happiness of the believer, are all prophecies. Some of our friends speak and write as though they desired the Lord to give us a new Bible with every prophecy carefully expunged. Let them take heed what they do. Were their apparent wishes realized, the Bible might shrink into very insignificant dimensions, and lose mightily of its character as a revelation. Happily, God, and not man, framed the Bible-hence the presence of prophecy. Be it ours to heed its teachings. Popery hides the whole Bible from the Church; let us not hide any portion, either from ourselves or our brethren, much less so large a portion as its prophecies, lest her sin be ours. III. Special injunctions to engage in this study are found in Holy Writ. These words, "whereunto ye do well that ye take heed," apply to prophecy; and so do those other words, dropped from the lips of the Great Master himself, "Whoso readeth let him understand." Το understand, we must study. And is it not a suggestive fact, that there is only one book in the whole Bible containing a special promise of a special blessing to those who read it; and that book is the book of the Revelation. Here is the promise, hanging on its very portal. "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand ;" and to add emphasis to this statement of its importance, here is the seal at its close. "If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Dare we then practically take |