July 1, 1868. in the waste of waters. From thrones of tyrannic barbarism, under whose glooms the millions of serfs are never awakened into the consciousness of mankind, to commonwealths of licence and popular clamour, we seek in vain for the solid power where glory springs from righteousness. Kings and diplomatists speak smooth, brotherly words to each other, but secretly give orders for the increase of war vessels and artillery. They all distrust each other, and are all in deadly fear, waiting for the next volcanic eruption. Meanwhile the people, under their philosophic leaders, are talking of progress, but they seem not to know where they started from, or whither they are going-onward to the Vale of Tempe or the Desert of Sahara, to the Gates of Life or the shores of the Dead Sea. Certainly it is a period of immense activity in material development, but there are no spiritual forces of sufficient magnitude working in counterpoise. The Jewish people were so eager in their day for the triumphal glory of the political and eternal monarchy, that they vaulted over the mystery of the kingdom"-the period of moral preparation. They were so dazzled with the exceeding brightness of that stately dominion which was to fill the earth, that they could not or would not look at the other. Their error was one of the diseases of human nature. They expected salvation in their sins, and desired imperishable glory and power without any foundations of moral purity, or depth of spiritual training. The nations of the earth are dreaming that Hebrew dream over again with modern variations. In this age of strong excitement we can hear them shouting to each other in the pauses of the storm. As the poet hears Jura replying to the Alps when tempest is abroad, so the nations cry to each other, and the burden of the cry is progress! A reign of solemn impartial justice-a dominion of sacred inviolate freedom-an age of universal peace and holy brotherhood, all are prophesying-to be accomplished by elements of rectification within themseives. They dream of truth, life, and freedom, glory, power, and durability, without any transformation of heart, or restoration of life in God. To such the day of the Lord will be terrible in its awakening and disclosures. In the midst of all the turmoil a few of us are well assured that there is no hope for better things save in the revelation of the Lord from heaven, and there is no fever of fanaticism upon us when we utter the conviction. We are in no cave of unwholesome damps and superstitious gloom. In the noontide light of reason and experience we speak, when we say to the people around us, in the midst of their broken schemes and baffled policy, "Why speak ye not a word of bringing back the king?" He went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return, and on his return the righteous shall shine out like the sun in the kingdom of the Father. THE GOING FORTH OF THE HEART: Oh that thou wouldst bow the heavens, and come down. Though we have never seen thee in person, thy love is the very secret of our inmost life. Ransomed by thy precious blood, and sealed by thy Holy Spirit, and gathered for shelter under the wings of thy priesthood, we yearn for thy personal manifestation. "Whom have we in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that we desire beside thee." Thou hast July 1, 1868. promised to appear a second time to those who look for thee and love thy appearing. Thou who knowest all things, knowest that we love thee. While so many are saying, "who will show us any good?" Lord lift up upon us the light of thy countenance, and let us realize the supreme good-the deep, central, and everlasting peace in the brightness and blessedness of thy presence. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; for ungodliness abounds, oppression is rampant, and the wail of the burdened creature is sad, wild, and terrible. Society in convulsion and feverish disquiet-creation in birth-pangs-martyrs under the altarthy Church in the wilderness, all cry for thee. "Oh that thou wouldst bow the heavens, and come down." The tragedies of sin, and death, and hell, grow more dreadful every day, and the awful sea from which the wild beasts arise has a more menacing voice. All our trust and hope is in thee; thou alone canst say, "Peace, be still." O come, Lord, with the authentic voice and the true splendour, and open to us the gates of the city which needeth no sun, or moon, or star, and bring us to that river of life whose waves of gladness are musical on the holy shore. Speak in mercy to thy Bride, thy undefiled one, who has to share in the groaning of creation, and let the voice be, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." G. GREENWELL, Author of "Parakletos." THE FOURTH KINGDOM UPON EARTH. T has always been the policy of the Evil One to divert the attention of it would be for their good and safety to consider, by fixing their attention on something bearing a near resemblance, having some features in common; or, if not, deluding credulous minds by distorted images of some prominent object. Such a use has been made of the now almost effete Napoleon; such has been eminently the case with regard to "the fourth empire." Attention is requested to the following brief remarks, and discussion is invited. "These great beasts are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth," Dan. vii. 17. "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth," Dan. vii. 23. THE FIRST KING AND KINGDOM. "Thou (Nebuchadnezzar) art this head of gold," Dan. ii. 38. "The first was like a lion," &c, Dan. vii. 4. July 1, 1868. THE SECOND KING AND KINGDOM. "After thee (Nebuchadnezzar) shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, "Dan. ii. 39. "Another beast, a second, like to a bear," Dan. vii. 5. "The ram which thou sawest having two horns, are the two kings of Media and Persia," Dan. viii. 20. "All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord given me" (Cyrus), 2 Chron. xxxvi. 23. 66 THE THIRD KING AND KINGDOM. And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth," Dan. ii. 39. "Lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings," Dan. vii. 6. "The rough goat is the King of Grecia," Dan. viii. 21. THE FOURTH KINGDOM. "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. . . . . the kingdom shall be divided . . . partly strong . . . . they (the iron and clay) shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another," Dan. ii. 40-42. 66 partly brittle "A fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth. . . . . it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns," Dan. vii. 7. In these and other passages of Scripture we have the names and symbols of Babylon, Persia, and Grecia (or Macedon). We have neither the name nor symbol of Rome; and yet Rome has been universally pronounced to be "the fourth kingdom." Like many other popular beliefs, it has nothing but inference for its support. Why should it not be named? Surely not because of its infancy. The "first king of Grecia" was not then in existence, but he is spoken of personally. Each of the first three is depicted by two symbols, characteristic and definite, drawn from nature; complicate indeed, but still not supernatural. Daniel found nothing in creation to symbolize the fourth beast, neither in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath; it was "dreadful and terrible," a fearful dinotherium, that could be realized only by a supernatural representation. The Roman standard was an eagle: why was not this seen alone, or as forming a part of the composite beast? The absence of it is presumptive against the theory of "the fourth kingdom," which is so accepted. This fourth kingdom is yet to be set. up, and earth has not seen its like. The first three kingdoms had a certain confraternity, they were all of the order Bellua-lion, bear, leopard. In some things Rome was surpassed by these three; by Babylon in glory and majesty; by Grecia in rapidity of conquest, for Alexander was yet a young man when he wept because there was not another world for him to conquer. In Rev. xiii. 1, &c. we have, doubtless, this same fourth kingdom symbolized. The supernatural or unearthly characteristic is not exhibited in the symbol. Perhaps this is meant to concentrate only the features of the first three, as making up all that will be earthly; and in detail afterwards the design appears to be to bring forward its unearthly endowments, which is done in its subsequent history; e. g. "the beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit." Concerning this quotation, a singular mistake is made by the author of "Revelation Unravelled"; he states that we must under July 1, 1868. stand this, as to time, as we do such portions as, "I, John, saw the holy city," &c.: he misses the fact that this is the angel's explanation of what John saw, and that he saw the beast only in his last phase-"ascended out of the bottomless pit." No rules of exegesis require us to understand "was and is not" otherwise than a literal past time; the individual, whoever he may be, had lived, but was not then alive. This fearful being will appear in his raised body, for he is, at the close of his struggle, "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." He and "the false prophet" alone, of the benighted host, have this preeminence; "the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse." This false theory of the fourth empire has fixed general expectation on it for the production of the Antichrist. Why may not Great Britain, with as much propriety, be the fourth kingdom? Its dominion is more extensive, its "diverse" character as remarkable as that of Rome. No; that fourth kingdom is yet to arise, utterly diverse from all that have yet existed. All before have been earthly-this will be unearthly, hellish. The monster from the bottomless pit will have kindred agents, having power to torment, but not to kill; death will be au excluded friend for five months. Satan's energies are directed to destruction of the truth, a diver sion of it, a substitution, a mystification, &c. On this question and that of the Antichrist he has enlisted some eminent men; the tongue of the learned, and the pen of the ready writer have been devoted to this misdirected research. It is thus the unwary have been beguiled; and many are saying "surely the bitterness of death is past"-we have seen the worst, say they, for Rome is become old and decrepit. A more fearful kingdom than Rome, or than any the world has yet seen, will arise, even Satan's kingdom, the "kingdom of darkness"; in that will the rulers of this dark world, incarnate, revel in all malignant success; and then "woe to the inhabitants of the earth, for the devil is come down in great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time." W. HOWELL, Clifton. Author of "The Two Worlds." THE "THIRST FOR GOD." THERE is one feature common to all the saints of all ages. They all thirst after God even as the hart panteth for the water brooks. This is a consequence of their all possessing the same new and spiritual life, which, coming from God, ever seeks and desires Him. In Psa: xlii. we find language and figure sufficiently intense to describe Paul's longing desire after God, as well as David's. In the one, as in the other, you see the new life, which is common to all the saints, rising to its own level, seeking its own object of desire and of delight. How strikingly beautiful is the simile the Psalmist employs, July 1, 1868. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks!" This gentle and beautiful creature, wandering far and wide over the arid plains, pants for the water brooks. So the child of God in this dry and thirsty world. For whatever the world may be to others in its present state, to the Christian it is, in truth, a barren desert. inner man. Not but that the believer has more true enjoyment than any other; not but that he can enjoy the things of nature with a deeper because purer enjoyment than ever in his unconverted days. Nevertheless, he feels increasingly that this world is a moral desert. He readily accepts Israel's wilderness journey as a true type of his. The people of the world have no sympathy with him or he with them. He realises that to be the friend of the world in point of compassion and service in the Gospel, is to be Christ-like; but to be the friend of the world in fellowship, is to be an enemy of God. (James iv. 4.) He must needs have to do with the children of this world, or else go out of the world, as the apostle says; but being "let go," he seeks his own company. (Acts iv. 23.) One whose praise is in all the churches-Newton, of Olney-has well said that a Christian in the world or worldly company should be like a person transacting business under a shower of rain. Business over, he quickly retires. God is the object of desire and delight to every renewed man. When apprehended in Christ, He is to the child of light the "perfection of beauty." The more and the longer he gazes upon that outshining of beauty which has manifested itself in Christ, the more truly can he say," As the hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee, O Lord." The great work of the indwelling Spirit of God is to produce this thirst in the soul by taking of the things of the Father and of Christ, and showing them to the Thus does the believer become more and more attracted to God as his everlasting object, and his experience answers more and more to the figure of the hart panting after the water brooks. "Nearer, my God, to thee-nearer to thee," becomes increasingly the true and constant utterance of the heart. As we pass on, experience shows us an end of all perfection except in Him, and we more and more desire Him. We should love and prize the communion of saints; but if it be not with us an outgrowth and consequence of fellowship with the Father and the Son, it is not real. We know there is much religious commerce which is very far from the true communion of saints which is in the Spirit. Still, although we may and ought to value the fellowship of the children of God, true growth in grace will doubtless be marked by an increasing desire for fellowship with God Himself. And the more of this latter we enjoy, the more truly we shall enter into and enjoy the former. They are inseparable. The one flows out of the other. Now, have we noticed the question which this experience of thirsting after God gives rise to in the heart of the Psalmist in Psa. xlii.? The question it leads to is this: "When shall I come and appear before God ?" And have we observed a similar issue of the apostle's experience described in Phil. iii.? First he tells us of "his counting all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, that he might be found in Him," and then proceeds: "That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his |