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1 
 
THE 
 
 DESTINIES 
 
 BRITISH EMPIRE, 
 
 DUTIES OF BRITISH CHRISTIANS 
 
 AT THE PRESExNT CRISIS. 
 
 BY WILLIAM THORP. 
 
 FROM THE SECOND LO?fDO]N' EDITION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 ORRIN ROGERS, G7 SOUTH SECOND STREET. 
 
 E. G. Dorscy, Printer. 
 
 184L 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The repeated applications made during the last few years 
 for the present Work, the original copies of which were all 
 disposed of in a short time from the date of its publication, 
 have induced the Widow of the late Rev. William Thorp 
 to venture on printing a Second Edition. It is probable that 
 the Author would himself have undertaken this business, had 
 not the pressing duties of his ministry, and the declining health 
 which preceded his removal by death, in INIay, 1S33, interfered 
 to prevent. The work is therefore placed before its readers 
 without any important alteration, excepting only in form and 
 price, in compliance with the wishes of those persons who are 
 anxious to procure it, and in reliance on the conviction that the 
 demand for it will be much augmented, when it is known to 
 be obtainable. There are, however, other circumstances which 
 induce the belief, that an acceptable service will be rendered 
 to the religious public, by its re-issue. It is not to be denied 
 that, since the date of its first appearance, the views thereia 
 advocated have derived additional importance and interest in 
 the public eye, from the accession of a large number of pious 
 individuals to the class of thinkers who hold the same opinions 
 with the Author, particularly from among the friends of the 
 Churcli of England; and the course of political events has 
 certainly contributed not a little to strengthen a persuasion of 
 their truth. The return of the Catholics to a participation of 
 political power was always regarded by the Author with a feel- 
 ing of melancholy foreboding, as to the consequences which it 
 was likely to have on the religious interests of the country. 
 Now it matters not to what other unseen influence the increase 
 of their numbers, and the high tone of confidence they are 
 assuming may be more immediately due; but certain it is, that 
 the measure in question has largely contributed its share, and 
 ■still more the very considerable countenance which, in the 
 shape of conciliation and concession, is now openly accorded 
 
jy PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 to them, the almost inevitable consequence of the first false 
 step. So far, it is demonstratively proved, that his fears were 
 not without a rational foundation; and although it is useless to 
 reflect on what is past, with a view to re-stir the spirit of con- 
 troversy on this much-debated question, yet as all are deplor- 
 ing the existence of the widely-spreading evil, and as it is 
 incumbent upon Protestant Christians to strive to find a reme- 
 dy, the circulation of this Volume may not, at the present 
 time, be unwelcome to many who are seriously alarmed at the 
 prospect which is opening before them. 
 
 The argument of the Work is to show, not merely the 
 predicted downfall of all temporal governments, as a general 
 fact, preparatory to the establishment of Messiah's kingdom, 
 but in particular, that Britain is probably included in the threat- 
 enings denounced against Papal Rome, as being a part of the 
 image in Daniel's vision. It must be admitted that this sup- 
 position will derive greater weight, if, in addition to the gene- 
 ral evidence furnished, it can be shown that Popery is on the 
 increase in England, wiiich there is too much reason to fear is 
 the case. And should the argument be regarded as insufficient 
 to establish the writer's views, much good may be done prac- 
 tically, if the re-appearance of these Lectures at this juncture 
 shall help to stimulate Protestants to some sufficient exertions 
 for the spread of their common principles, to which they owe 
 so many incalculable blessings, in opposition to the baneful 
 and erroneous system of the Church of Rome, whose activity 
 and subtlety are now more than making up for the numerical 
 deficiency of its adherents in this country. It will readily be 
 believed, therefore, that party or sectarian objects are wholly 
 absent from the republication of these sheets, — their character 
 being practical and not controversial, and the views therein 
 exliibited demanding tbe solemn and earnest consideration of 
 all denominations of professing Christians. 
 
 Prichard-street, April 17th, 1839. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The author of these Lectures might plead as an apology for 
 their publication, the solicitations of his numerous friends, of 
 many of his brethren in tlie ministry, and of Christians of all 
 denominations; but, highly as he esteems their judgment, this, 
 of itself, would have been insufficient to force him from his 
 beloved privacy, and to induce him to appear before the world 
 as an interpreter of prophecy. Considerations of far more 
 awful importance than the approbation or disapprobation of 
 dying men like himself, form the motive by which he is 
 actuated — break in upon his habits of retirement, and constrain 
 him to encounter the opposition, and perhaps the obloquy, 
 upon which he has calculated. Any man who openly attacks 
 the prejudices, passions, and customs of the age, in which he 
 lives, must expect to raise up enemies. This explains the rea- 
 son, why the prophets were imprisoned, slain with the edge 
 of the sword, cast into dens of lions, tortured, and sawn asun- 
 der; why apostles, confessors, and martyrs, were beheaded, 
 burnt alive, devoured by wild beasts, and crucified; and why 
 the Son of God himself was condemned as a felon, and exe- 
 cuted as a malefactor. Luther, whca contending with hosts 
 of enemies, with powerful kingdoms, with the whole weight 
 of the pa])al hierarchy, and all the corruptions of the age in 
 which he lived, in his hours of depression groaned in anguish 
 of spirit, and, it is said, almost repented that he had ever 
 undertaken the invidious task of a reformer. And, although 
 there is no ground, in these days, to fear being made specta- 
 cles of infamy, as St. Paul expresses it, to angels and men; 
 yet human nature is still the same, and will suffer no attack 
 upon its false confidence, its self-complacency, its mistaken 
 judgments, or its reigning passions, without indignant resent- 
 ment; and may not this be the reason, conjointly with some 
 unhallowed violence and little indiscretion on their part, that 
 those excellent men, wlio in modern times have directed their 
 attention to the study of the sacred pro[)hecies, have been vili- 
 _fied, misrepresented, and held up to j)ublic derision as fools, 
 fanatics, and maniacs? They are entitled however to one 
 30* 
 
yj PREFACE. 
 
 commendation; that of having devoted much thought to that 
 part of scripture, which in fact comprehends the whole of 
 revelation, and which of late years has been so awfully ne- 
 glected. The all-absorbing interests of our native country, 
 the dangers with which she is menaced, the fatal security in 
 which she is sunk, and the dreadful apathy of what he cannot 
 but esteem the best part of the community, render the author 
 perfectly indifferent to all consequences with regard to himself. 
 Amidst the din of clamour and the conflict of parties, he has 
 often been reminded of an observation of Sir Isaac Newton, 
 that about the time of the end, in all probability, a body of 
 men will be raised up, who will turn their attention to the 
 prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the 
 midst of much clamour and opposition. And how exactly 
 has this observation of that sagacious man been verified. But 
 why this violent contention, this acrim.onious spirit, among the 
 brethren, this I'ending and tearing amongst the members of the 
 holy and mystical body of Christ? Surely the dread import- 
 ance of the question should allay the little irritations of human 
 nature, and awe every malignant feeling into restraint; while 
 the recollection of tiieir common union to the great head of 
 vital influence, sliould sweeten all into peace, and harmony, 
 and love. Thus the discussion being conducted in the meek- 
 ness and the gentleness of Christ, there would be some rational 
 prospect of arriving at 'the discovery of the truth, and seeing 
 a perfect reconciliation, and cordial union of all parties. Tjiese 
 observations are forced from the author by the high esteem 
 which he cherishes for all who glory in the cross of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who make the doctrine of the cross the theme of 
 their ministry, and who determine to know nothing among 
 men save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. This, the students 
 of prophecy are bound to do, above all other men; for to little 
 purpose do they read and search the sacred oracles, unless their 
 eyes are constantly fixed upon the Lamb slain from tlic founda- 
 tion of the world, — the most prominent and most magnificent 
 object which is constantly held up to view by the spirit of 
 prophecy, especially in the Apocalypse; as redeeming the 
 nations from the bondage of guilt and corruption, by his aton- 
 ing sacrifice; washing, and making them white, in his own 
 precious blood; opening the seals of prophecy; directing, with 
 his own hand, the outpouring of the vials, and the sounding 
 of the trumpets among the nations; as standing upon the mount 
 of Zion, with his ransomed church, having his Father's name 
 written on their foreheads; as completing his triumphs over 
 his enemies, and their enemies, and finally establishing his 
 millennial kingdom in all its purity, beauty, glory, and majesty. 
 
PREFACE. Vii 
 
 All the larger and smaller lines of the great system of pro- 
 phecy, which is characterized by the most perfect unity of 
 design, of which redemption is the theme, and the glory of 
 God the ultimate end, — whether general or clironological, — 
 whether literal or symbolical, — or however wide their circum- 
 ference; and although involving in their progress the destinies 
 of nations and empires, converge in that cross on which the 
 Prince of Glory died; and thence, as from a common centre, 
 stretch forward to the blessed consummation of all things, 
 where they again meet in their full and triumphant accom- 
 plishment. It is, therefore, expected from the genuine student 
 of prophecy, that he feel a strong attachment to the cross, as 
 his triumph and his glory, and that he profess a spirit of deep 
 devotion while searching the scriptures, and discover in their 
 general spirit and deportment all those virtues which an ex- 
 perimental knowledge of the doctrine of the cross is calcu- 
 lated to j)roduce. 
 
 The destiny of the British empire, that object of paramount 
 importance to himself and his country, having wholly occu- 
 pied the mind of the author, and formed the subject of these 
 lectures, he has not attempted to enter into a profound, critical, 
 or extensive examination of the harmonies of the prophecies 
 in general; or of the correspondence between the visions of 
 Daniel and those of the Apocalypse; or to show, as Sir Isaac 
 Newton observes, that the latter are an amplification and an 
 explication of the former. * For the same reason, he has care- 
 fully avoided all disquisitions on the certainty of the restoration 
 of the Jews to their own land; the nature of tlieir deliverance 
 from the Babylonian captivity, and the prophecies referring to 
 that great event, or on the present and future destinies of the 
 ten ti'ibes. For the same reason, he has said notiiing concern- 
 ing the Abrahamic covenant, the Sinai covenant, the covenant 
 of royalty made with David, and what, is emphatically called 
 the new covenant, which are in general lost sight of in these 
 discussions, but which are necessary to be understood, in order 
 to a clear and comprehensive view of the prophetical writings. 
 And for the same reason, he has not even adverted to the death 
 and resurrection of the two witnesses; to the difference be- 
 tween the mother of harlots, when rioting in all her dissolute 
 prosperity, and the false prophet, found in alliance with the 
 beast, at the time of their final destruction, after the sorceress 
 has been torn from hef seat, and the kings of the earth have 
 consumed her in the fire of their wrath; or to the visiljle ap- 
 pearance of the Messiah — the difference, and yet the identity, 
 .between his spiritual and his millennial kingdom, and his per- 
 sonal reign; of to the resurrection which shall precede the 
 
y-jj PREFACE. 
 
 millenniiim, to the state of things during that predicted period 
 of glory and blessedness; or to the destruction of the liostile 
 powers, confederate against the camp of the beloved city; or 
 the wonders of that day, when all the dead, both small and 
 great, shall stand before God. If life should be spared, and 
 leisure granted, perhaps, at no distant period, he may venture, 
 with great deference, and under correction, to give publicity 
 to his opinions upon these vast and momentous subjects. In 
 the meantime, he would earnestly, and affectionately, recom- 
 mend his highly esteemed brethren in the ministry, to turn 
 their attention, in the spirit of meekness, and fervent prayer, 
 to this great subject; and would take the liberty of reminding 
 them of what they must already know of the following grand 
 principles of scriptural exposition. 
 
 Fir^t, That, in the language of Horsley, prophecy, which 
 comprehends the whole of Scripture, is a communication from 
 an infinite to a finite intellect; developing an unity of design, 
 and a continuity of thought, worthy of that Eternal Spirit, to 
 whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand 
 years; and that the business of the scriptural student is to keep 
 his eye fixed on that unity of design, which, in fact, is redemp- 
 tion, and the final triumphs of the Redeemer; and to trace that 
 wonderful continuity of thought, by comparing predictions 
 with their fulfilment, and prophecies already fulfilled with those 
 that remain to be accomplished, through the whole field of 
 revelation. 
 
 Sccondhj, That the Abrahamic covenant is the foundation of 
 all the dispensations of heaven, both to Jews and Gentiles, 
 Hence the miracles of Egypt, and the redemption of the 
 church; the promulgation of the law, with all its rites and 
 ordinances; the excision of the nations of Canaan, and the 
 settlement of the Jews in the holy land; the fates of Edom, 
 Moab, Philistia, Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and of the great ruling 
 monarchies of tiie world; hence the coming of the Messiah, — 
 the purchase of redemption by his blood, — the calling of the 
 Gentiles, — the rejection of the Jews, and their fall, proving 
 the riches of the Gentile world; all in fact, that God lias done 
 in the accomplish inent of prophecy, since the days of Abra- 
 ham, and all tliat he will do in their accomplishment until the 
 restitution of all things. 
 
 'Thirdly, That when the mind of the prophet, under the im- 
 pulse of the Eternal Spirit, is occupied with two or more events 
 of a similar character, he generally speaks of them as though 
 they were the same, althougli they may differ from each other 
 in several respects, and althougli many ages may intervene 
 between their respective accomplishments. Thus the prophets 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 foretold the emancipation of Israel from Babylon, their deliver- 
 ance in the latter days, and the redemption of the whole church, 
 by the Messiah, as though they were the same events; and by 
 marking those parts of the prophecies that have been fulfilled, 
 we know with certainty what remain yet to be fulfilled. Thus, 
 also, the prophets of the Old Testament foretold the first and 
 second advent of the Messiah; his first advent in humility and 
 sorrow, his second advent in glory and majesty, as though they 
 were the same event. The prophecies referring to his first 
 coming, as a suflering and an atoning Saviour, though sufficient- 
 ly clear, distinct, and numerous, to leave the Jews without 
 excuse, are but few when compared with those which speak of 
 his appearance as the Sovereign of the world, and the Judge 
 of all the earth. It is from the New Testament writers only 
 we know that the spirit of prophecy speaks of a two-fold 
 advent, and by marking the prophecies which he fulfilled at 
 his first coming, we know with certainty what remains to be 
 fulfilled at his second coming. Thus, also, the great prophet 
 of the church predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, and the 
 end of the world, as though they were the same event, and by 
 marking what parts of the prediction were accomplished in 
 the overthrow of the Jewish state and nation, we know with 
 certainty what remains to be accomplished when he shall appear 
 in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 
 
 Fourlhhj, That four horrible systems of error and apostacy 
 have been embodied, established, and supported by nations, as 
 engines of state policy, which are repeatedly the subjects of 
 distinct prophecy. These are Idolatry, Mahomedanism, Pope- 
 ry, and Infidelity; against one or the other, or all of these 
 abominations, every part of the word of God is levelled, and 
 to rescue the human race from their domination the scriptures 
 were given by divine inspiration, 
 
 Fiflhly, That prophecy has a literal and a spiritual, — a spirit- 
 ual as well as a literal signification, and must therefore receive 
 a literal and a spiritual accomplishment; and that its literal in- 
 terpretation must form the ground-work of its spiritual appli- 
 cation. By the literal accomplishment of prophecy, its divine 
 origin is proved and confirmed, and thus the scriptures are 
 rescued from the charge of ambiguity and equivocation, so 
 justly alleged against the heathen oracles; and by the spiritual 
 application of prophecy, the vital interest of religion is secured 
 in the church of God. 
 
 Lastly, That the prophecies are either general, predicting 
 events without specifying the times when they shall come to 
 -pass; or chronological, not only foretelling future events, but 
 fixing the precise date of their accomplislimcnt. Such is the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 famous prophecy of Daniel's seventy weeks, concerning the 
 lirst advent of tlie Messiah, and such are the numerical pro- 
 phecies of Daniel and St. John, concerning his second advent. 
 Upon ihe dates of such prophecies, be it remembered, God 
 has been pleased that a considerable obscurity should rest, 
 until the time of the consummation be near at hand. That the 
 prophecies are literal, and of course to be literally fulfilled; or 
 that they are symbolical, vv'hich last, though not exclusively, 
 is especially the character of the chronological prophecies of 
 Daniel and the Apocalypse. Sir Isaac Newton has well ob- 
 served, '"That for ^tiiderstand'wg the prophecies, we are, in the 
 lirst place, to acquaint ourselves with the figurative language 
 of the prophets." Some object to the study of the prophe- 
 cies, that if they were intended to be understood, they would 
 not be written in such mysterious language. But this objec- 
 tion is altogether unfounded. For nothing would be more 
 easy than to prove, that the symbolical language being fixed 
 and definite in its meaning, is more easy to be understood than 
 ordinary language, and therefore the best adapted medium for 
 prophetical communication. Accordingly, the Spirit of pro- 
 phecy has employed it to describe those mighty revolutions, 
 which are to issue in the noonday glory of the Messiah's king- 
 dom. Words are arbitrary, ambiguous, and always changing 
 their significations; verbal language has been confounded, and 
 the inhabitants of one country are unintelligible to those of 
 another; but the symbols of prophecy which are founded in 
 nature, are subject to no such confusion and ambiguity. Like 
 the figurative language of scripture in general, they were in- 
 tended not for the Jew, the Egyptian, the Greek, the Eu- 
 I'opean, or the African, but for man, as man, and consequently 
 for man in every age, and in every nation. "In the rich 
 imagei-y of Daniel and St. John," says Mr. Faber, (in his ad- 
 mirable introduction to his chapter on the symbolical language 
 of prophecy, the main object of which is to point out and 
 insist on the exact precision of the prophetical language,) 
 "(/i(J'erent symbols are frequently used to express the same thifig, 
 but no one symbol is ever used to express dijferent things, unless 
 such (lilfereiil things have a manifest analogical resemblance to 
 each other. Hence the language of symbols, being purely a 
 language of ideas, is, in one respect, more perfect than any 
 ordinary language can be; it possesses the variegated elegance 
 o( synofiymes, without any of the obscurity which arises from 
 the use of amljiguous terms." The reader may consult, with 
 advantage, the whole of Mr. Faber's chapter on the symbolical 
 language of prophecy; together with Sir Isaac Newton's cata- 
 logue of symbols, with their several interpretations. 
 
PREFACE. Xi 
 
 A diligent and devout study of the sacred oracles, upon 
 these principles, will lead to an easy and satisfactory explana- 
 tion of many both fulfilled and unfulfilled prophecies, elucidate 
 many particular passages, which are otherwise wrapt in im- 
 penetrable obscurity, and develop, in a striking manner, the 
 beauty, harmony, and majesty of divine revelation. The stu- 
 dent may read, with advantage, Vitringa, Daubuz, Bishop 
 Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, the learned Joseph Mode, Arch- 
 deacon Woodhouse, Bishop Ilorsley, INIr. Faber, Mr. Cun- 
 ingliame, Mr. Frerc, Mr. Bicheno, Ben Ezra, translated by 
 J\lr. Irving, and, though the last mentioned, not the least, the 
 late excellent Mr. Brown's Even-tide: above all, with these 
 principles, let him search the scriptures for himself, in humble 
 dependence on divine teaching. The writer gratefully acknow- 
 ledges his obligations to the above-mentioned authors; for, to 
 use a simile of Swift in the Battle of the Books, let others, 
 like the spider, weave their flimsy nets, out of their own 
 bowels, he would resemble the bee, which expatiates over the 
 wide frcld of nature, and distils its sweets from every flower 
 to enrich its hive. "Amongst the interpreters of the last age," 
 says the great Newton, "there is scarce one of note who hath 
 not made some discovery worth knowing." The variety of 
 opinions which prevail among the writers upon prophecy is 
 sometimes mentioned as a discouragement to the study of the 
 prophetical writings. But for this there is no foundation; 
 they are all agreed as to the general outlines of prophecy, and 
 differ only as to the minuter parts. Besides there is not a 
 question in natural philosophy, in chemistry, in morality, in 
 theology, nor scarcely a text of scripture, on which there has 
 not been a diversity and even a contrariety of opinion. If, 
 therefore, we are to neglect the study of any branch of know- 
 ledge because of the variety or discrepancies of opinion that 
 have been maintained by different men, we must close all our 
 books, the Bible among the rest, and return at once to -dark- 
 ness and barbarism. 
 
THE 
 
 DESTINIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE; 
 
 AND THE 
 
 DUTIES OF BRITISH CHRISTIANS, 
 
 AT THE PRESENT CRISIS. 
 
 LECTURE r. 
 
 The lecture to be delivered this evening will be unusually- 
 long. The Apostle Paul, on one extraordinary occasion, 
 preached till midnight; and if any^ subject can justify a con- 
 formity, in this respect, to the apostolical example, it is surely 
 that which, this evening, is to engage our attention, — the 
 Destinies of the British Empire. I will endeavour to con- 
 dense, as much as possible, within the time to which I would 
 limit myself; and, throwing myself upon your candour, I 
 beseech you to hear me patiently, and earnestly solicit an 
 interest in your prayers. 
 
 Read in the second chapter of the Prophecies of Daniel, and 
 forty-fourth verse: 
 
 And in the days of these Jungs shall the God of heaven 
 set up a kingdom, which shall never he destroyed; and the 
 kingdom shall not he left to other people, hut it shall hreak 
 in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, andil shall stand 
 for ever. 
 
 Patriotism, or the love of one's country, is a sentiment that 
 glows with intense fervour in every heart that beats in a 
 British bosom. Our native land is endeared to us, not only as 
 the land of our fathers whose ashes are shimljcring beneath 
 the clods of her valleys, but by a thousand other tender ani^ 
 important considerations. Her industry, her benevolence, her 
 charitable institutions, and the asylum which she has always 
 
 VOL. II. — 31 
 
24 THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 afforded to the wretched, who, amidst the distress of nations, 
 have fled to her as their only refuge; the records of her his- 
 tory, lier unrivalled constitution, and the noble stand she has 
 often made against the encroachments of civil, military, and 
 ecclesiastical despotism; her vast resources, her commanding 
 attitude, at this moment, among the nations, her religious 
 advantages, and, above all, her extensive agency, as the instru- 
 ment of divine providence, in spreading the blessings of eter- 
 nal salvation, through the most distant regions of the world, 
 all conspire to render her lovely and venerable in the esteem 
 of her loyal children. 
 
 With this sentiment I deeply sympathize, and have often 
 said, with one of our poets, justly styled the poet of the INIil- 
 lennium, — 
 
 "Englanrl, with all thy faults, I love thee still — 
 My country! and, -while yet a nook is left, ' 
 Where English minds and manners may be found, 
 Shall be constrain'd to love thee."' 
 
 ■ "And I can feel 
 
 Thy follies too." 
 
 After a long and painful investigation, during which I have 
 endured mental conflicts, which no language can describe, in 
 opposition to the strongest prejudices, the fondest hopes, and 
 the dearest wishes of my heart, I have been constrained to 
 look, while the tempest has been gathering around us, to the 
 dark side of the horizon, I pretend not, however, to any ex- 
 traordinary knowledge of futurity. I assume not the character 
 of a prophet, but only that of an humble, a very humble fellow 
 labourer, wiih those, among whom, beyond all comparison, are 
 ranked the wisest and the best of men, who have endeavoured 
 to interpret prophecy; to the study of which, I hope I may 
 add, without arrogance, I have been devoted from the eigh- 
 teenth year of my age to this day. All the knowledge that 
 has been derived an this subject, has been drawn from sources 
 which lie open to all mankind, in the lively oracles of God, as 
 corresponding with the sigi7s of the times, in the dispensations 
 of Divine Providence. In those holy oracles, the Creator of 
 the world — the author of revelation, has laid open the rise and 
 progress, the varied fortunes, and final destinies, of all the 
 nations and empires of the world. He has decreed that they 
 shall all perish, and his decree is founded in righteous judg- 
 ment. For all earthly kingdoms are founded in slaughter, 
 cemented with blood, defended with weapons of destructive 
 warfare, and maintained by maxims of a crooked and iniqui- 
 tous policy. Insomuch, that were the angel of retribution to 
 proceed from the throne of God, with the balance of justice in 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 15 
 
 one hand, and the mace of power in the other, to weigh the 
 nations in scales, and to distribute awards accordingly, "Mene, 
 TEKEL," would be written on all their walls, as was once 
 written on the walls of Belshazzar's palace, and like the 
 monarchy of Babylon, they would quickly be destroyed from 
 off the face of the earth. There is, brethren, a righteous God, 
 that judgcth in the earth; who rules the nations in righteous- 
 ness, and will judge them with equity. His justice demands 
 that they all perish; and he has distinctly pronounced their 
 doom by his servants the prophets. To confirm the truth of 
 this statement at large, by the authority of the word of God, 
 would be to quote one-third, at least, of the sacred volume. 
 David tells us, in the second Psalm, that the Messiah shall 
 break in pieces all nations who refuse to bow to the sceptre^^of 
 his kingdom, with a rod of iron, like a potter's vessel. Isaiah 
 is very bold and explicit, and his words are very terrible; as 
 it is written in the twenty-fourth and thirty-fourth chapters of 
 his prophecies: — "Come near, all ye nations to hear, and 
 hearken ye people; let the earth hear, and all that is therein; 
 the world, and the inhabitants thereof. For the indignation 
 of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their 
 enemies; he hath delivered them to the slaughter. And the 
 mountains shall be melted with their blood; and all the host 
 of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled 
 together as a scroll." 
 
 In order to understand the meaning of this sublime imagery, 
 and that which follows, it will be necessary to remember that, 
 in the symbolical language of prophecy, the heavens symbolize 
 nations and civil governments; that the sun is the symbol of 
 the ruling power of a kingdom or a nation; the moon, of an 
 ecclesiastical establishment, in alliance with the state, whether 
 Pagan, Jewish, INIahomcd^n, or Christian; the stars of heaven 
 called also the hosts of heaven, of subordinate governors, as 
 rulers of provinces, or rulers of churches; mountains, of 
 empires; and hills, of lesser states and kingdoms; and that the 
 earth is the symbol of the great mass of the population, of 
 which nations are composed, or the lower orders, who are in 
 subjection to the higher powers. According to this mode of 
 interpreting the sacred symbols, laid down by Sir Isaac New- 
 ton, in his Key to the Prophecies, the darkening of the sun 
 signifies the extinction of the ruling power of a nation; the 
 confounding of the moon, or the turning of it into blood, the 
 overthrow of the ecclesiastical establishment by sanguinary 
 conflict; the falling down of the stars from heaven, as a fig 
 . falleth from a fig-tree, denotes the downfall of subordinate 
 rulers, in the civil or ecclesiastical department; the melting of 
 
jQ THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 the mountains with hlood, the dissolution of empires by the 
 ravages of war; the shaking of the earth, denotes revohationary 
 convulsions, occasioned by poj:)ular insurrection, overturning 
 the established order of things, as a natural earthquake sub- 
 verts cities and kingdoms: and the rolling together of the 
 heavens as a scroll, their passing away with a great noise, sig- 
 nifies the dissolution, the passing ofl^, the annihilation, of the 
 whole civil and ecclesiastical establishment. Under these 
 symbols, the prophets have described and foretold the destruc- 
 tion of Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, Sydon, Persia, Greece, Jeru- 
 salem, and the Roman Empire; and, under the same •symbols, 
 they have described and foretold the destruction of all the 
 nations and em.jjires that ever have existed, or that now exist, 
 upon the face of the earth. Let us now return, with this key 
 in our hands, to the prophet Isaiah, — "Come near, ye nations, 
 to hear; let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, 
 and the inhabitants thereof. For the indignation of the Lord 
 is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies; he hath 
 delivered them to the slaughter. And the mountains (symbol 
 for empires) shall be melted with, their blood. And all the 
 host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be 
 rolled together as a scroll; and all their hosts shall fall down 
 as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from 
 the fig-tree.'*' And my sword shall be bathed in heaven, i. e. 
 in the political heaven; land the foundations of the earth, i. c. 
 the political earth, the lower orders, in subjection to the higher 
 ])owers, shall be shaken; for it is the day of the Lord's 
 vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy 
 of Zion. The earth is utterly broken; the earth is moved 
 exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, 
 and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression 
 thereof shall be heav}^ u])on it, and it shall fall, and not rise 
 again, lie-ascending from the political earth to the political 
 heavens, the prophet then adds, — "And it shall come to pass 
 in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high 
 ones that are on high, even the kings of the earth upon 
 tlie earth. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun 
 ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Zion, and in 
 Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Ah! who sliall 
 live when God doth this? The words of the ])rophet Jere- 
 miah are equally explicit, and not less terrible, as you will 
 read in the twenty-fifth chapter of his prophecies: — "I will 
 call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the 
 Lord of hosts; therefore prophecy against them all these 
 words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, 
 and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall give a 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 17 
 
 shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants 
 of the earth. A noise shall come even to all the ends of the 
 earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with all nations; and 
 he will plead with all flesh; he will give them to the sword, 
 saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold evil 
 shall go forth from nation to nation; and the slain of the Lord 
 shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the 
 other." These awful predictions have never yet been fulfilled; 
 but they are stamped with eternal truth, and must, therefore, 
 receive their accomplishment. Is the British nation, my 
 fellow-citizens, included among all the nations and kingdoms 
 that exist from one end of the earth even to the other end of 
 tlie earth, or is she not? If she be, she must fall with them; 
 if not, — if she be a mere cipher in the great account, then, 
 indeed, she may escape, — if not, her ruin is inevitable. 
 
 Tliere is, indeed, one exception to >liis general doom, and 
 but one exception, made in favour of the Jewish nation; and 
 the period of their restoration to their own land, and their 
 conversion to their fathers' God, is often mentioned by the 
 prophets, as the crisis of all nations. ''Thus saith the Lord, 
 to Jacob whom I have chosen, and Israel my servant, I will 
 surely make a full end of all nations whither I have driven 
 thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will gather 
 th}- seed from the east, and from the west, and from all the 
 coasts of the earth; and I will plant them in their own land, 
 and will rejoice over them to do them good, with my whole 
 heart, and with all my soul. And it shall come to pass in that 
 day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will make Jerusalem a cup 
 of trembling to all the nations that are round about. And on 
 that day I will make Jerusalem a burthensome stone to all 
 nations, and they shall be cut in pieces and broken, though all 
 the people of the earth be gathered together." The time 
 when Ivlichael, the prince, .<hall stand up for Daniel's people, 
 and cause their scattering to cease, shall be a time of trouble 
 to all nations, such as never was since there was a nation until 
 this day. To this fearful crisis of the nations our Lord him- 
 self alludes, when he says, nearly in the very words of Daniel, 
 "There shall be tribulation in those days such as has not been 
 from the beginning of the world, no, nor never shall be." 
 
 Besides tlie idolatry, infidelity, impiety, oppression, injus- 
 tice, and general depravation of manners, which are mentioned 
 by the prophets as the procuring causes of these exterminating 
 calamities, the cruelties inflicted by the nations upon the house 
 of Israel are particularly distinguished. Hear the voices of 
 the prophets, Ilaggai and Joel: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 
 in that day I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I 
 31* 
 
18 
 
 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 will destroy all the kingdoms of the heathen, whither my 
 • people have been scattered. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: in 
 that day wlien I turn again the captivity of Judah, and of my 
 people Israel, I will also gather all nations together, and will 
 plead with them for my people, and for Israel my heritage, 
 whom they have scattered among the nations, and whose land 
 they have parted. Behold I will raise them out of the places 
 whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense 
 upon your own head. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: 
 Assemble yourselves, and come all ye heathen, and gather 
 yourselves round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to come 
 ' down, Lord. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; 
 come, get ye down, for the press is full, the fats overflow; for 
 their wickedness is great. Multitudes! multitudes in the 
 valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the 
 valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, 
 and the stars shall withdraw their shining. ' The Lord also 
 shall roar out of Zion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem; 
 and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will 
 be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of 
 Israel." — Mai. iv. Hag. ii. Joeli. 
 
 This controversy with the guilty nations will be finally de- 
 cided, by the appearance of the great Messiah, the son of God, 
 in glory and majesty. On this doctrine, we find the most 
 perfect harmony bet\v(?en the prophets of the Old and of the 
 New Testament: "Behold," saith the prophet Isaiah, "behold, 
 the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots, like a 
 whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with 
 flames of fire. For, by fire, and by his sword, will the Lord 
 plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many." 
 — Isaiah Ixvi. "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel 
 both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate; for 
 the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give 
 their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and 
 the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish 
 the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; 
 therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall be re- 
 moved out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, 
 and in the day of his fierce anger. Behold the Lord maketh 
 the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and scattereth abroad 
 the inhabitants thereof; /or the Lord hath spoketi this word.'' 
 "Behold," saith the prophet Zachariah, "the day of the Lord 
 cometh; for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; 
 (this supposes the previous restoration of the Jews, and the 
 rebuilding of their temple;) then shall the Lord go forth and 
 fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. JQ 
 
 battle. And his feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of 
 Olives, which is before Jcnisalcni on the east, (the sacred 
 mount on which he left tiie last prints of his feet when he 
 ascended into heaven,) and the Mount of Olives shall cleave 
 in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west, and 
 there shall be a very great valley. And ye shall flee to the 
 valley of the mountains; — yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled 
 from before the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah, king of 
 Judah, and the Lord my God shall come, and all his holy ones 
 with him." 
 
 And for what purpose will he come but to set up his millen- 
 nial kingdom? This is evident from what follows: — "In that 
 day there shall be one king, and one Lord, over all the earth, 
 and his name one." Isaiah again lifts up his voice, exclaim- 
 ing, — "Behold the name of tiie Lord cometh from afar, burn- 
 ing in his anger with indignation and flaming fire. And the 
 Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew 
 the lighting down of his arm before all nations, with the in- 
 dignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, 
 with scattering and with tempest." Hear the confirming tes- 
 timony of Zephaniah: — "Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith 
 the Lord, until the day that I arise up to the prey: for my 
 determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the 
 kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my 
 fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the 
 flaming fire of my jealousy. Hear the word of the Lord, ye 
 that tiemble at his word, he shall appear to your joy and they 
 shall be ashamed." To these awful predictions of the appear- 
 ance of the great JNIessiah in flaming fire, the apostle of the 
 Gentiles evidently alludes, when he says, in his Epistle to the 
 Thessalonians, — "It is a riglUeous thing with God to recom- 
 pense tribulation to them that trouble you: and to you who 
 are troubled rest with us^ when the Lord Jesus shall be re- 
 vealed from heaven, with his mighty angels in flaming fire, 
 taking vengeance." — Two classes of delinquents are here 
 mentioned — the heathen, who know not God, arid nominal 
 Christians, that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction 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 believe. To this period, so full of glory and 
 majesty, our Lord himself refers when he says: "And there 
 shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars: 
 the sun shall be darkened, and the moon .'iiall not give her 
 light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of 
 -the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of 
 
20 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 the son of man in the heavens; and then shall all the tribes of 
 the earth mourn, when the}' shall see the son of man coming 
 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Be- 
 hold! exclaims the beloved disciple, he cometh in clouds, in 
 bright clouds, the shechinah, the august symbol of his pre- 
 sence; and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him; 
 the Jews who nailed him to the cross, and the Gentiles who 
 have crucified him afresh, and all nations, the heathen, who 
 never heard his name, shall wail because of him; even so, re- 
 sponds the ransomed church with reverential fear, yet intense 
 desire, — Amen, and so, come. Lord JesUs," At the closing 
 scene of the book of the Revelation, he is again introduced as 
 a mighty angel, standing in the midst of Heaven, and enlight- 
 ening the whole earth with his glory; and, again, as the word 
 of God clothed in a garment dipped in blood, wearing upon 
 his vestment and his thigh, a name written, King of Kings and 
 Lords of Lords, leading on his victorious armifes to the great 
 battle of Armageddon; casting the beast, the false prophet, 
 the symbol of Popery, and all the kings of the earth, and all 
 their armies, into the lake that burneth with fire and brim- 
 stone: and thus presiding over the final triumph of the church. 
 
 In perfect harmony with these predictions of the Old and 
 New Testament, St. Paul assures us, "that he who shall be 
 revealed from heaven with all his mighty angels in flaming fire, 
 taking vengeance, shall ^lestroy the man of sin, who sittcth in 
 the temple of God shewing himself that he is God, with the 
 breath of his moutb and the brightness of his appearing." 
 
 Observe, once more, on this branch of our subject, that the 
 great JVIessiah, the son of God, \vill appear, in majesty and 
 glory, to subdue every hostile power, and to displace whole 
 earthly dominion, preparatory to the establishment of his mil- 
 lennial kingdom. Hence, we read, that immediately after the 
 overthrow of the beast, and the false prophets, the kings of 
 the earth and all their armies, a voice is heard from heaven, 
 proclaiming, "The kingdoms of this world are now become 
 the kingdoms of our Grod, and of his Messiah, and he shall 
 reign for ever and ever." Again, in our text, "In the days of 
 those 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 shall stand for ever." The Prince of 
 Peace shall then sway a sceptre of righteousness and love, over 
 a happy and an enlightened world; his glory shall cover and 
 fdl the whole earth; his loveliness and majesty shall be un- 
 veiled to every eye, and his royal law of love be written on 
 every heart. The mountain of the Lord's house, the empire 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. OJ 
 
 of peace and righteousness, shall be established on the tops of 
 the mountains, or all earthly emj)ircs, and shall be exalted 
 above all hills, or subordinate states and kingdoms; men shall 
 then beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into 
 pruning hooks; and nations, renovated and united under his 
 government, shall learn war no more. Paradise shall be re- 
 stored, and co-extended with the limits of the globe. Hence 
 the beautiful imagery of the j)rophets is frequently borrowed 
 from the scenery of the earthly Paradise. Thus, we lead of 
 tlie flowers of Paradise, the rivers of Paradise, and the tree of 
 life, which groweth in the midst of the Paradise of God; yield- 
 ing twelve manner of fruits, and is shedding its leaves for the 
 healing of the nations. We read, also, of the jiurity and in- 
 nocency of the Paradisaical state; only with tliis diflerence,^ — 
 there will be no curse there; no tree of morality; no lurking 
 serpent to beguile, ensnare, and ruin; but the throne of God 
 and the Lamb shall be there, and his servants shall serve him, 
 and his name shall be upon their foreheads, and the tabernacle 
 of God shall be with men, and the Lord God himself shall 
 dwell among them, and shall be their God, and wipe away all 
 tears from their eyes. Hence, the following positions are in- 
 controvertible: — that all nations must perish, consequently the 
 British nation; that their doom is founded in righteous judg- 
 ment; that there is one exception to this general doom, and 
 but one exception, made in favour of the Jewish nation; — that 
 the time of their restoration and conversion is often mentioned 
 by the prophets as the crisis of all nations; — that, besides the 
 otlicr crimes mentioned by the prophets as the procuring causes 
 of these fearful calamities, the cruelties inflicted by the na- 
 tions, upon the house of Israel, are parti-cularly distinguished: 
 (of these cruelties Great Britain has had her full share;) — and 
 finally, that this controversy^ with the guilty nations will be 
 decided by the appearance of the great .Messiah, the Son of 
 God in glory and majesty, when he comes to take vengeance, 
 especially on those who have been favoured with the gospel, 
 but have not obeyed the gospel of Christ, in which guilt Great 
 Britain is deeply involved; and that scenes of vengeance arc 
 to hasten scenes of millennial peace and glory. 
 
 But, although all nations and empires are deeply involved 
 in the guilt of idolatry, infidelity and impiety, opjM'cssion and 
 injustice; although they are all founded in slaughter, cemented 
 with human blood, and maintained by an ini(piitous policy; 
 and, although they are all chargeable with the cruelties inflict- 
 ed on the seed of Abraham, yet there is one empire which is 
 in.ore deejily implicated in these crimes, than the rest, which 
 has been, for thousands of years, the greatest curse under 
 
22 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 which the earth has ever groaned, and which is therefore 
 marked out, by the spirit of prophecy, as the special object of 
 God's vengeance. This is tiie Roman empire, first founded 
 on the ruins of several European kingdoms; thence spreading 
 its ravages over the immense platform of the Babyloi>ian, the 
 Persian, and the Grecian monarchies; and then again extend- 
 ing its conquest westward, as far as the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, 
 now called Great Britain. 
 
 We read in the prophecies of Jeremiah, that the Lord put 
 into the hands of the prophet a cup of fury and indignation, 
 and commanded him to hand it round to all the kingdoms of 
 the world, which are upon the face of the whole earth, accord- 
 ing to a prescribed order of succession, beginning with Jeru- 
 salem, to whom the cup was presented twice; first, when she 
 was laid in ashes by Nebuchadnezzar, and again when she was 
 destroyed a second time by the Romans; from Jerusalem it is 
 sent to Babylon on the Euphrates; from Babylon to Egypt; 
 from Egypt onwards to Tyre, Sidon, Dedan, Persia, Greece, 
 to all the islands that are afar ofi'in the seas; thence onwards, 
 making the circuit of the whole world, and finally to Babylon 
 the second time, immediately before the restoration of Israel, 
 not Babylon on the Euphrates, but Babylon on the Tiber, 
 called Babylon the great — mystical Babylon, the mother of 
 harlots, or idolatrous churches; first Pagan, afterwards Chris- 
 tian ecclesiastical, establishments, in alliance with the secular 
 kingdoms, included within the limits of the empire. When 
 the cup of trembling reaches Babylon a second time, or mys- 
 tical Babylon, the prophet hears a loud triumphant shout, 
 saying, Babylon is fallen! is fallen! is fallen! In the parallel 
 vision of the Revelation, St. John beholds a mighty angel 
 casting a mill-stone into the depths of the sea, and saying, thus 
 shall Babylon sink to rise no more; he then hears the tri- 
 umphant shout, which the prophet of the Old Testament had 
 heard many centuries before, J5abylon is fallen! is fallen! is 
 fallen! But the shout of triumph is re-echoed by the wailings 
 and lamentations of the falling nations, saying, Alas! alas! 
 Babylon the great is fallen to rise no more; for when great 
 Babylon, says the apostle, cometh up into remembrance before 
 God to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of his indig- 
 nation, the nations, and the cities of the nations, shall fall like- 
 wise. 
 
 And must Britain too, endeared to our hearts by a thousand 
 tender associations, — lirilain, exalted unto heaven, and sitting 
 as queen over the earth; must she, too, fall, amidst this wreck 
 of nations? Ah! who shall answer this question? To arrive 
 at a satisfactory conclusion, there are two previous questions 
 
TPIE BRITISH EMPIRE. 23 
 
 which must be thoroughly and candidly examined: — First, 
 What do we learn upon this subject from the sacred prophe- 
 cies? Secondl}^, Wliat is the religious and the moral character 
 of Great Britain? First, What do we learn upon this subject 
 from the sacred propiiecies? To answer this question it will 
 be necessary hastily to retrace the ground which has been 
 traversed by various expositors, and which we ourselves have 
 travelled over on a former occasion; and take a view of the 
 proplietical dream of Nebuchadnezzar in connection with the 
 parallel vision of Daniel, which arc recorded in the second 
 and seventh chapters of his prophecy. The dream of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar was of a colossal human figure, composed of bur- 
 nished metals; the head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, 
 the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and feet and 
 toes partly iron and partly of potters' day. This great image, 
 whose brightness was excellent, stood before him, and the 
 form thereof was terrible. "We learn from the impressions 
 upon ancient coins and medals," says Bishop Newton, "that 
 cities and kingdoms were frequently represented by the figures 
 of men and women." A colossal human figure, therefore, 
 was not an improper emblem of human power and authority; 
 and the various metals of which this great image was com- 
 posed, not unaptly represented the various kingdoms which 
 should arise under the administration of Eternal Providence. 
 It consisted of four different metals, gold, silver, brass, and 
 iron mingled with clay: and the order of succession was clearly 
 denoted by the arrangement of the parts; the head and the 
 higher parts representing the early times, while the feet and 
 the lower parts represented the latter ages of the world. So 
 that the dream of Nebuchadnezzar was a symbolical and pro- 
 phetical history of the great ruling empires of the world, and 
 of all the subordinate states and kingdoms comprehended with- 
 in their limits, so far as the church of God is concerned, from 
 the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of IJabylon, through all 
 succeeding ages, to tlie triumphant establishment of' tlie mil- 
 lennial kingdom of the Messiah; for the prophecy, as we are 
 repeatedly told, reaches to the time of the end, or to the con- 
 summation of all things. The parallel vision of Daniel was of 
 four wild beasts, savage and ferocious, rising out of the agita- 
 tion of a tempestuous sea; and by the sea, the prophet tells us, 
 is meant multitudes and peoples, and nations. How graphical 
 is this description of the origin of empires! For whence the 
 rise of empires but the agitations and convulsions of multi- 
 tudes, and peoples, and nations? The symbolical animals were 
 ajion, a bear, a leopard, and a huge monster, which, accord- 
 ing to the corresponding vision in the book of the Revelation, 
 
2^ THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 was a horrid compound of the worst qualities of his prede- 
 cessors. 
 
 The image of gold in Nebuchadnezzar's dream was sym- 
 bolical of the Babylonian monarchy; for Daniel said unto the 
 king, "Thou art this head of gold; that is, thou and thy 
 dynasty." And as gold is the most precious of metals, in the 
 parallel vision of Daniel the same monarchy is symbolized by 
 a lion, the noblest of animals; a lion, having eagle's wings, 
 denoting rapidity of conquest, and, perhaps also, protection 
 afibrded to conquered nations; while the dignity of the em- 
 blem, in both cases, expressed the wealth, the powei, and the 
 grandeur of the empire: thus Isaiah calls Babylon, the golden 
 city, and Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, "Thou art a king of 
 kings.'"' 
 
 The breast and arms of silver, symbolized the Medo-Persian 
 monarchy, founded by Cyrus the Great, whose name is ex- 
 pressly mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, more than a hundred 
 years before he was born; and as silver is inferior to gold, 
 Daniel informs Nebuchadnezzar, that this second kingdom 
 should be inferior to the Babylonian monarchy, that is, inferior 
 in wealth and dignity, though more destructive. Accordingly, 
 in the parallel vision of Daniel, the same monarchy is sym- 
 bolized by a bear, which is inferior in dignity to the lion, but 
 more savage and rapacious, — a bear standing erect, and raising 
 one side, or, (as it is rendered in the margin) one dominion 
 higher than the other, denoting the insidious rise of the Persian, 
 over the Median kingdom, for which reason, the united king- 
 dom is afterwards called, not the Median, but the Persian 
 Empire. The rapacious animal had three ribs, in the mouth 
 of it, between the teeth of it; typifying, says Sir Isaac Newton 
 — Babylon, Lybia, and Egypt; which the Persian bear first 
 conquered, and then ground with oppression and cruelty. 
 
 The belly and thighs of brass, symbolized the Greek, or 
 Macedonian monarchy, founded by Alexander the Great, who 
 is called by Daniel, the King of Grecia. As brass is inferior 
 to silver, the Macedonian was still inferior to the Persian 
 monarchy; that is, inferior in wealth and dignity, but more 
 martial. Accordingly, in the parallel vision of Daniel, the 
 latter monarchy is symbolized by a leopard, inferior in some 
 respects to the bear, but more fierce, and more rapid in its 
 movements; denoting speed and impetuosity, in hastening to 
 drink the blood, or feed upon the flesh of the vanquished. 
 For this reason, the ferocious brute had upon the back of it, 
 four wings of a swiftly flying fowl, to express the unparalleled 
 rapidity of Alexander's conquests. On the wings of the Mace- 
 donian leopard, he flew over all countries, from Illyricum, and 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 05 
 
 the Adriatic sea, to the Indian Ocean, and the river Ganges; 
 and, in the short space of eight or nine years, suhdued a con- 
 siderable part of Europe, and the immense regions of Asia to 
 his sole dominion, and having performed the work whereunto 
 he was appointed, he died at Babylon, in the thirty-third year 
 of his age. The symbolical animal had also four heads, re- 
 presenting the four kingdoms into which the Grecian monarchy 
 was divided, as w'e know it was divided, after tlie death of its 
 founder, bv his four generals; Cassander, reigning over Greece 
 and Macedon; Lysimachus, over Thrace and Bythinia; Ptole- 
 my, over Egypt; and Seleucus over Syria. 
 
 The legs" of iron, symbolized the Roman empire in the 
 zenith of its strength; and, as iron, says Daniel in his inter- 
 pretation of the dream, breaketh in pieces and subdueth all 
 things, so this fourth kingdom shall break in pieces and subdue 
 all these, the gold, the silver, and the brass; that is, in other 
 words, it shall surpass in strength, in cruelty, and military 
 prowess, all its predecessors, subduing the Babylonian, the 
 Persian, and the Macedonian monarchies, represented by these 
 their a])j)ropriate symbols. In the parallel vision of the four 
 beasts, this last empire in the fulness of its strength, is sym- 
 bolized by a huge monster, great and terrible, says the pro- 
 phet, and strong exceedingly; having great iron teeth, and 
 nails of brass, rending asunder, devouring, and, like a savage 
 beast, when his maw is satisfied, stamping the residue with his 
 feet. What a terrible, but just description of the ravages of 
 the Roman power, in the period of its slretitrih, when forming 
 one vast, united, overwhelming empire! What a fearful pic- 
 ture of its sanguinary exploits, in devouring the Babylonian 
 lion, the Persian bear, the Macedonian leopard, and the tramp- 
 ling the broken remnants of these monarchies under his feet, 
 is represented by these symbols! No wonder that the mark 
 of God's vengeance should be branded on such a monster! 
 
 The feet and ten toes, partly of iron and partly of potters' 
 clay, symbolized the same empire in the period of its weak- 
 ness, when divided into ten kingdoms by the irruptions of the 
 northern barbarians. 
 
 In the parallel vision of Daniel, the same power, in the 
 period of its weakness, is typified by the ten horns of the fourth 
 beast, which are saiid, by the prophet, to be ten kingdoms that 
 should arise; the number of the horns corresponding with the 
 number of the toes of the great image, and both equally re- 
 presenting the ten kingdoms, which formed the divided \Vest- 
 ern Roman empire. Various lists of these kingdoms have 
 been given by Machiavel, Joseph Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, 
 Bishop Newton, Mr. Faber, and others; in all of which, the 
 
 VOL. II. — 32 
 
9(3 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 Anglo-Saxon kingdom, or Great Britain, is included. But in 
 determining the momentous question, — which are the ten 
 kingdoms whose destinies are involved in the pro])hecies of 
 Daniel, we have an infallible rule laid down by Sir Isaac New- 
 ton, and adopted by ]\Ir. Frere, to whom I take this oppor- 
 tunity of acknowledging my obligations, i. e. the principle of 
 a territorial division.* According to Bishop Chandler, Arch- 
 
 * It is remarkable that, from the breaking'out of the rage of modern infidelity, 
 infidels have been incessantly hurling their pointless javelins against the cha- 
 racter of Newton, as an interpreter of prophecy. AVhile they bovv^with a kind of 
 idolatrous reverence, before the shrine of the author of the Priiicipia,v.h\ch~ 
 few of them understand, they sneer at the commentator upon Daniel and the 
 Apocalypse, of which they are still more ignorant. The reason is obvious. 
 Newton was a firm believer in the Divine origin of Judaism and Christianity, 
 and of the inspiration of the Old and New Testament. With Lord Bacon, 
 he clearly saw, that "God had given to man a revelation of his will in two 
 books, each of which bears the seal and impress of his own hand, — the Book 
 of Nature and the Book of Scripture— and that the latjer is a key to the 
 former; that if the one displays his wisdom, power, and goodness, the other 
 no less clearly manifests these perfections in conjunction with his holiness, 
 justice, and mercy; and that if nature amply rewards the laborious researches 
 of the true philosopher by her discoveries, the word of God can never disap- 
 point the expectations of those who are exercising the study of it." Both 
 these extraordinary men saw, in the accompfishment of numerous prophecies, 
 which eternal wisdom only could have dictated, a decisive and a standing 
 evidence of the truth of revelation. Bacon, therefore, recommends the study 
 of the prophecies, especially of Daniel and the Revelations, provided it be 
 done with "great wisdom, sobriety, and reverence:" and Newton devoted 
 several years of his life exclusivelyto the study of Daniel and the Apocalypse, 
 which he did, as Bacon recommends, "with great wisdom, sobriety, and re- 
 verence." The malignity of infidelity was, therefore, determined to destroy 
 so great an authority, by representing his reverence for the Holy Scriptures 
 as an instance of mental imbecility in the greatest man that ever existed. 
 Voltaire took the lead in this attack upon Christianity, through the sides of 
 Newton; and, strange to tell, men, calling themselves Christians, and even 
 Christian ministers, of a far lower grade in the order of intellect, have en- 
 listed themselves into his ranks, and seconded his efforts; while infidels look 
 on with a ferocious triumph. This prime intellectual juggler, who drove the 
 world into the frenzy of Atheism, — not by the accuracy of his reasoning, the 
 depth of his philosophy, or the extent of "his information, but by the audacity 
 of his false statements, his artful insinuations, his wilful misrepresentation of 
 facts, and his profane wit, which invested him with prodigious power in de- 
 bauching the human mind, — says, with his usual flippancy, that "Newton 
 wrote his Comment upon the Revelations to console mankind for the great 
 superiority that he had over them in other respects.-' He then gives an in- 
 stance of'ihat skimming the surface of things, which characterizes all the 
 writings of the philosopher of Fernoy, by gravely telling us, that "Newton 
 had explained the Revelations in the same manner with all those who went 
 before him;" a palpable proof that he had never read the one or the others. 
 Another writer, in the Edinburgh Review, otherwise not destitute of sense, 
 chatters after the French Atheist when he says that "Sir Isaac Newton paid 
 a tribute to the weakness of human nature by writing on the prophecies." 
 These men are certainly prodigiously wise, at least in the judgment of certain 
 individuals! And intellectual giants they certainly are, by ihe side of such 
 dwarfs as Newton, Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Milton, Selden, and other imbecile 
 believers in revelation, who have hitherto been esteemed the glory of English 
 literature. A transcriber of the life of Sir Isaac Newton, in the Library of 
 I'scf'id Knowledge, very ingeniously accounts for this imbecility, not only in 
 Newton, but in Boyle, Wallis, Barrow, Houke, Whiston, and Clarke, from 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 27 
 
 bishop Usher, and Sir Isaac Newton, the boundaries of the 
 western empire extended towards the west, as far as Britain, 
 which is included in it; towards the south, as far as the Medi- 
 terranean; northward, as far as the Danube and the Rhine; 
 and eastward, to the limits of the Grecian empire. 
 
 As bounded on the north by the Danube and the Rhine, tiie 
 phitform of the western empire is divisible into cxactl}^ ten 
 parts or kingdoms, all of which have existed nearly the whole 
 j)eriod of the divided empire; these are Lombardy, the seat of 
 a powerful kingdom; Ravenna, the seat of the Exarch, who 
 reigned over a great part of Italy; and the state of Rome, the 
 seat of the empire; in addition to these three, as Mr. Frere 
 justly observes, Naples and Tuscany form a territorial division 
 of Italy into five parts; the other five kingdoms are France, 
 Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain. These ten king-, 
 doms form a complete territorial division of the empire into 
 ten parts; and as no other ten kingdoms can be named, upon 
 the principle of a territorial division, if this be the correct 
 principle, of which there can be no doubt, on which the pro- 
 phecies of Daniel are to be interpreted, we may conclude with 
 certainty, that these are the identical kingdoms whose desti- 
 nies are involved in the ])rophetical dream of Nebuchadnezzar 
 and the parallel vision of Daniel. Accordingly we shall find 
 that they exactly correspond, in all particulars, with the cha- 
 racteristics given of these kingdoms by the Spirit of prophecy. 
 Some of them are strong, having the iron strength of the old 
 empire; others are weak, being partly of iron, and partly of 
 potters' clay, or iron mingled with clay; attempts have been 
 often made to unite them by political and matrimonial alliances, 
 but all such attempts have hitherto proved abortive. They 
 have all existed as separate and independent kingdoms, with 
 the exception of Ravenn;; and Lombardy, which were early 
 united to the state of Rome, almost the whole period of the 
 divided empire, and as such they still exist to this day; France, 
 Austria, the three Papal states, Naples, Tuscany, Portugal, 
 Spain, and Great Britain. The dream of Nebuchadnezzar and 
 the vision of Daniel, alike contain a symbolical and prophetical 
 history of the great ruling empires of the world, from the 
 
 ihe prejudices of the limes in which they lived; most unaccountably forget- 
 tinpr, that some of the most subtle, and what this gentleman would, perhaps, 
 call the ablest attacks upon Christianity, had been sent into the world in their 
 days. No man can have read Newton's Commentaries upon Daniel and the 
 Apocalypse, with his Key to the Prophecies, without a conviction, that he has 
 discovered as much patient investigation, depth of research, accuracy of dis- 
 ^criraination, philosophical acumen, and every combination of intellectual 
 "power, in those works, as in any of his mathematical problems, or his philo- 
 sophical disquisitions. 
 
28 
 
 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 reign of the king of Babylon to the time of the end, or the 
 trium])hant establishment of the millennial kingdom of the 
 JVIessiah. Yet here is no tautology. The one prophecy is 
 not a repetition of the other. The dream of Nebuchadnezzar 
 is merely the secular history of these empires, introducing at 
 the close, the millennial kingdom of our Redeemer; that of 
 Daniel exhibits both their ecclesiastical and their secular iiis- 
 tory. Hence, while the prophet is gazing with awe and 
 wonder on the monster rising out of the sea, with his ten 
 horns, typical of the ten kingdoms of the divided empire, 
 rising out of the floods and seas of Gothic invasion; he beholds, 
 with increased astonishment, another little horn creeping up, 
 slowly and by stealth, among the ten horns, eradicating three 
 of them in its progress, and taking possession of the places 
 w^hich they occupied. This prophetical symbol is described 
 as having eyes like the eyes of a man; a mouth speaking great 
 things; a look more stout than his fellows; speaking great 
 things against the JMost High; wearing out the saints of the 
 JVIost High; changing times, and laws, and seasons, for a time, 
 and times, and the dividing, or the one half of a time. The 
 power symbolized by this little monster can be no other than 
 the Papacy, insidiously rising among the ten kingdoms of the 
 divided empire, subverting three of them, and taking posses- 
 sion of their territories; these are Ravenna, Lombardy, and 
 the state of Rome, whi'ch now form the secular kingdom of 
 the Roman pontiff; and by wearing a triple crown, the insignia 
 of three kingdoms, the Popes, by a strange infatuation, prove 
 to all the world that they are the power described in this pro- 
 phecy. The horn was a little horn; accordingly, the territory 
 of the Pope has always been very inconsiderable, and makes 
 but a small figure in the general map of the empire. It had 
 eves like the eyes of a man, expressive of its episcopal cha- 
 racter, as a bishop or overseer, as the word signifies; and also 
 political intrigue, sagacity, ambition, constant watchfulness, 
 and a shar]i look out to guard against the circumvention of an 
 enemy, and to turn every thing to its own advantage. A mouth, 
 speaking great things; i. e. the thunders, the anathemas, and 
 the blaspliemies, of the Vatican; at whicli the kingdoms of 
 the empire have often stood aghast, and trembled in ever}'' 
 nerve; and by which they have not unfrequently been con- 
 vulsed and deluged with blood. A look, moi'e stout than his 
 fellows; assuming a superiority, not only over his fellow- 
 bishops, but over his fellow-jirinces; exacting greater homage 
 than was ever paid to kings and emperors, and even demand- 
 ing the homage of kings and emperors themselves. Speaking 
 great words against the Most High; arrogating divine titles 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 29 
 
 and attributes; exacting passive obedience, upon pain of death, 
 to its decrees and ordinances, in open violation of scriptural 
 and common sense; insulting man, and blasj)heming God. 
 Wearing out the saints of the JMost High, by wars, massacres, 
 and inquisitions; persecuting and destroying all who presumed 
 to disi)utc the infallibility of his decisions. Changing times, 
 and laws, and seasons; ''appointing," says ]Mcde, and Bishop 
 Newton, "fasts and festivals; canonizing saints; changing the 
 calendar; altering the canon of scripture; granting indulgcn- 
 cies and pardons for the worst of crimes; ingrafting upon the 
 jnire and simple rites of Christianit}^ the abominations and 
 idolatries of Paganism, and reversing, at pleasure, the laws of 
 God and man." And they shall be given into his hands, says 
 the prophet; i. c. the saints of the Most High, the times, the 
 laws, and the seasons — for a time, or a prophetic year; and 
 times, or two prophetic years: and the dividing of a time, or 
 one half of a prophetic year; which, reckoning a year for a 
 day, according to the prophetic mode of computation, amount 
 to twelve hundred and sixty natural years; the precise period 
 mentioned, no less than six times, by Daniel and St. John, as 
 the period of the domination of Popery. Could we ascertain 
 the date when this mysterious period commenced, we should 
 find no difficulty in deciding with certainty when it will ter- 
 minate; or whether it be passed, as some suppose; or how 
 nearly its course is run out; and, consequently, in what age of 
 the world we are now living. Perhaps, in the course of these 
 lectures, I may presume to state my own views upon this 
 most contested point. 
 
 Let us now turn to the conclusion of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 dream, which Daniel also beheld in prophetic vision, that he 
 might interpret its meaning. While gazing with fear and con- 
 sternation, on tlio great and terrible image, he saw a little 
 stone, emblem of the millennial kingdom of our Redeemer, at 
 first inconsiderable in appearance, cut out of the mountain, 
 emblem of the Roman empire, of which Judea, where the 
 Prince of Peace w^as born, was a province; cut out without 
 hands, or without human agency; which smote the feet and 
 toes of the image, and brake them to pieces. It is beyond all 
 doubt, that the jjrophet considered the image as still standing, 
 and the toes of tliefeet, on which the image stood, as yet all 
 remaining. He does not say, seven, or six, or five, which. yet 
 remained, but that the stone cut out of the mountain, fell upon 
 the toes, and brake them in pieces. Again, he says, in the ex- 
 j)lanation of the prophecy — In the days of those kings, or 
 kingdoms, represented by the ten toes of the image, shall the 
 God of heaven set up a kingdom, i. e. the visible, millennial 
 32* 
 
3Q THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 kingdom of Christ, which must displace other kingdoms, in 
 ■ order to its universal establishment, which shall break in pieces 
 and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 
 Here is not a word to intimate that any of the kingdoms 
 typified by the ten toes had been separated before this destruc- 
 tion, and therefore escaped the fearful catastrophe. The con- 
 clusion, therefore, that candour must draw, is, that the stone 
 fell upon them all.. But let us again hear the words of the 
 prophet: — "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, 
 and the gold, broken logelher; and hecame as the chaff of the 
 summer thrashing floors, and the wind carried them away, and 
 no place was found for them." My fellow-citizens! is the 
 fate of Great Britain involved in this prophecy, or is it not? 
 Judge for yourselves, but judge with candour and impartialit5^ 
 Now turn to the conclusion of Daniel's vision; I beheld, 
 till the thrones were set, and the Ancient of Bays did sit, — 
 the eternal God, in whose infinite duration, the past, the pre- 
 sent, and the future, are absorbed and lost; — his raiment was 
 white as snow, the emblem of perfect purity and perfect jus- 
 tice; his garment was white as wool, alluding to the venerable 
 appearance of the president of the high court of sanhedrim, 
 during the great national assize; his throne was like the fiery 
 flame, and his wheels as burning fire; a fiery stream issued, 
 and came forth from before him, denoting the consuming 
 splendours of his holiness, and the terrors of his avenging 
 justice; thousands of thousands stood before him, ten thousand 
 times ten tiiousand ministered unto him; the judgment was 
 set, and the books were opened. How awful is this descrip- 
 tion! Did the language of inspiration itself ever rise to higher 
 sui)limity? Is not this the day of judgment? Yes, verily; 
 but the day of judgment is not a day composed of four-and- 
 twent}' hours. To suppose this, would be the height of ab- 
 surdity. Yet such is a very common opinion. The day of a 
 man's deatli is, to him, the day of judgment. Ere his body 
 is committed to the grave, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and 
 dust to dust, his judgment is passed, his doom is irrevocably 
 fixed. "For it is appointed unto all men once to die, and after 
 that the judgment." But nations exist in this world, only in 
 their national capacity; and, therefore, in their national capa- 
 city, in this world, only can they be judged. Nations, as well 
 as men, lie under one common doom; and the judge of all the 
 earth holds assizes over particular nations at ditferent periods 
 of the world's duration. The times of the destruction of the 
 world, by the Deluge; of Sodom and Gomorrah, by fire from 
 heaven; of Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, Nineveh, Persia, 
 Greece, Jerusalem, and Rome, are called their days of judg- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 3| 
 
 ment, and are described and foretold by the same proplietical 
 symbols. The judg;mcnt of God, in fact, is a scries of judicial 
 inflictions, beginning with the Deluge, and going on to the 
 commencement of the IMiliennium; tlien commencing a new 
 series, and terminating at the close of the Millennium in the 
 wonders of that day, when all the dead, both small and great, 
 shall stand before God. The judgment described in this pass- 
 age, with such awful and tremendous majesty, is that which 
 will be executed at the coming of the Lord Jesus, and the 
 appearing of his kingdom. 
 
 The character of the delinquent to be judged, chargeable 
 with the crimes of a thousand ages; the terribleness of the 
 judgment to be executed, and the magnitude of the events 
 which are speedily tO' follow, fully justify the peculiar solem- 
 nity with which it is introduced. ]3ut hear the language of 
 the prophet — 1 beheld, that because of the voice of the words 
 which tire little horn spake, — i. c, the blasphemies, the san- 
 guinary and idolatrous decretals of the Papacy; I beheld, and 
 io! till the beast with the ten horns was slain, and his body 
 given to the burning flame. In the corresponding vision of 
 St. John, in the book of the Revelation, the entranced prophet 
 saw the beast with the ten horns, and the kingdoms of the 
 earth, and their armies, and the false prophet, another emblem 
 of Popery, or of Popery conjoined with Infidelity, cast into 
 the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. The total annihila- 
 tion of these kingdoms is here expressed, by the strongest 
 images that language or nature can furnish. In the vision of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, they are broken in pieces, ground to powder, 
 and carried awa}', so that no place is found for them. In that 
 of Daniel, they are consumed by fire, which destroj's so com- 
 pletely as to leave no vestige of that \vhich is consumed. My 
 fellow countrymen! when we recollect that in the various lists 
 of these kingdoms hitherto given to the world by Infidels and 
 Christians, by Catholics and Protestants, by Englishmen and 
 Foreigners, statesmen and historians. Great Britain is ihcluded, 
 I ask again, is the destiny of the British empire' involved in 
 this prophecy? Again I leave you to judge for yourselves, 
 and again I request you to judge with candour and without 
 national prejudice. 
 
 But was not Britain, it may bo asked, separated from the 
 Papal empire at the time of the Reformation? At the very 
 dawn of the Reformation, was she not the great bulwark of 
 Protestantism? And, therefore, although originall}'^ one of 
 the ten horns, may she not have been torn from ofi' the head 
 of the symbolical monster? Would to God I could answer 
 this question in the affirmative! This is not a vain aspiration. 
 
32 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 The love of my country is not a* sentiment, but a strong pas- 
 sion, which glows in this heart with a fervour which nothing 
 but death can extinguish. I, therefore, rejDeat, would to God 
 I could reply in the affirmative! But your time admonishes 
 me to hasten to a conclusion. In our next lecture, by divine 
 permission, we shall pursue the momentous enquiry, so deeply 
 interesting to every Briton who loves his country, and to every 
 Christian who is waiting for the coining of his Lord, and the 
 appearing of his kingdom, and whose earnest and fervent 
 prayer is. Thy kingdom come, that thy will may be done on 
 earth as it is done in heaven. 
 
 From what has been already advanced, we may infer, with 
 certainty, the doctrine of a National Providence. It is pleas- 
 ing to observe a doctrine so consonant to reason, and so con- 
 solatory to the heart of a Christian, especially in times like 
 the present, confirmed by tlie uniform testimony of the in- 
 spired writers. "The kingdom," says David,' *'is the Lord's, 
 and he is Governor among the nations. He holdeth the times 
 and the seasons in his power; he changeth the times and the 
 seasons; he setteth up kings, he putteth down kings, and none 
 can stay his hand, or say unto him— what doest thou?" "The 
 Most High," said Nebuchadnezzar, after the brightness of his 
 understanding was restored; "tlie Most High ruleth in tlic 
 kingdoms of men, and giveth them to whomsoever he will." 
 The same doctrine was stated by the great Apostle to the 
 Gentiles, in his admirable speech addressed to the Athenian 
 philosophers — "God," says he, "has made of one blood all 
 nations of men to dwell upon the face of the whole earth, and 
 has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of 
 their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they 
 might feel after him, and find him, though he be not dxr from 
 any one of them, for in him they live, and move, and have 
 their being." The Scriptures abound with promises of pro- 
 tection and national prosperity to righteous nations, and with 
 denunciations of wrath and vengeance against the wicked and 
 impenitent; and it is well known that neither these promises 
 nor these threatcnings were in vain. The history of the Jewish 
 people, from their departure out of Egypt to this day, is a 
 standing evidence of this important and consolatory doctrine 
 to all the nations among whom they are scattered. The four 
 ruling monarchies of the world, which are the subject of this 
 prophecy, were but mighty engines in the hand of the Almighty 
 to execute his purposes, whether of judgment or of mercy, 
 upon the Jews and other civil communities, and to prepare the 
 way gradually for the establishment of a kingdom of a ver}' 
 diflerent nature, and f;u- superior to them all in solid glory, in 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. '33 
 
 real grandeur, in duration, in extent of dominion. Their rise 
 and fall were distinctly foretold by the Hebrew prophets, long 
 before they existed, and, as hath often been observed, such mea 
 as Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, Titus, Vespasian, and 
 all the Greek and Roman heroes, were so many a<r;ents in the 
 hands of the Holy One of Israel, raised up at sundry times, 
 and furnislied with necessary qualifications, to accomjilish vvhat 
 his hand and counsel had before determined to be done. With 
 what awful and impressive majesty does he assert this branch 
 of his higli prerogative, as the Sovereign of the world, by the 
 mouth of his prophet Isaiah, — "Thus saith the Lord, from the 
 rising of the sun even to the going down thereof, I am God, 
 and there is none else; I form the light, and I create darkness; 
 I make peace, and I create evil; 1 vvound, and I heal; 1 kill, 
 and I make alive: I the Lord do all these things." "Thus 
 saith the Lord, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth 
 the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; 
 that frustrateth the tokens of tlie liars, and maketh diviners 
 mad; that turneth wise men backwards, and maketh their 
 knowledge foolish; that confirmeth the word of his servant, 
 and performeth the counsel of his messengers." Hence we 
 learn that the common vicissitudes of light and darkness, of 
 peace and war, of victory and defeat, of plenty and famine, of 
 life and death, of political changes and state revolutions; the 
 talents of the mighty, and the imbecility of the weak; the 
 vices and the virtues of mankind; and all those minute pivots, 
 scarcely perceptible to human sagacity, on which the destinies 
 of empires revolve: all, in short, that men call chance, acci- 
 dent, or fortune, are under the control of an invisible and 
 Almighty hand, which, without breaking in upon the esta- 
 blished laws of nature, or intrenching on the freedom of 
 human actions, makes them all subservient to the purposes of 
 infinite wisdom, and perfect goodness,, in the moral govern- 
 ment of the universe. 
 
 In the history of the four great monarchies to which our 
 text refers, we see this sublime truth exemplified in the most 
 striking manner. "They form, as it were," says Bossuet, and, 
 after him, the late Bishop Porteus, "one vast mdp of providen- 
 tial administration, delineated on so large a scale, and marked 
 with such legible characters, that it cannot possibly escape our 
 observation." This map has been held up before the eyes of 
 all nations, for the space of nearly three thousand years, to 
 confront the feeble cavils of atheism, and to confirm the scrip- 
 tural doctrine of a National Providence. 
 
 There is, then, my fellow countrymen, a God who judgeth 
 in the earth. The world which we inhabit is not a fatherless 
 
34 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 world. There is an Omniscient eye above, watching over the 
 destinies of empires, that never slumbers nor sleeps. There 
 is an arm that reacheth down from heaven to earth, which is 
 everywhere employed; in the regions of the air, — in the 
 bowels of the earth, — in the abysses of the ocean, — in the 
 cabinets of princes, — in the defeats and victories of contend- 
 ing armies, — and, in the passions of the human heart; the arm 
 of Providence is felt, in making the wrath of man to piaise 
 him, and restraining the residue thereof; in bringing lasting 
 good out of transitory evil, and overruling all things for the 
 salvation of them that love God, and are called according to 
 his purpose. Nothing is casual or accidental; what we call 
 chance is really Providence, executing its own purposes, and 
 concealing its agency, under the operation of second causes. 
 Here is firm fooling! here is solid rock! when the foundations 
 of the political earth are shaken, and the political heavens are 
 rolled together as a scroll. Amidst war and peace, plenty and 
 famine, amidst the persecutions and prosperity of the church, 
 amidst the wrecks of states and empires, we trace the footsteps 
 of God, and triumphantly sing. Hallelujah, the Lord God 
 Omnipotent reigneth. 
 
 We learn, secondly, the subserviency of all great political 
 changes to the final establishment of the Messiah's kingdom. 
 The flowing of the deluge, the separation of the sons of Noah, 
 and the partition of tbe earth amongst its inhabitants; the 
 plagues of Egypt, the redemption of Israel, and the miraculous 
 passage through the Red Sea; the miracles of the wilderness, 
 the pi'omulgation of the law from Mount Sinai, and the settle- 
 ment of the church in the land of Canaan; the elevation of 
 David to the throne, the succession of the royal seed, and the 
 dissolution of the royalty; the captivity of Judah in Babylon, 
 the overthrow of the Babylonian monarchy, and the restora- 
 tion of the chosen nation to their own land, in which the great 
 ]Messiah was to make his appearance; the Persian founded 
 upon the ruins of the Babylonian, the Grecian upon the ruins 
 of the Persian monarchies, and the Roman empire upon the 
 ruins of them all, — were so many harbingers of Messiah the 
 prince, sent before him, to clear the stage, and to prepare the 
 way for his first advent. The Roman empire, covering a mil- 
 lion and a half of square miles, and extending over the richest 
 and the most fertile portion of the globe, having reached the 
 utmost limits assigned by an eternal Providence; the shaking 
 of the nations, whicli had continued without intermission from 
 the day when Nebuchadnezzar began his career of victory, 
 settled into a profound and general tranquillity; the gates of 
 the temj)le of war were closed, and peace was universally pro- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 35 
 
 claimed; the waves of this tempestuous world ceased from 
 tossing themselves, and a delightful calm ensued, like the still- 
 ness of that hallowed night in which the Prince of Peace was 
 born; when angels descended from heaven, singing "Glory- 
 to God in the higliest, on earth peace, and good will towards 
 men.*' ]Jy the universality, and the firmness, and the tran- 
 quillity of the Roman empire; by the union and the subjec- 
 tion of so many distant nations, under one sceptre; l)y the 
 similarity of laws, language, and manners; by the complete 
 security which tlie Roman government aflbrdcd to life and 
 properly; and by the facility of communication between the 
 capital and the remotest provinces, — the Roman world was 
 laid open to the labours of the apostles; who, being endowed 
 with miraculous powers, spread the gospel of their Master's 
 kingdom with such amazing rapidity, that within the space of 
 forty years after his ascension into heaven, according to his 
 own prediction, it was planted in all the provinces and nations 
 of the western and eastern branches of that immense empire. 
 Christianity being thus firmly established, and the purpose 
 of infinite wisdom accomplished, that immense accumulation 
 of power was overthrown, with a mighty desolation, and 
 divided into the kingdoms which subsist around us to this 
 day. Another paramount dominion was yet to be created, 
 even more extensive, at least in influence, though less com- 
 pact, than that of Rome, and, like tlie Roman empire, destined 
 to perform a work of vast importance, in the arrangement of 
 Divine Providence — The British Empire; which in dominion, 
 or political importance, or commercial influence, extends over 
 tlie whole world. By extending this empire to every quarter 
 of the globe, and by the joint efforts ofother European states, 
 many countries having been discovered, utterly unknown to 
 our ancestors; by opening ;i commercial, or at least a friendly, 
 intercourse, betwixt Britain and these remote countries, and 
 by the appearance of Europeans, becoming daily more familiar 
 to these foreigners, and their visits rather the objects of desire 
 than of alarm; by making these heathens acquainted with 
 some of the leading doctrines of Christianity, at different 
 times, by some Christians occasionally visiting, or residing 
 among them, for commercial purposes; but chiefly by the 
 efforts of Christian missionaries, sent by various societies with 
 that express design; and by exciting of late the general atten- 
 tion of the religious world, especially in Great Britain, and 
 engaging many of the most zealous, and even the most en- 
 lightened Christians, of almost all denominations, in pursuing 
 these missionary purposes, with ardour and perseverance, and 
 by the success attending their labours, especially in the islands 
 
36 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 of the Pacific, — God is now preparing the way for the final 
 and universal establishment of that kingdom, which shall never 
 be destroyed, and that dominion which shall never pass away. 
 
 This is the highest, and the most honourable, destiny of 
 our beloved country. "She is the ambassador of the Lord of 
 Hosts to the heathen world." In her bosom, a new and holy 
 impulse was given to the heart of the Christian church, whose 
 vibrations shall never cease, until the mystery of God is finish- 
 ed. On her altars au hallowed flame has been kindled, which 
 shall never be extinguished, till all nations have seen the light, 
 and felt its genial influence. Then the little stone, cut out of 
 the mountain without hands, having broken in pieces and dis- 
 placed every rival power, shall become a great mountain — an 
 empire of righteousness and love, which shall fill the whole 
 earth. 
 
 Then judgment having been pronounced, and executed upon 
 the papal and infidel kingdoms of the western Roman empire, 
 the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven, to receive 
 a kingdom, a dominion, and glory; and all nations, and king- 
 doms, and peoples, and languages shall serve him; and the 
 greatness of the dominion under the whole heavens shall be 
 given to the saints of the Most High, and he shall reigu for 
 ever and ever. This is the blessed consummation to which 
 all the revolutions of states and empires are subordinate, and 
 in which they shall all' terminate; this is the restitution of all 
 things of which all the prophets have spoken since the world 
 began. To conclude: The Lord reigneth. He is clothed 
 with glory, honour, and majesty. Nations rise and fall at his 
 command. He holdeth in his Almighty hand the keys of the 
 visible and invisible worlds. Let the righteous, who can say 
 this God is our God, rejoice in every vicissitude; nor let them 
 act so inconsistently with their principles, or their profession, 
 as to suffer any outward calan)ity to make any deep and last- 
 ing impression upon their inward peace and tranquillity. The 
 destiny of your beloved country may seem to be oscillating in 
 the balance; but are not those perfections which pilot the great 
 vessel of the universe suflicient to guide the vessel of the state, 
 and to conduct your little bark safely into harbour? Rejoice, 
 too, in the assurance that the kingdom of your beloved Re- 
 deemer shall come, with power and great glory; that the 
 ])rayer which he taught his disciples to present before he left 
 the habitations of mortal men, to intercede for them above, 
 which they have been oflering up nearly two thousand years, 
 and which you have often preferred before his throne, shall be 
 answered in its largest extent, but which never has yet been 
 answeredj when your Father's name shall be hallowed from 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 37 
 
 the rising of the sun to the going down thereof; when his 
 will shall be done on earth by men, as it is done in heaven by 
 the angels of God; when the whole family of man shall unite 
 in ascribing unto him that sitteth ujjon the throne, and unto 
 the Lamb, the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 Daniel ii. 44. 
 
 ^^And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up 
 a kingdom," 6fC. 
 
 The most beautiful eye, that the power of the Creator ever 
 formed in the human countenance, if torn from its socket, 
 would be a frightful object. In this manner, passages of scrip- 
 ture are often mangled by being severed from their connec- 
 tion, and thus their meaning is obscured, and their beauty is 
 lost; and the fair and lovely symmetry, of that glorious reve- 
 lation to which they belong, is mutilated and destroyed. While 
 this remark is applicable to the exposition of scripture in gene- 
 ral, it applies, with a peculiar force, to the interpretation of 
 the prophetical writings. Against this mangling of sacred 
 prophecy, we are solemnly admonished by the apostle Peter, 
 in a passage, the meaning of which does not lie open to com- 
 mon observation, recorded in his second general epistle. After 
 speaking of the wonders Qf the transfiguration, and the voice 
 from the excellent glory, he adds, — "We have also a sure word 
 of prophecy, wheieunto ye do well that ye take heed (and not 
 like many in the present day, who treat it with contempt), as 
 unto a light that shineth in a dark place, (a heavenly torch, 
 held out amidst surrounding darkness,) until the day dawn, and 
 the day star arise in your hearts." Knowing this, first — not 
 merely in order of time, but especially in order of importance 
 — that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpre- 
 tation, — or, as Bishop Horsley renders the passage, no insu- 
 lated prophecy of scripture is its own interpreter; it contains 
 not within itself the elements of its own exposition; its mean- 
 ing cannot be elicited by any criticism upon the words in which 
 4t is conveyed; it does not, in fact, carry in its girdle the key 
 of its own interpretation. How then is it to be explained? 
 
 VOL. II. — 33 
 
38 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 Certainly, by restoring it to the paragraph in which it stands, 
 and to the sacred book to which it belongs; by comparing it 
 with parallel predictions, and by viewing it in connection with 
 the great system of prophecy, which pervades the whole sacred 
 volume, from the first prediction of the seed of the woman 
 bruising the serpent's head, in the third chapter of the l:)Ook of 
 Genesis, to the final triumpli of tiie seed of the woman, in the 
 glories of the new Jerusalem, described, by the Spirit of pro- 
 phecy, in the closing chapters of the book of Revelation. 
 
 A satisfactory and sublime reason is next assigned by the 
 apostle, why no particular prophecy is, or can be its own in- 
 terpreter. For prophecy came not in old time by the will of 
 man; not by the impulse of phrenzy, caprice, or fanaticism; 
 it was not the result of human genius, sagacity, or foresight, 
 nor in any way the work of man's understanding, or man 
 might easily have perceived its meaning, vvLlhout further la- 
 bour or assistance. But holy men of God spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost, — that eternal Spirit, to whose om- 
 niscient eye, all things in the visible and in visible worlds lie open, 
 and who equally comprehends the past, the present, and the fu- 
 ture, in one eternal, undivided thought. It is, in fact, a commu- 
 nication from an infinite to a finite intellect, developing an unity 
 of design, and a continuity of thought, worthy of the majesty 
 of its great author; but dealt out, as the learned bishop ex- 
 presses it, in distinct pa'rcels and portions, adapted to the feeble- 
 ness of the human understanding. The business, therefore, of 
 the biblical student, when searching the scriptures, in obe- 
 dience to his Lord's command, is to compare scripture with 
 scripture, predictions with their fulfilment, and prophecies, 
 already fulfilled, with those which yet remain to be accom- 
 plished, through the whole field of revelation. By such a 
 process only, and not by any verbal criticism upon isolated 
 passages, can he obtain a clear and comprehensive knowledge 
 of the great system of prophecy in general, or of the precise, 
 and full, and sublime, meaning of any particular prediction, 
 either in the Old or New Testament. 
 
 To illustrate this statement by the works of such writers as 
 Lord Bacon, Mr. Locke, Bishop Butler, President Edwards, 
 or any other work of human production, in which there is 
 any depth of understanding: — the reader cannot understand 
 aright a single sentence, in the elaborate compositions of such 
 authors, without viewing it in connection with the paragraph 
 in which it stands; nor can he understand that paragraph, but 
 in connection with the section to which it belongs; nor that 
 section, but in connection with the chapter under which it is 
 arranged; nor can he understand that chapter, as the writer 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 39 
 
 intended it to be understood, without a comprehensive view 
 of the whole work to which it belongs. If such unity of de- 
 sign, and continuity of thought, is sometimes found in the 
 productions of such a feeble intellect as that of man, although 
 of the highest order, what depth of wisdom, and continuity of 
 design, may we not expect to find in a revelation from IJim, 
 "with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as 
 a thousand years;" in which he has foretold innumerable 
 events, depending upon the volitions of myriads of human 
 beings, thousands of years before they transpired; and in which 
 he has laid open, not only the destinies of nations, and of the 
 world, but the scenes of an everlasting duration? Success in 
 such a study demands indefatigable diligence, and holy perse- 
 verance. Thus, we are told, that the ancient prophets en- 
 quired, and searched diligently, into the meaning of their own 
 prophecies; with the intense a|)[)lication, and the patient labour 
 of miners, searching for precious ore in the bowels of the earth; 
 enquiring what things, and what manner of time, the Spit it of 
 Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified, before- 
 hand, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory of his kingdom, 
 that should follow. Humility, reverence for the word of Cod, 
 and fervent prayer, are no less necessary. Thus Daniel set 
 his face to seek the Lord his Cod, by prayer and supplication, 
 when studying the prophecies of Jeremiah, that he might un- 
 derstand the number of years determined, concerning the deso- 
 lation of Jerusalem; and, also, when enquiring into the mean- 
 ing of his own predictions, and the time of their accomplish- 
 ment. "Blessed is he that thus readeth, and they that hear 
 the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are 
 written therein; for the time is at hand." He shall behold 
 the beauty, the glory, and the harmony, of the holy oracles; 
 he shall perceive the seaV of the Holy Spirit affixed to each 
 prediction; and comparing the prophetical intimations, with 
 the events of Providence, he shall see the seals removed, one 
 after another, as ages revolve, — receive increasing confirma- 
 tion of his faith in Cod, — and behold more and more the 
 majesty of Him "which is, which was, and which is to come." 
 On this principle, we have already examined the testimony 
 of the prophets, both of the Old and New Testament, in con- 
 firmation of the following positions: — that all nations, in their 
 national capacity, must perish, and consequently Creat Britain; 
 that their doom is pronounced in righteous judgment; because 
 they were all originally founded in slaughter, and cemented 
 with human blood, and are still maintained by maxims of 
 "iniquitous policy; that, in addition to other crimes, specified 
 by the prophets, as the procuring causes of these exterminating 
 
40 THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 calamities, the cruelties inflicted by the nations upon the house 
 of Israel, are particularly mentioned; and tiiat, in the inflic- 
 tion of these cruelties, Britain has had her full share; that 
 there is one exception to this general doom, and but one ex- 
 ception, made in favour of the Jewish nation; and that the 
 time of their restoration to their own land, and their conver- 
 sion to their fathers' God, is often mentioned by the spirit of 
 prophecy, as the crisis of all nations, among whom tiiey are 
 scattered; that this controversy with the guilty nations will be 
 decided by the appearaece of the Son of God, in flaming fire^ 
 taking vengeance upon those who obey not the guspel, and 
 that with this guilt Britain is highly chargeable; and that her 
 guilt, in this respect, has been accumulating for ages; and, 
 finally, that scenes of terror, and of vengeance, will be suc- 
 ceeded by scenes of millennial bliss and glory. We have also 
 attended the prophet Jeremiah, with a cup of trembling and 
 death in his hand, to all the kingdoms of the world, that are 
 upon the face of the whole earth, till, in prophetic vision, he 
 meets the prophet of the Apocalypse, at the doom of mystical 
 Babylon, when she sinks to rise no more, amidst the wailings 
 and lamentations of the nations, and the cities of the nations, 
 which fall at the same time. And, on the same ])rinciple, 
 when endeavouring to decide the momentous question — 
 whether our beloved country will be involved in this v.'reck 
 of nations, we saw that Britain is one of the ten kingdoms 
 represented by the ten toes of the metallic image in Nebu- 
 chadnezzar's dream, which are to be broken to pieces, beat to 
 powder, and carried away, so that no place shall be found for 
 them; and typified also by the ten horns of the fourth beast, 
 in the parallel vision of Daniel, which is to be desti-oyed, and 
 committed to the burning flame. On this question, I left you 
 to form your own judgment, only requesting you to judge with 
 candour and impartiality. But was not Britain, it may be 
 asked, separated from the papal empire at the time of the 
 Reformation? At the very dawn of the Reformation, was she 
 not the grand bulwark of Protestantism? And, therefore, 
 although originally one of the ten horns, may she not have 
 been eradicated from the head of the symbolical monster? 
 Happy should I be could I answer this question in the affirma- 
 tive. God of his mercy grant that it may prove so, in the 
 final issue of these awful dispensations which are coming upon 
 the world! 
 
 But in what, may I bo permitted to ask, did our separation 
 from the church of Rome principally and essentially consist? 
 Did it not principally and essentially consist in the transfer of 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 41 
 
 the headship of the church from a priest to a layman, — from a 
 foreign pontiff to a Biilish monarch, — from tiie Pope of Rome 
 to Henry the Eighth? And is such a separation as this suffi- 
 cient to defeat the accomplishment of the word of God? And 
 what has been the conduct of Enghind, and of the English 
 church with respect to the ciiurch of Rome since that period?* 
 No man could have read witli attention the history of the 
 English hierarchy, not as told by Baxter, Neale, Calamy, and 
 others, who, being dissenters, might be supposed to be pre- 
 judiced; but by liurnet, Ileylin, Collier, and others of her 
 most zealous adherents; witiiout a conviction that the Church 
 of England would, long ere this day, have been perfectly re- 
 conciled to the see of Rome, but for the noble struggles of 
 some of her enlightened members, both lay and clerical, who 
 were coeval with the High Commission Court and the Star 
 Chamber. And also the convocations that were held, during 
 the reign of the last Stuarts? Soon after the succession of 
 Elizabeth to the throne of England, it was evident that the 
 spirit of Protestantism had evapoiated, and that the principles 
 of the Papacy were revived, in full vigour, in this great branch 
 of the Protestant Church. Of her successor, James the First, 
 and of others high in office, both in cluirch and state, it was 
 said, as may be said of many in the present day, that they 
 were always talking against Popery, and always acting for it. 
 There is no proof on record, of the personal religion of Eliza- 
 beth. Her spirit was very similar to that of Mary,— bitter 
 and intolerant; and this may explain the reason of her resist- 
 ance to the farther progress of the Reformation, and, indeed, 
 of the whole system of her ecclesiastical policy. In fact, 
 from the demise of that excellent prince, Edward the Sixth, 
 to the abdication of James the Second, Protestantism retro- 
 graded, and Popery advangsd; until the fatal chain, that linked 
 the dcstinj' of Britain to that of the papal empire, and which 
 was never broken, was lifted out of the mire, in whicii it had 
 been trodden under foot, and held up in triumph bythe Roman 
 Catholics, before the eyes of all Europe; and nothing now 
 remained but the last stroke of the hammer to rivet it faster 
 than ever. But the bigotry of James hurried him into rash- 
 ness and precipitation, which drove him from the throne, and 
 brought on the revolution of IGSS, when, by the exclusion of 
 Catholic Princes from the throne of these realms, and lioman 
 Catholics from offices of political power, both in church and 
 state, by tlic Bill of Rights, the fatal chain seemed, for theirs/ 
 time, completely, and for ever, severed. Protestants, of all 
 -denominations, rejoiced exceedingly; they called it the Glo- 
 ♦ Seethe Rev. J. Riland's "Estimate of the Religion of the Times." 
 33* 
 
43 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 rious Revolution, which name it bears to this day. The joy 
 and triumph of Protestant commentators on prophecy, was 
 still more excessive. Tiiey laboured to prove, that the sepa- 
 ration of the fate of Britain from that of tiie see of Rome was 
 now complete; that the British horn was entirely eradicated 
 from the head of that monster, on whicli the vials of the wrath 
 of Almighty God are to be poured. In this state tilings re- 
 mained, until the passing of the late Catholic Emancipation 
 Bill, as it is called by some, but for what reason no mortal 
 can tell; when, by the breaking in of the constitution, and the 
 admission of the members of the church of Rome to -^ll offices, 
 whatever, of political power, in this Protestant government; 
 the alliance was again formed with that apostate and idolatrous 
 communion, and tiie fatal link once more appeared, that con- 
 nected the fate of Britain with that of the Papal empire. And 
 oh! by what perjury, — by what glaring dereliction of princi- 
 ple, — by what mean-spirited tei-giversation, — and by what 
 infidel impiety, was this fatal bill introduced! And what have 
 been the effects of this healing measure? Is Ireland pacified? 
 Is the spirit of insurrection and insubordination entirely sub- 
 dued? Are either the Protestants or Catholics of Ireland 
 satisfied? What means this stern and persevering demand for 
 the repeal of the union, which is but the next step towards 
 the separation of the two kingdoms, or the deluging of both 
 with blood from shore to shore? Alas! Alas! Have not 
 the calamities of the empire been ever since accumulating 
 seven-fold? On this subject, I candidly confess that I felt 
 strongly, and therefore expressed myself strongly; under the 
 firm conviction, that on the measure then hurrying, with in- 
 decent haste, through Parliament, the destiny of my beloved 
 country was suspended. And now, to use the words of the 
 venerable Lord Eldon, '-The sun of England is gone down, 
 to rise no more." The destiny of the British empire is for 
 ever sealed, unless, indeed, the fatal link can be again severed, 
 of which there is not the remotest probability. 
 
 Thus it appears, that in the symbolical prophecy of the 
 great image, the annihilation of the ten kingdoms of the 
 western empire is distinctly foretold, in the most awful and 
 impressive language; that in the parallel vision of the four 
 beasts, the doom pronounced in the preceding prophecy is 
 confirmed, and the reason assigned for the judgment, i. e. the 
 blasphemies of the Papacy; which being the animus of the 
 beast, employs him as her agent in the execution of her san- 
 guinary decrees; that our only hope of escape amidst the 
 general wreck was founded in our Protestantism, or in our 
 separation from the church of Rome; that this separation never 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. ^3 
 
 seemed to be complete until the exclusion of Popish kings, and 
 Popish laymen, from political power in the IJritish Govern- 
 ment, at the glorious Revolution of IGSS; and that, by their 
 re-admission to the administration of the powers of govern- 
 ment, the alliance once more appears. The whole of Europe 
 looked with intense anxiety to the discussion of the Catholic 
 question; all minor Protestant states, which relied on England 
 as their protectress, were alarmed by finding that her legisla- 
 ture had changed its character; and all the Popish states tri- 
 umphantly regarded the measure as a step towards their 
 communion. 
 
 But let us take another view of this subject. The Papacy 
 symbolized by the little horn in tlie prophecy of Daniel, in 
 the apocalyptic vision, is represented under the emblem of the 
 mother of harlots, seated on the scarlet beast, with ten horns, 
 animating and directing all his movements, bedecked with her 
 meretricious ornaments, holding out her intoxicating cup to 
 the nations, and drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs 
 of Jesus. Upon her forehead were the names, INIYSTERY, 
 BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER of HARLOTS, and 
 abominations of the earth. It is asserted by some authors, that 
 the name "MYSTERY" was inscribed upon the tiara, worn 
 by the Popes in former days, and not removed till the Papal 
 See was cliarged with being the power symbolized in the pro- 
 phecy. Her other title, "MOTHER of HARLOTS," im- 
 plies that she has been a source of progeny, or churches, 
 possessed of her spirit and actuated by her princijjles. For if 
 she be the mother of harlots, she must have daughters; and 
 the daughters of an ecclesiastical establishment must be ecclesi- 
 astical establishments likewise, who arc trained up under their 
 mother, and taught, by her authority and example, to imitate 
 her spirit, conduct, and dissolute manners. 
 
 Where, then, are we to search for this polluted progeny, 
 but among the ecclesiastical establishments, in alliance with 
 the secular kingdoms of the Papal empire? Is the English 
 hierarchy to be ranked amongst them? Nothing can be farther 
 from my intention, than to wound the feelings of any indi- 
 vidual of any denomination. I mean not to insinuate, that 
 those splendid edifices, which have been erected by the piety 
 of our forefathers, or those which have been raised in other 
 countries, in honour of the cross, have been improperly dedi- 
 cated to the service of the living God; or that they who preach 
 the gospel, should not live upon the gospel; for such things 
 are not only sanctioned, but enjoined, in the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 The doctrines of the Church of England, as expressed in 
 her articles, her homilies, and her liturgy, are entitled to our 
 
4^ THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 highest esteem and veneration, for they are the doctrines of 
 the apostles. Many of her enlightened and pious clergy are 
 the glory of the nation: the latchet of whose shoes, I frankly 
 and freely confess, I am not worthy to unloose. And if any 
 of those excellent men should be present in this assembly, or 
 should read these lectures, they will sympathize with me, as I 
 deeply sympathize with them; and, making allowance for the 
 views which I entertain, as a conscientious Dissenter, they 
 will not think me very much too severe in the statements I 
 am going to make. 
 
 In the first place; examine the leading features, cr charac- 
 teristics, of the Mother of Harlots, and then try if you can 
 find the same constitutional marks in any, or in all, of the 
 three great branches of the Protestant church, — the Lutheran 
 church, the Calvinistic church, including the kirk of Scotland, 
 or the church of England. If you find them, formed upon the 
 model of the Papal hierarchy, — if they claim alliance with the 
 state powers, that, by their joint energy, they may enforce the 
 reception of a particular creed, or ritual of worship, upon the 
 subjects of the state, under civil penalties, — if, in their dogmas 
 and discipline, they resemble the church of Rome in outward 
 pomp, and worldly splendour, — if you find in their skirts the 
 blood of the house of Israel, and of the saints and martyrs of 
 Jesus, — if they allow individuals, though secular characters, 
 and even Generals of armies, to be at the same time, Bishops 
 or Overseers in the church of the living God, — if they permit 
 laymen to rob the God of heaven of the portion due to his 
 failliful labourers, — if they make a profit of the church of 
 Christ, and sufi"er ungodly men to appoint others, of the same 
 stamp, to the cure of souls, — if they hold out a lure to men of 
 unprincipled minds to enter the church, merely for the sake 
 of temporal provision, or worldly emolument, — if they identify 
 regeneration with water baptism, as the church of Rome 
 avowedly does, confound the outward and visible sign with 
 the inward and spiritual grace, and systematically reduce 
 Christianity to mere form and ceremony, — if they become 
 mere engines of the state, and make the patronage of the 
 church a compensation for political and worldly puiposes, — 
 and, finally, if they prefer to the highest offices in the church, 
 men utterly incaj)able of instructiiig others in the love and fear 
 of God, and who resist and oppose those, who only desire, in 
 simplicity and godly sincerity to serve Him, and to save the 
 souls of men, — all such systems are obviously the daughters of 
 the great harlot. Whatever other redeeming qualities they 
 may have, (for even the church of Rome has such,) these 
 unlovely features betray the baseness of their origin. 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 45 
 
 These things are to be found, not only in this country, but 
 in all the ecclesiastical establishments in alliance with the 
 secular kingdoms of the Papal empire. The enlightened 
 members of the church of England, see, acknowledge, and 
 lament, these evils, and they are at this moment, trembling 
 for the safety of their beloved hierarchy. But let not the 
 Dissenter boast himself against the Churchman, when he hears 
 these statements.. It will be well for him to allay the rising 
 emotions of exultation, by recollecting that, whatever dark 
 story may be told of a national church, it may be fully paral- 
 leled by the history of all the sects that have hitherto ap- 
 peaj;ed within the precincts of the universal church. Antichrist 
 can easily intrude his worldly mindedness, his dead formality, 
 his hypocrisy, his pharisaism, his antinomian licentiousness, 
 his intolerance, and his spiritual domination, wherever fallen 
 man lays his guilty hand on the ark of our common salvation. 
 If national churches are the daughters of the great harlot, many 
 dissenting churches are her grand-daughters. Bigotted dis- 
 senters, infidel revolutionists, and atheistical radicals, i-ejoice 
 in the prospect of the downfall of national churches; supposing 
 that when they are swept from the face of the earth, the con- 
 dition of the nations will be vastly meliorated; but in this 
 they err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the povv.T of (iod; 
 for when they fall in the final visitation, the nations will fall 
 also; the little stone shall break them to pieces, and beat them 
 to powder, and no place shall be found for them; the ten horns, 
 and the body of the beast, shall be consumed with fire, and no 
 vestige shall remain; and John tells us, that when great 
 Babylon shall come up in remembrance before God, to give 
 her the cup of the wine of the fury of his indignation, the 
 nations, and the cities of the nations, shall fall likewise. 
 
 Ail these premises seem .infallibly to lead to the same awful 
 conclusion, that the destiny of Britain is linked with that of 
 the Papal empire, and that the doom of Britain is invol'ved in 
 that of the Papal hierarchy; and this conclusion is awfully 
 confirmed by the conduct of Britain with regard to Popery, 
 during the late revolutionary war upon the continent, when 
 the vials of wrath began to be poured out upon the Papal 
 states. I presume not to pronounce any judgment on the war 
 itself, considered merely as a measure of national policy. I 
 leave that question to the decision of statesmen and politicians; 
 but this we know, that when nations are to be ruined, causes 
 must be put in action, by which their ruin is to be accomplish- 
 ed. It is generally supposed, — and I once clung willi fond 
 "tenacity to tiie same opinion, — that our Protestantism may yet 
 prove our security. The God of heaven grant that this sup- 
 
45 THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 position may be well founded. But have we not been guilty 
 of a dereliction of our Protestant principles and of an identifi- 
 cation of our most vital interests with those of the Papacy, 
 from the commencement of the laie war to the present period? 
 Did our Protestant principles weigh a feather in the scale, 
 when the ministers of the crown passed a resolution, and the 
 great majority of the nation rushed forward, with frantic 
 ardour, to uphold the smitten dynasties of the Man of Sin? 
 Had we forgotten that the men who then sat on the Papal 
 throne were the successors of those sanguinary despots, who 
 had so often shed the blood of our forefathers, and of our 
 Protestant brethren; and not only the successors, but thQ too 
 faithful executors of departed persecutors; who still continue 
 to oppress and enslave all who profess the Protestant faith, in 
 almost every state of Europe. Was not such conduct an in- 
 sult to the memory of confessors and martyrs, whose blood 
 was then crying to heaven for vengeance against them, at the 
 foot of the altar? Did we not identif}' even our Protestantism 
 with Popery, when we so often called it our holy religion; and 
 when enlisting into the ranks of Popery, to fight her battles, 
 we called it fighting the battles of the Lord, of his altars, and 
 of his temples? Was not this to identify our Protestantism 
 with the abomination of the Mother of Harlots; and the cha- 
 racter of the God whom we professed to worship, with that of 
 a persecuting priesthood? When the dark despotism of Spain 
 and Portugal was overturned; when the doors of the Inquisi- 
 tion were closed, and the spiritual domination of a bigotted 
 and idolatrous priesthood was subverted; by whose arms, and 
 at whose expense, was the despotism re-established, — the 
 spiritual domination of the idolatrous priesthood restored, — 
 and the doors of the infernal Inquisition re-opened, that it 
 might be again filled witii the victims of superstition and in- 
 tolerance? When all the Papal thrones on the Continent, of 
 France, Austria, Sardinia, the Papal states, Naples, Tuscany, 
 Spain, and Portugal, lay prostrate, — by whose arms, and at 
 whose expense, were they raised from the dust, and the scat- 
 tered fragments of the Papal empire repaired and re-establish- 
 ed? All depended on the fiat of Great Britain. Yet no 
 stipulation was even proposed, not a single effort was made, 
 in favour of Protestantism, of religious liberty, or of the sacred 
 rights of conscience, by this Protestant nation, at that time 
 wielding the energies of all Europe. 
 
 And yet some good and judicious men have told us, that we 
 are the Israel of God, the favoured nation, now standing in the 
 situation formerly occupied by the Jewish nation, the chosen 
 people of the Most High; glorifying God lor his judgments 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 47 
 
 upon the Papacy. Yes, they tell us, that we, who have spent 
 so much treasure, and shed so much hlood, on the ahars of 
 Papal despotism, are the hundred and forty and four thousand 
 palm-bearing virgins, who are described, in the book of Reve- 
 lation, as rejoicing in the overthrow of the Papal kingdoms 
 and the total annihilation of Popery, How shall we account 
 for so strange an infatuation, so sad a perversion of the sacred 
 oracles, in men who, in other respects, are worthy of all com- 
 mendation? Surely it can be resolved only into a mistaken 
 patriotism; a sentiment, amiable in itself, glowing with an 
 ardour which fascinates the judgment, and enfeebles, while it 
 dazzles, the powers of the understanding. National prejudice 
 is a bad interpreter of piophecy, I speak this from painful ex- 
 perience; but now, reverence for the word of God, a more 
 genuine, and I hope a better directed, patriotism, and an 
 anxious desire to awaken some of my countrymen, at least, 
 from that fearful apathy into which the whole nation is sunk, 
 constrain me to bear a most firm, but respectful testimony 
 against such a mistaken interpretation of sacred prophecy. 
 
 We may glory, that to lii'ilain is chiefly to be ascribed the 
 honour of restoring the scarlet dynasties, stained and saturated 
 with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus, and 
 whose thrones were overturned for the crimes of ages. We 
 may glory in the honour of raising the Man of Sin from his 
 degradation, and reviving the principles of the expiring super- 
 stitions of Popery. We may glory, that to our arms, and to 
 our treasure, it is owing that the monsters of the Inquisition — 
 the priests and monks of an apostate church, were again put 
 into full activity, with power to persecute and torture the 
 servants of God who protest against her abominations. But 
 amidst all our vain boasting, do we not hear ten thousand 
 voices crying, — "How lon^, Lord, holy, just, and true! wilt 
 thou not avenge our blood upon them that dwell upon the 
 earth?" And do we not hear the answer which the j)rophct 
 heard from the throne of God? "He that leadeth into captivity 
 shall be led into captivity. He that killeth with the sword 
 shall be killed with the sword. Come out froin the midst of 
 lier, therefore, my people, tliat ye be not partakers of her sins, 
 and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her hour is come!" 
 Review these particulars once more; forget not that Great 
 Britain is one of the ten kingdoms represented by the ten toes 
 of the metallic image, and by the ten horns of the Roman 
 beast, which are to be so completely destroyed as not to leave 
 a wreck behind; and that our Protestantism, our most vital 
 interests, have been all iilentified with Popery, from tiie com- 
 mencement of the outpouring of the vials of wrath on the 
 
43 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 Papal states, to this day: and then, as T have before requested 
 you, form your own judgment; but judge wiih impartiality, 
 guard against national prejudice, which I candidly confess has 
 cost me many painful conflicts. 
 
 It must, however, be confessed that the destiny of all nations 
 depends upon the will of the Sovereign of the world. His 
 will is the awful die by vvhich the fate of empires is determin- 
 ed. To him it belongs to speak concerning a nation, or con- 
 cerning a kingdom, to build up, to plant, and to prosper; to 
 him it equally belongs to speak concerning a nation, or con- 
 cerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to throw down, to lay waste, 
 and to destroy. He sitteth upon the water floods, and reigneth 
 King for ever. Under his moral government, righteousness 
 exalteth a nation, and sin is not only the disgrace, but the ruin 
 of any people. This maxim is so obvious as to require no 
 proof, and but little illustration. Legislators, statesmen, and 
 divines in all ages, have been of this opinion, and history pro- 
 claims aloud, in every page, that national virtue is the source 
 of national prosperity, and that national depravity paves the 
 way to national ruin. 
 
 The wisdom of the statesman, and the bravery of the war- 
 rior, in any great national struggle, like the galvanic shock, 
 may produce a transient action in the muscles, resembling life; 
 but the favour of heaven is the breath of life itself, in which 
 nations live, and movfe, and have their being. Is there, then, 
 virtue sufficient in Great Britain to conciliate the favour of 
 God, and to turn aside the vials of his wrath? 
 
 This introduces our second question — What is the religious 
 and the moral character of the British empire? A nation must 
 be viewed as one great xvliole, without regard to distance of 
 time or change of the individuals of vvhich it is composed; as 
 it is the same river that flows from one source, and runs in the 
 same channel, although every moment there is a succession of 
 a new body of waters. Thus the Lord often addresses the 
 Jewish people, as if they were still the same persons who 
 existed in the days of their fathers, although generation after 
 generation before them had passed away. "Even from the 
 days of your fathers, ye are gone away from mine ordinances." 
 To the same purpose, the whole time of God's forbearance, 
 and of tiie continuance of a dispensation of mercy, with a 
 wicked nation, when filling up the measure of its iniquity, is 
 called one day; because the nation is viewed as one body 
 politic, without regard to succession. "All the dmj long have 
 I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying peo- 
 ple." Thus our Lord informs the Pharisees, that by reject- 
 ing the gospel, and persecuting his apostles, they would fill up 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 49 
 
 the measure of their fathers' iniquity, and bring upon them- 
 selves all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the 
 blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias. The ques- 
 tion, therefore, obtrudes upon us again with much clamour — 
 Is there, then, virtue sufficient in Great Britain to conciliate 
 the favour of God, and to turn aside the vials of his wralli? 
 
 In forming an answer to this enquiry, let us now consider, 
 with deep attention, our awful iiuiiflerence to llie waste of 
 human life, and our torpid insensibility to the value of im- 
 mortal souls. We hear heavy complaints of the appalling 
 magnitude of the national debt, and the enormous increase of 
 the system of taxation, now pressing on the vitals of all orders 
 of the community, and under which the whole empire groans. 
 We are told, in loud murmurs, that if the population of the 
 three kingdoms amounts to twenty-five millions, according to 
 the last census, twenty millions of our fellow subjects are sink- 
 ing, under the pressure of the times, into bankruptcy, poverty, 
 and ruin. We hear the comj)laints of landlords and farmers, 
 of manufacturers and labourers, of shipowners and merchants, 
 of sliopkecpers and retailers of every description. We hear 
 loud and bitter complaints of inadequate wages, pinching want, 
 and, in some districts, of absolute starvation. We hear com- 
 plaints of burnings, of insurrections, and symptoms of revolu- 
 tion and anarchy. Complaints, loud and deep, are heard 
 throughout the higher, the middling, and the lower classes, 
 from one side of the empire to the other. But who complains 
 of the oceans of blood shed in the late Papal struggle? Who 
 complains of the multitudes of human victims sacrificed on 
 the altars of Papal despotism? Who lays to heart the millions 
 of souls which we have sent, by the edge of the sword, in their 
 impenitence and guilt, into an eternal world? Not one in a 
 million. Where, then, i^ our Christianity? Where is our 
 humanity? Is such fearful recklessness of the waste of human 
 life, — such infidel insensibility to the worth of immortal souls, 
 likely to conciliate the favour of the God of heaven, and to 
 shield us from his threatened vengeance? Is there no ground 
 here for apprehension as to the fate of the empire? Is there 
 no just cause for national repentance and humiliation? 
 
 Let us now turn aside and contemplate the character of our 
 colonial system. I shall say nothing of the slave trade: of the 
 cruelty and palpable injustice of tearing away our unoffending 
 fellow-creatures, who liave done us no harm, of loading them 
 with fetters of iron, and transporting them, and their posterity, 
 for ever into perpetual bondage; I shall say nothing of the 
 •horrors of the middle passage, the bare recital of which has so 
 often made our hearts to faint, our bones to shake, and the 
 
 VOL. II. — 34 
 
50 THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 hairs of our flesh to stand up; I shall say nothing of the in- 
 humanity of exposing human beings to sale, like cattle, at a 
 public market; of separating husbands from their wives, and 
 wives from their husbands, parents from their children, and 
 children from their parents; rending and torturing the fibres 
 of the heart, heedless of the piteous cries and vvailings of the 
 unhappy sufferers; nor shall I say one word of the cruelties 
 that have been inflicted, and are still being inflicted, on the 
 poor negroes on some of our plantations; because we hope 
 that these things are in a state of advancing amelioration. But 
 w^e must not forget, that Africa has a heavy account to settle 
 with Great Britain, at the bar of eternal justice. We must 
 not forget, that the blood of Africa is crying from her burning 
 sands to heaven, for vengeance against all the nations of Eu- 
 rope, especially the Papal nations, and also against the western 
 and southern continents of America. Let us'place this matter 
 in a proper light. Suppose a banditti were to break into a 
 house, murder some of the inhabitants, steal away the rest, 
 together with the cash, the plate, and all the household pro- 
 perty: would they not be guilty of felony and murder? Sup- 
 pose this property to be sold, are not those who purchase it, 
 knowing it to have been thus acquired, guilty of felony, and 
 murder likewise, in the eye of eternal justice, as accessories 
 after the fact? Suppose this property should pass through ten 
 generations who knew' it to have been so acquired; would not 
 the original guilt, in some degree, go along with it? Suppose 
 a government, by its laws and charters, were to sanction this 
 mode of acquiring and transferring property; would not that 
 government be deeply involved in the guilt of felony and 
 murder? Nay more, suppose a whole nation to reap and feed 
 upon the fruits of property thus acquired, and knowing it to 
 have been thus acquired, — would not the whole nation in some 
 degree, be implicated in the original guilt? Who then can 
 lay his hand upon his heart and say, I am innocent? Alas! 
 this blood-guiltiness has struck its roots down to the vitals of 
 the social system, extended its cancerous ramifications, and 
 spread its poisonous virus, through the whole empire. We 
 have heard much, of late years, of the necessity, in strict jus- 
 tice, of making compensation to the planters, before they are 
 stripped of their colonial proj)crt3^, by the emancipation of the 
 slaves, even if their present state of civilization were such as 
 to qualify them for the enjoyment of civil liberty, with safety 
 to themselves, and advantage to the empire; and certainly, as 
 we are all involved, the planters ought not to be the only suf- 
 ferers; the whole nation is called upon to bring forth fruits 
 meet for repentance, but compensation is especially due to 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 51 
 
 injured Africa; an object which the late Mr. Pitt had much at 
 heart, and which he often pressed, with great energy and 
 pathos, upon the attention of the British Parliament. 
 
 The first step which ought to be taken, is tiie proclamation 
 of a general fast, enjoining the whole empire, like Nineveh, to 
 put on sackcloth, and humble herself before Almighty God; 
 and then to proceed to an equitable adjustment, that there may 
 be, at least, a lengthening out of the tranquillity. But we 
 form a very contracted view of the iniquity of our colonial 
 system, if we confine our attention to the West Indies; though 
 there, perhaps, it exists in its most appalling forms, unless in- 
 deed we except the Mauritius. The colonial system of Great 
 Britain extends over the whole globe; consisting of number- 
 less larger or lesser colonies, stations, or points of observation; 
 the connection between each of which is maintained by our 
 naval superiority, and from each of which Great Britain can 
 extend her arm, to check any inroads upon her commerce. 
 
 These colonies, stations, &c. were originally founded in con- 
 quest, i. e. murder, ])lunder, and slavery; and these are the 
 bases on which the pillars of the commercial prosperity of the 
 empire is founded. When God, therefore, maketh inquisition 
 for blood, is there no reason to ajiprehend that these colonial 
 pillars, resting on such foundations, will totter to their ruin, 
 and that all the glory of the empire will fall with them? Is 
 not this an additional cause for national contrition and humilia- 
 tion? 
 
 I must now fix your attention on the British possessions in 
 the East Indies, consisting of an immense territory, and a 
 population of one hundred millions of souls — more than one- 
 tenth of the population of the whole world; all entombed in 
 the lurid gloom of superstition and idolatry, — of superstition, 
 the most obscene and abominable, — of idolatry, the most san- 
 guinary and brutal, that perhaps ever existed, in any nation, 
 either in ancient or modern times. Here a scene opens, on 
 our view, of the most melancholy character, and cTilculatcd to 
 excite the most fearful apprehensions for the safety of \he 
 empire, independently of every other consideration. The 
 missionaries of Serampore, the Moravian missionaries, Church 
 of England missionaries, Roman Catholic missionaries, travel- 
 lers, otlicers of the army, intelligent men of all professions, 
 and of all nations, who have resided in India, have given it as 
 their unanimous opinion, that Great Britain has more reason 
 to fear ruin to her empire from this source of her wealth, than 
 from any other cause whatsoever. Many a dark tale is told, 
 -and too well authenticated, every word of which has often 
 harrowed up the soul, in the history of our first conquests. 
 
52 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 and the establishment of our dominion in that part of the 
 world. But let us draw a veil over these enormities, as well 
 as over the disgusting obscenities of Indian idolatry, not fit 
 even to be mentioned in such an assembly as this; and consider 
 only the multitude of human victims, which are annually 
 sacrificed upon its blood-stained altars; the countenance and 
 protection which the British government affords to that horrid 
 superstition; and the revenue which the British government 
 actually receives, in return for that countenance and protec- 
 tion. 
 
 It is well known that there are many idolatrous temples, 
 within the territories of the East India Company, to which 
 annual pilgrimages are made by the infatuated idolaters, under 
 the absurd notion of meriting eternal happiness thereby; and 
 that during each of which, there is an immense sacrifice of 
 human life. But there are four, in particular, from which the 
 British government derives a considerable revenue, by means 
 of a tax imposed upon the pilgrims, for permission to enter 
 within the precincts of their temples, and to approach the 
 shrines of their savage deities. These are Guya, Allalahabad, 
 Tripety, and Juggernaut, which last signifies the lord of the 
 world; and is justly styled, by Dr. Buchannan, "The Great 
 Moloch of the East." 'It is difficult," says Mr. Ward, "to 
 bring the mind to contemplate scenes of horror, which surpass 
 all that has ever been perpetrated, in the name of religion, by 
 all the savage nations put together." Besides the self-tortures 
 inflicted by the devotees of this absurd superstition, for, as 
 they suppose, the expiation of their sins, — besides the human 
 victims secretly immolated on their guilty altars, — and besides 
 the numbers who throw themselves annually under the pon- 
 derous wheels of the idol's chariot, and are crushed to death, 
 as he is slowly dragged over them, amidst the triumphant 
 shouts of countless myriads'; — passing by all these things, we 
 may form some conception of the prodigious waste of life on 
 these occasions, from the following statements of Dr. Carey: — 
 "Idolatry," says that venerable missionary, "destroys far more 
 than the sword, yet in a way that is scarcely perceived. The 
 numbers who die in their long pilgrimages, either through 
 want or fatigue, or from various diseases, caught by lying out 
 in the open air, and want of accommodation, is incredible. At 
 Juggernaut, to which twelve or thirteen jjilgrimages are made 
 every year, it is calculated that the number who go thither is, 
 on some occasions, six hundred thousand persons, and scarcely 
 ever less than one hundred thousand. I suppose, at the lowest 
 calculation, that, in the year, one million two hundred thou- 
 sand persons attend. Now, if only one in ten died, the mor- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 53 
 
 tality caused by this one idol alone, would be one hundred and 
 twenty thousand in a year; but some are of opinion that not 
 more than one in ten survive, and return home again to their 
 families." 
 
 The following is a condensed account of the statements of 
 men of the most inflexible veracity, and who had the best 
 possible opportunities of obtaining the most extensive infor- 
 mation, and forming the most accurate judgment, and, indeed, 
 who were eye-witnesses of the facts which they relate. Such 
 men, for example, as Ward, Carey, Dubois, Sonnerat, Cordimer, 
 Buchannan, Harrington, Ilamillon, Sterling, Colonel Phipps, 
 and others, whose testimony is unquestionable. When the 
 wretched pilgrims, after having travelled many hundreds, and 
 some of them thousands, of miles, even from the remotest 
 parts of the empire, on foot, beneath a burning sun, come 
 within fifty miles of Juggernaut, the mortality multiplies at 
 every step; and when they reach within three miles of the 
 temple, such is the immense waste of life, that the roads, and 
 the lields on both sides of the roads, are covered with the 
 dying and the dead, absolutely worn out by fatigue, and want, 
 and various diseases; and upon their return from the den of 
 superstition, the mortality seems still to increase seven-fold, 
 the dying wretches firmly believing that they have merited a 
 place in Paradise by their pilgrimages. Not far from the gates 
 of the temple, there lies a plot of ground, called by the Eng- 
 lish "Golgotha," which exhibits a scene too shocking and 
 disgusting for humanity to behold and contemplate. There, 
 multitudes of the dying, and the dead, and t!ie bones of former 
 victims, yet unburied, are mingled together, in horrible con- 
 fusion; while vultures, dogs, and jackaJls, are looking on with, 
 what Dr. Buchannan calls, a dreadful tameness, or feeding on 
 the dead, and even the dymg, before life is entirely extinct. 
 
 The product of the tax thus collected, and even often wrung 
 from the very last means of subsistence, is applied, in different 
 portions, to the following purposes: — the repairing of the 
 temple, and its unhallowed precincts; the clothing and adorn- 
 ing of the idols; the support of the priests, and the servants of 
 the temple, among whom are a prodigious number of female 
 prostitutes; the ornamenting of the car of Juggernaut, with 
 Knglish cloth, of divers colours, at the annual expense of £200, 
 furnished by the British government; while a considerable 
 proportion is assigned to wliat are called the j^ilgrim hunters, 
 — a laige body of emissaries, more numerous than all the 
 Christian missionaries in the world, who are employed by the 
 .priests, and dispersed over the whole empire, to persuade the 
 deluded natives, by various arguments, especially by the as- 
 34* 
 
54 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 surance of eternal bliss, to undertake the pilgrimage, and who 
 receive the remuneration of their labours from the British 
 government, at so much per head, which is, consequently, 
 more or less, according to the number of pilgrims whom they 
 send before them, or wiio follow in their train; and the surplus 
 of the tax thus collected, goes directly into the hands of the 
 British government. "This, surely, is a question in which," 
 says Dr. Buchannan, "the honour of our nation, and, we may 
 add, the destiny of our empire, is involved." At Juggernaut, 
 the pilgrim hunters receive a premium for every pilgrim 
 brought into the town; and five thousand a year is paid to the 
 native officers of the temple, out of the proceeds of the pil- 
 grim-tax. Idolatry is thus regulated, supported, and aggran- 
 dized by the British government. The Rev. Mr. Peggs, late 
 of Orissa, a missionary, now in this country, says, "A friend 
 in Orissa writes to me as follows: — From a conversation with 
 a long resident of Pooree, I ascertained that, witliin his know- 
 ledge, the population has more than doubled; and he said the 
 reason was, that under our administration, Juggernaut had 
 become popular, and so more people had taken up their resi- 
 dence there. He added, — "as our credit sounded through 
 the four quarters, for protecting Juggernaut, it would be a pity 
 now to destroy all his glory, by leaving him to himself." 
 This fact speaks volumes, and needs no comment. 
 
 This infamous tax, be'it remembered, is collected, with great 
 formality and rigour, by British officers, clothed in the insignia 
 of their office, and under a guard of British soldiers. Thus 
 the whole brutal and infernal system of Indian idolatry is 
 under the visible countenance and protection of the British 
 government, which very naturally confirms the natives in their 
 dreadful superstitions. To the admonitions of our Missiona- 
 ries they reply. What you say is false; Juggernaut must be 
 the true God, because the British believe in him; his worship 
 must be the true worship, because it is regulated, supported, 
 and promoted, by the British government; or why do they 
 impose the tax, collect the revenue, repair the temple, support 
 the priests and servants of the temple, adorn the car of Jug- 
 gernaut, remunerate the labours of the pilgrim hunters, who 
 send myriads to the festivals, who otherwise would never 
 tliink of leaving their homes, and appropriate the surplus of 
 the impost to the purposes of government? Still they com- 
 plain of the severity of the tax, and the rigour of the tax 
 gatherers. You would have felt your heart moved, to hear, 
 says an excellent missionary, resident in India, giving an ac- 
 count of the Rutt festival in 1825, — you would have felt your 
 heart moved, to hear, as I did, the natives say, Your preach- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 55 
 
 ing is fulse; for, if your Saviour, and your religion, are thus 
 merciful, as you tell us, why, then, do you take away the 
 money of the poor, and suffer them to perish with starvation? 
 The surplus of this tax, collected from only the four temples, 
 which 1 have mentioned, which went into the possession of 
 the British government, after discharging all other expenses, 
 in the last fifteen years, amounted to upwards of one million 
 sterling. All these facts, and many others, not less enormous, 
 were stated, and proved by an accumulation of testimony, 
 which could not be questioned, before a general meeting of 
 East India proprietors, in December last, in a speech by John 
 Poynder, Esq., for the purpose of recommending and support- 
 ing, one would think, a very harmless motion; merely that 
 the government should abolish the tax, renounce all participa- 
 tion in this detestable superstition, and leave idolatry to stand 
 or fall by its own merits, since British connection only in- 
 creases its injurious celebrity; all that the motion required, 
 was to regard the language of scripture, Touch not, taste not, 
 handle not, — let them alone: and, strange to say, in this coun- 
 try — in the Metropolis of the British empire — in Leadenhall- 
 street, this motion was negatived, by a considerable majority. 
 Is there no ground here for fearful apprehension! Is not 
 idolatry branded in scripture with the peculiar curse of a holy 
 and a righteous God? Is it not reprobated, anathematized, and 
 condemned, in every part of his holy word? Is it not con- 
 stantly mentioned, not only as a cause, but as a principal cause, 
 of the desolations of nations and empires? Whence the 
 plagues of Egypt, the excision of the nations of Canaan, the 
 judgments inflicted on the ancient Israelites, the dens of Baby- 
 lon, the pools of Nineveh, and the overthrow of the idolatrous 
 nations of antiquity? And was there ever in any nation, or 
 in any empire, a system pf idolatry more detestable, more 
 criminal, more offensive to the God of nations, than that which 
 is under the visible countenance and protection of the British 
 government in this immense part of her empire? Oh! my 
 country, may God have mercy upon thee in the day of his 
 fierce anger! Is not this an additional cause for national 
 humiliation and the putting on of sackcloth? 
 
 We cannot conclude without reminding those who sigh and 
 cry for the abominations that are done in the land, that all the 
 great and stiipendous concerns of nations, as well as the affairs 
 of individuals, are under the mediatorial government of their 
 beloved Redeemer, as the administrator of Providence. The 
 government is upon his shoulders: the sceptre of supreme and 
 wiivcrsal dominion is in his hand. All events are arranged, 
 adjusted, controlled, and overruled by his unerring wisdom; 
 
56 THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 SO as to usher in that blessed clay when his glory shall cover 
 the whole earth, and the prayers of David, his illustrious 
 ancestor, shall be answered. All this was beautifully repre- 
 sented in the vision, with which the prophet Ezekiel was 
 favoured, of the glory of the Lord, by the river Kebar. In 
 this vision, the prophet beheld a vast and complicated machine, 
 — a symbol of the universe, — consisting of larger and smaller 
 wheels, acting with various degrees of meclianical powers: 
 wheels revolving in the middle of wheels; driven straight 
 forward, by the impulse of a living spirit residing in the midst 
 of them; full of eyes, within and round about; and al' moving 
 in the most perfect order, under the direction of the Son of 
 Man, whose head is encompassed with the rainbow, and whose 
 glory beams through every part, and encircles the whole of 
 the vast machinery. Here we have a sublime description of 
 the mystery of Pi-ovidence — wheels revolving in the middle 
 of wiieels, deep, complicated, and inscrutable; of the universal 
 inspection of Providence — full of eyes within, and round about; 
 of the resistless operations of Providence — moving straight 
 forward, without turning to the right hand or to the left, to 
 one grand and final consummation; the majesty of the Son of 
 Man, as the administrator of Providence, sitting on his azure 
 throne, and conducting every revolution of the larger and the 
 smaller wheels, with the most consummate harmony; the sub- 
 serviency of all the revolutions of Providence to the salvation 
 of the church; his head is encom])assed with the rainbow; and, 
 lastly, the ultimate end of all Providential operations, which 
 are illumined with the glory of the Lord, beaming through 
 every part and encircling the whole, for the entire exhibition 
 is called the likeness of t!he glory of Jehovah, It is impossible 
 to conceive a more beautiful or more sublime representation of 
 the harmony of Divine Providence, or one better adapted to 
 administer consolation to the weeping captives in Babylon, for 
 whom it was primarily intended, or to British Christians at 
 this momentous crisis. It is but a small part of this machine 
 that we can see at present; the hand that moves it is invisible; 
 we perceive not the dependance of one part upon another, and 
 can form a very inadequate conception of the grand result; we 
 are like an insect placed upon one of the lesser cogs of the 
 smaller wheels; we hear the noise of a great system of action 
 going on, wc catch a transient glim])sc of the glory around us, 
 and the next movement we are crushed for ever. Observe, 
 that this machine is already constructed; the Son of Man is 
 upon his throne, with the reins of government in his hands; 
 the wheels are all in action; the business of the nation, of the 
 church, and the world is going forward; and glorious will be 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 57 
 
 the final issue, beyond what the eye hath ever seen, the ear 
 hath ever heard, or hath entered into the heart of man or 
 angels to conceive. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Daniel ii. 44. 
 
 ''And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set tip a 
 kingdom," ^'C. 
 
 In the last lecture, when enquiring into the religious and 
 the moral character of Great Britain, our attention was fixed 
 on the British possessions in the East Indies, and on the me- 
 lancholy scenes even now exhibiting in that immense portion 
 of the British Empire. 
 
 But, witiiout further introduction, let us return to our native 
 shores, and seriously consider the awful prevalence of Infidelity 
 in our own country. Infidelity is the highest insult that man 
 can offer to his Creator: for he that believeth not God, hath 
 made him a liar. This sin existed from the beginning, and 
 was a principal ingredient in the original transgression: our 
 first parents did not believe the divine threatening, — "In the 
 day that ye eat thereof, ye shall surely die." They did not 
 believe that the threatened penalty would be carried into exe- 
 cution, or that their disobedience would be immediately fol- 
 lowed by a state of death and misery, entailed upon themselves 
 and all their posterity. Tljus, infidelity brought on the ruin 
 of the whole world, and afterwards the tremendous catastrophe 
 of the deluge, the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, the 
 apostacy of the heathen nations, and all the calamities inflicted 
 upon the house of Israel, from the time of their departure out 
 of Egypt, through all the succeeding periods of their eventful 
 history, to the present day. To this cause is to be traced, 
 principally, the schism and captivity of the ten tribes; the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the captivity 
 of Judah in Babylon; the dissolution of their civil and ecclesi- 
 astical policy, and all the slaughters, massacres, famines, and 
 unparalleled horrors of their last siege. Hence their dispersion 
 in infamy and in bondage, as witnesses to the truth of Chris- 
 ttanity to all nations among whom they are scattered, and to 
 warn them lest they fall after the same example of unbelief. 
 
58 ' THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 Hence also, their judicial blindness and hardness of heart, and 
 all the sufferings of their long and painful captivity. 
 
 Soon after the establishment of Christianity, the monster 
 Infidelity, or Atheism, reared his impious head in the very 
 bosom of the Christian church, denying the Father, and the 
 Son, and the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath 
 sent, and is branded, by the apostle John, with the name of 
 Antichrist. It was foretold, in Daniel's last vision, that n-hen 
 the reign of Papal superstition was hastening to its fall, an 
 Atheistical power should arise among the Papal kingdoms, 
 spread ruin and desolation all around, which should endure 
 only for a short time; and that learned commentator, Mr. 
 Faber,* has clearly proved that this can be no other than 
 Atheistical France. Modern Infidelity, indeed, sprung up at 
 the dawn of the Reformation, and was the filthy spawn of the 
 Mother of Harlots, and destined to be the terrible scourge of 
 its dissolute parent. But as the commencement of prophetical 
 eras is dated from the acts, not of individuals, but of states and 
 civil governments, the predicted reign of Infidelity commenced, 
 when a whole nation, for the first time since nations existed 
 in the world, declared itself atheistical; and, having denounced 
 Jesus Christ as an impostor, and Christianity as a fable, passed 
 a decree that the national faith of France consisted only of two 
 articles; that God is nature, and that there is no other God, 
 except, indeed, the imlaginary gods of the Atheistical govern- 
 ment; and that death is an eternal sleep. The reign of Anti- 
 christ, in his full development, and his most detestable and 
 portentous form, began his dreadful but comparatively short- 
 lived reign, as the last scourge in the hands of the Almighty, 
 
 From that period, the poison of Infidelity was circulated 
 through the Pai)al kingdoms, with the force and rapidity of 
 lightning. And from that time, also. Infidelity and Popery 
 have been joined haud-in-hand, and confederate against all the 
 existing establishments of the British empire. The continental 
 nations, to this day, exhibit one black and putrid mass of the 
 abominations of Popery, mingling with the blasphemies of 
 Atheism. Nor has our beloved country escaped the pestilen- 
 tial contagion. Infidelity infects the bar, the army, the navy, 
 the senate, the cabinet, the church, universities, colleges, the 
 departments of science, literature, philosophy, medicine, legis- 
 lation, and even theology. The press gi'oans under it. "The 
 lurking poison of unbelief," says Palcy, in his Moral Philoso- 
 phy, "is served up in every shape, tliut is likely to allure, sur- 
 prise, or beguile, the imagination; in a fable, a tale, a novel, a 
 poem; in interspersed and broken hints; remote and oblique 
 * See Mr. Faber's "Commentary upon Daniel's Last Vision." 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 59 
 
 surmises; in books of travels, of philosophy, of natural history : 
 in a word, in any form rather than that of a professed and 
 regular disquisition." Since Paley wrote his Moral Philoso- 
 phy, the fatal poison, which is working, conjointly with other 
 causes, the ruin of the empire, has increased in strength, in 
 virulence, and in extent of influence beyond all comparison. 
 It has descended from the highest, through the middling, down 
 to the very lowest orders of the community. Isaiah's descrip- 
 tion of the body politic of the Jewisli nation, is here fearfully 
 exemplified: — "The whole head is sick, the whole heart is 
 faint; from the soles of the feet, to the crown of the head, 
 there is no soundness; nothing but wounds, and bruises, and 
 putrifying sores." Are not these indications of approaching 
 dissolution? Infidelity appears in some, open and avowed, 
 with unblushing eflrontery, defying tlie God of heaven, and 
 threatening all existingestablishments; in others, it isdisguised 
 and concealed, but not so as not to be sufficiently visible in its 
 effects; in some, it is speculative and practical Infidelity, un- 
 masked; in others, it is the unbelief of the heart, easily dis- 
 cernible in its pernicious fruits in the life and manners; it is 
 found in the Churchman and the Dissenter; in persons of 
 moral decency, and open profligacy. It is embodied in three 
 forms, or three negative ])Ositions, all of which shake the foun- 
 dations of revelation, and close up the heart against the admis- 
 sion of Christianity. These are, first, a denial of the attribute 
 of divine justice, consequently of the atonement of the Son of 
 God, and the scripture doctrine of future punishments; secondly, 
 in a denial of the superior excellence, not only of Protestantism 
 over Popery, but even of Christianity over Mahomcdanism, 
 Hindooism, and any other religion, that tends to secure the 
 ends of civil government: hence, it is often said, that all re- 
 ligions are equally good; andfwally, in a denial of the respon- 
 sibility of man, for what he believes, even to the God who 
 made him; as if (he creature had a. right to think against his 
 Creator. If these negative positions be admitted, what becomes 
 of the authority, the doctrines, the promises, the admonitions, 
 the denunciations, and all the sanctions of the word of God? 
 ISIoses and the Prophets, Jesus and his Apostles, were all im- 
 postors, and Christianity itself a cunningly or clumsy devised 
 fable. And yet many cherish and avow these Infidel senti- 
 ments, or sentiments like these, who speak favourably of 
 Christianity, who attend places of Christian w^orship, both 
 within and without the pale of the cstai)lished church, and who 
 would feel themselves insulted and scandalized if charged with 
 Infidelity. 
 
 The charge, however, is too just. Infidelity is marked upon 
 
QQ THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 their brow, intermingled with their intellectual and moral 
 system, and oozes out in their language and conversation, in 
 their habits and general conduct. And when we consider St. 
 Paul's definition of the faith, to which the promise of eternal 
 life is annexed, in the twelfth chapter of his epistle to the 
 Hebrews, — that faith is the demonstration of things not seen, 
 and a substantial impression upon the heart of the reality of 
 the things hoped for; that it renders distant and invisible 
 things, as influential upon the heart and conduct as though 
 they were present and visible; and when we contemplate the 
 wonderful effects of this heavenly principle, as exemplified in 
 the ancient church, and described by the Apostle in the sub- 
 sequent part of the chapter; and when we farther compare 
 these effects with the present state of the church and the 
 world, we may well ask, if the Son of Man should even now 
 come, would he find faith on the earth. 
 
 Infidelity is absolutely inexcusable; all its strongest argu- 
 ments, and impertinent cavils, have been triumphantly refuted 
 on the arena of controversy; all its malignant and insidious 
 sophistries have been detected, and exposed past recovery, a 
 thousand times; and all its advocates, of every class, have been 
 baffled, confounded, and overwhelmed. Let the candid en- 
 quirer read the writings of such men as Paley, Leslie, Berke- 
 ley, Fuller, Chalmers, Forbes, and others, with that attention 
 which the immense importance of the subject demands, and I 
 will safely leave him to form his own judgment. No man 
 ever yet sat down seriously to investigate the evidences of 
 Christianity, with any degree of attention, and only a mode- 
 rate share of candour, who did not rise from the investigation 
 with a full conviction of its divine original; and no man ever 
 rejected the gospel, who had not a wicked reason for it, 
 worthy, in the righteous judgment of God, of everlasting con- 
 demnation; which fully justifies the awful sanction by which 
 its claims are guarded and enforced: "He that believeth not, 
 shall be damned." Unbelief, or a rejection of the Son of God, 
 is less excusable in professed Christians now, than it was in 
 the Jews, who persecuted and nailed him to the cross. For 
 then he appeared as a man of sorrows; he veiled his glory in 
 a form so lowly, as to disappoint all the fond expectations, 
 which they had long cherished, of the temporal grandeur of 
 the Messiah. And with respect to the multitude and even the 
 heads of the nation, what they did against Christ was through 
 ignorance; for had they known, they would not have crucified 
 the Lord of Glory; their ignorance, indeed, was wilful, and 
 therefore wrath came upon them to the uttermost, [or to the 
 end, 1 Thess. ii. IG.] But unbelievers in our day, that is, all 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 61 
 
 who do not receive the Lord Jesus, as of God made unto them 
 wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, reject 
 him in his glory and majesty, though exalted to be a Prince 
 and a Saviour; and many who refuse to make a profession of 
 the Christian faith, do it knowingly, and against a rational 
 conviction that he is both Lord and Christ. They are orthodox 
 in the head, and infidel at heart. Nor has the avowed Infidel, 
 who scorns tlie very profession of the Christian name, the 
 shadow of an apology for liis unbelief or his conduct. For, 
 not to mention the internal evidences of Christianity, bearing 
 the seal and impress of divine authority legibly impressed on 
 every page, he has in his possession, not only the most unex- 
 ceptionable testimony to the truth of what is related in the 
 gospel history, but proofs, many and incontrovertible, which 
 could not be known to any who believed in the Son of God, 
 while he was in this world; as, for instance, in the literal ac- 
 complishment of many illustrious prophecies; in the propaga- 
 tion of the gospel through the whole extent of the old Roman 
 empire, by the feeblest instruments, in direct opposition to the 
 most formidable obstacles, insuperable to human wisdom or 
 power, and with a rapidity never before or since exemplified, 
 in any conquest, attended with the confused noise of the war- 
 rior, and with garments rolled in blood; in the destruction of 
 the temple, and the city of Jerusalem; in the dreadful and un- 
 paralleled calamities which befel the Jewish nation, during 
 their last siege; in their dispersion through the world, and 
 their miraculous preservation as a distinct people, from all the 
 nations among whom they are scattered; in the downfall of 
 the old Roman empire, and its partition into ten kingdoms; 
 and in the rise, the progress, and the begun overthrow of the 
 INIahomedan imposture, and the Papal domination: all which 
 events were distinctly fouetold, and exactly accomplished. 
 Infidelity is not only inexcusable, but a sin of peculiar aggra- 
 vation. 
 
 Tlie great object of the inspired writer of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, was to illustrate the malignant nature, and ruinous 
 tendency, of unbelief, either in individuals or nations; and 
 thus to warn his countrymen of the calamities with which 
 they were going to be visited, for their rejection of the Son of 
 God. This he does by various arguments, drawn from the 
 superiority of the Christian, to the JNIosaic, economy; from 
 the divine majesty of the founder of Christianity, as the bright- 
 ness of uncreated glory, the Creator, and Preserver of the 
 universe, the Lord of angels, and the olijcct of their worship; 
 from his unparalleled condescension and love, in assuming the 
 nature of man, that in that nature he might make reconciliation 
 
 VOL. II. — 35 
 
52 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 for man's iniquity; from the dignity of his mediatorial cha- 
 racter, as the great Prophet of the Church, by whom God hath 
 spoken to us, in these latter days; as the King of Zion, the 
 sceptre of whose kingdom is a right sceptre, and whose throne 
 shall stand for ever and ever, and as the High Priest of the 
 heavenly sanctuary, who is consecrated a priest for ever, after 
 the order of Melchiseiiec; from his superiority to Moses, to 
 Joshua, and every otlier messenger from heaven, however ex- 
 alted, whether human or angelic; and, especially, from the 
 transcendent superiority of his priesthood to the priesthood of 
 Aaron, and all his successors; upon this branch of the subject, 
 he leads us among the altars, priests, sacrifices, and all the 
 ritual observances of that magnificent economy, shewing that 
 it was preparatory to a more glorious dispensation. These 
 statements contain a very condensed epitome of this wonder- 
 ful epistle, of which Luther said, that it is. of the same im- 
 portance to the Christian church, that the sun is to the world. 
 By these arguments, he illustrates the horrid nature, and the 
 damning consequences of unbelief, and the inevitable and most 
 aggravated condemnation of all unbelievers. In this fearful 
 guilt, which has been accumulating upon her for upwards of a 
 thousand years. Great Britain is awfully involved. Upon the 
 same arguments he founds the following most solemn admoni- 
 tions, which are no less applicable to Britain than they were 
 to the Jews in the AjDOStolic age: — "Therefore, we ought to 
 give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, 
 lest at any time we let them slip; for if the word spoken by 
 angels was steadfast, and every transgression received a meet 
 recompense of reward, how shall ye escape, if ye neglect so 
 great salvation, which was first spoken by the Lord himself, 
 and, afterwards, confirmed by signs, and wonders, and divers 
 miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost?" "Take heed, there- 
 fore, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of un- 
 belief, in apostatizing from the living God." "Now is the 
 accepted time;" (remember, brethren, that a vial of wrath was, 
 at this moment, hanging over the devoted city,) "now is the 
 day of salvation; to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not 
 your hearts, lest he swear in his wrath ye shall not enter into 
 my rest." "If they escaped not who refused to hearken to 
 him that spake on earth," (referring to the tremendous pro- 
 mulgation of the law from Mount Sinai,) "how shall ye 
 escape, if ye refuse Him that now speaketh from heaven, and 
 whose voice once shook the earth, but who hath declared that 
 He will shake not earth only, but heaven also?" Again, "If 
 he who despised the law of Moses died without mercy before 
 two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment, sup- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. C3 
 
 pose )'e, shall ihcy be thought worthy, who have trodden under 
 foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant, 
 — the blood by which He made atonement, — the blood by 
 which He was consecrated to his office, — as a common thing, 
 and done despite to the Spirit of Grace." Again, we know 
 who hath said, "Vengeance belongs unto me, and I will repay." 
 Again, "It is a fearful thing to fail into the hands of the living 
 God." And again, it is written, "God shall judge his people." 
 This illustrious epistle was the last great alarm, struck in the 
 eai-s of the Jewish nation by an oQ'cnded and a departing God, 
 before he poured out his wrath in the destruction of tlieir city 
 and temple; and the last voice of departing, yet lingering 
 mercy, before he closed the gates of salvation against them. 
 May this loud alarm be heard, and this tender of mercy be 
 received, by the whole British empire, at the present momen- 
 tous crisis, before it be too late! 
 
 Every blessing which God bestows on an individual, or a 
 nation, involves a degree of responsibility in proportion to its 
 magnitude. Upon this principle, let us examine the guilt 
 contracted by the British nation. Long has tliis country been 
 favoured with the gospel, — the richest boon which the God of 
 heaven ever bestowed upon nations; and long has she been 
 favoured with the visible protection of a National Providence, 
 and with a series of remarkable interpositions of divine 
 favour. Witness the early introduction of the message of sal- 
 vation to our rude forefathers, in the Apostolical age, and 
 probably by an Apostolic ministry: witness the many burning 
 and shining lights, which burned and siione in Britain, even 
 during the dark ages: witness our early separation from the 
 church of Rome, (such as it was,) which was begun by the 
 passions of a prince, who intended nothing less than the refor- 
 mation in religion which followed: witness the defeat of the 
 Sjianisli armada, ctfected almost entirely without human agency, 
 by the winds and elements of nature; witness our deliverance, 
 in a subsequent reign, from the attempts of a gloomy tyrant 
 to enslave both body and mind, at the glorious Revolution of 
 IGyS, — a Revolution brought to pass witliout the hazard of a 
 single battle, and almost without the shedding of a drop of 
 blood: and witness the Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settle- 
 ment, by which our liberties, civil and religious, were, for the 
 first time, enrolled in charter, and settled, as we fondly hoped, 
 on everlasting foundations. These are bright passages in the 
 annals of our country, on which our forefathers dwelt with 
 fond enthusiasm, and which they often mentioned with joy 
 and exultation, as they were accustomed to bring out their 
 massive family plate on great festive occasions. But the for- 
 
Q^ THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 mation of Bible Societies, and IVIissionary Societies, was re- 
 served, by tbe care of Divine Providence, according to pro- 
 phetical intimations, to adorn these latter days, in the closing 
 part of the reign of George the Third. 
 
 If, unto whomsoever much is given, of them will much be 
 required; if guilt is aggravated in proportion to the number 
 and the magnitude of the blessings perverted and abused, 
 Britain has reason to dread the full weight of divine indigna- 
 tion. She is deeply implicated in the guilt of those nations, 
 who refuse to kiss the sceptre of Messiah the prince, and 
 whom he will break in pieces with a rod of iron, like a pot- 
 ter's vessel; in the guilt of those nations, wlio obey not the 
 gospel of Christ; and whom he will destroy, with an ever- 
 lasting destruction, when he shall be revealed from heaven, 
 with all his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance. 
 If the sufferings inflicted on the seed of Abraham, the friend 
 of God, for their unbelief, who are still beloved, as the Apostle 
 tells us, for their fathers' sake, (which is never said of the 
 Gentiles,) were so terrible, during the last wars with the 
 Romans, and especially during the last siege of their capital; 
 what tremendous calauiities may we not fear will be inflicted 
 upon the Gentile nations, when God shall visit them for the 
 same sin, for which Jerusalem was overthrown. St. Paul, in 
 the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the Romans, holds out 
 the portentous fate of the Jewish chui'ch and nation, as a 
 flaming torch, to warn the Gentile church, and all the Gentile 
 nations, among whom the gospel is planted, lest they fall after 
 the same fearful example of unbelief. "If God spared not the 
 natural branches, take heed lest he spare not thee." "Through 
 unbelief they were cut off, and thou standest by faith." "God 
 hath concluded them in unbelief, and he will conclude thee, 
 for he will conclude all in unbelief." "Let the Catholic 
 Church," says Bossuet, himself a Roman Catholic, in his ad- 
 mirable comment on that mysterious chapter, "let the Catholic 
 Church, let all Christendom, read this chapter, and tremble for 
 the calamities that are coming upon them; for my. own part, I 
 can never read it without trembling to the very centre of my 
 being." Great and manifold have been the privileges of 
 Britain, and great and manifold are the grounds of the Lord's 
 controversy with her. While empires and continents, dense 
 with population, into which her adventurous sons have pene- 
 trated in commercial enterprise, have been enveloped in moral 
 darkness, more palpable than the darkness which Egypt once 
 felt; the light of the glorious gospel has been sliining upon 
 her coasts, through tlie clouds of her iniquities, in noon-day 
 brightness; but how awfully aggravated has been the criminality 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. (J5 
 
 of all, with few exceptions, who, amidst the glory shining 
 around them, liave wilfully shut their eyes against the heaven- 
 ly light. While, like Jerusalem, only a few years hefore the 
 cup of trembling was put into her hand, she has been highly 
 honoured by the God of heaven, in sending her missionaries 
 to preach the gospel, as a witness to all nations; like Jeru- 
 fialem, too, she has rejected the only sacrifice for sin, refused 
 lo hearken unto Him who speaketh from heaven; neglected 
 the great salvation; trodden under foot the Son of God; count- 
 ed the blood of his sacrifice and consecration a common thing; 
 done despite to the Spirit of Grace, and thus incurred severer 
 jHinishment than the despiser of the law of JNIoses, who died 
 without mercy, before two or three witnesses. And, oh, what 
 a load of guilt, national and individual, has been thus contracted! 
 On what national grounds can we hope that the cup of 
 trembling and death shall not be put into our hand, when we 
 are expressly told that all the kingdoms of the world, which 
 are upon the earth, shall be made to drink? "Thus saith the 
 Lord of Hosts, ye shall certainly drink of it." And will not 
 God's justice be fully vindicated, in the infliction of his 
 righteous judgments upon our guilty land? Yes, verily. Our 
 contempt of his authority, in neglecting the qualifications re- 
 quired by his word, of those who are invested with the ad- 
 ministration of public ailairs, and the sceptical indifference of 
 our rulers to the regulation of their decisions, in harmony 
 with the rules and precepts contained in the scriptures, and in 
 subserviency to the glory of God, bear witness against us. 
 The gi-oans of our oppressed country, — the aj^palling magni- 
 tude of our national debt, principally contracted by fighting 
 the battles of Popery, — and the state of our enslaved and de- 
 graded colonial population, whose piercing cries have entered 
 the ears of the Lord God^f Sabbaoth, bear witness against 
 us. The guilt of our colonial system, ^a mighty Colossus, 
 bestriding tiie whole world; — the oi)scenities, the idolatries, 
 and the myriads of murders, committed in India, under the 
 visible protection of the British Government, hear witness 
 against us. The l)lood of the house of Israel, — for have not 
 all the cities of the empire, especially London, York, and 
 liristol, been deluged with the blood of the seed of Abraham, 
 who, amidst all tlieir dispersions, are still beloved for their 
 fathers' sake? — and the blood of the saints of the martyrs of 
 Jesus, unrepented of, and unwashed away, and still calling to 
 heaven for retribution, bear witness against us. The incal- 
 culable multitudes of human beings, whom we have butchered, 
 for the gratification of our ambition, and the extension of our 
 dominion; the corruptions of our hierarchy, and the myriads 
 35- 
 
QQ THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 of immortal souls sinking into perdition, through the unfaith- 
 fulness of ungodly men, preferred to cures, for political or 
 worldly purposes, bear witness against us. The Roman Anti- 
 christ herself, for whose re-establishment in other lands were 
 lavished British blood and treasure, again admitted into our 
 national councils, bears witness against a land which, early 
 among the nations, escaped from her pollution, and her thral- 
 dom, and which early testified against her domination and 
 blasphemous usurpations! Where is now the zeal which once 
 characterized our opposition to her, who hath so often dyed 
 her raiments in the blood of God's dear saints? Whtre is the 
 purity from her contamination, by which we were distinguish- 
 ed among the nations? Where is the holy zeal that glowed 
 with such intense ardour in the bosoms of our Cranmers, 
 Latimers, Hookers, and Bradfords, amidst the flames of Smith- 
 field? And where is the tender affection with which a grate- 
 ful nation once cherished the memory of those martyred heroes, 
 to whom she owes her civil and her religious liberties? While 
 these things are forgotten by the multitude, as a dream or vision 
 of the night, the government has- been wielding the powers 
 of all Europe in support of that apostate power which brought 
 them to the stake! The more intimate our connection with 
 that power, the more deeply we are infected with that Infi- 
 delity, with which she is tainted to the core; the deeper must 
 we drink of the cup 'of wrath, which shall be filled to the 
 brim, when great Babylon cometh up in remembrance before 
 God. 
 
 But it is not merely on the ground of the guilt involved in 
 our national policy, that Divine Justice will vindicate its 
 honours, in the infliction of these awful judgments. The 
 corruptions of society in general are alarming in the extreme. 
 Moral diseases, of a deep and deadly nature, overspread the 
 land. Witness the chicanery of the law; the frauds and im- 
 positions in every branch of trade; the tricks and fetches of a 
 wider swoop in commercial iniquity, as connected with our 
 colonial system. Because of swearing, and perjury, and 
 drunkenness, and sabbath-breaking, the land mourneth. Im- 
 purity and prostitution, especially in high life, perhaps accele- 
 rated by the Malthusian theory of population, and tiie labours 
 of the political economists, have awfully increased, and are 
 still increasing. Infidelity, worldly-mindedness, hypocrisy, 
 fanaticism, pharisaism, antinomian licentiousness, and a false 
 liberality ever ready to sacrifice revelation at the shrine of 
 human reason, inundate the church. The power of religion 
 has certainly declined, and inicjuity seems coming in like a 
 flood. Where is that thoroughly devotional spirit, that stern 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 67 
 
 uprightness of principle, that holy decision of character, that 
 separation from the world, and that dread of conformity to its 
 spirit and maxims, lest their hearts should not be right with 
 God, which so eminently distinguished our holy men in former 
 times? In the Established Church, tiie clergy are quarrellin.g 
 about their tithes with their parishioners, and parishioners with 
 their clergy; the property of the church is assailed on every 
 hanti, with a violence and perseverance, and defended by 
 clergymen, with a tenacity and a rigour, unknown to former 
 ages; and the whole estabiisliment seems reeling to its fall. 
 Among the Dissenters, many congregations are dissatisfied 
 with their pastors, and pastors with their congregations; 
 numerous churches are destitute of pastors, and numerous 
 pastors are destitute of churches; and there seems to be a 
 general movement in the Dissenting ministry, from one end 
 of the kingdom to the other. The students of propliecy are 
 consigning their opponents to perdition; and their opponents 
 are charging the students of prophecy with madness; while 
 the monster Infidelity is looking on with a sardonic grin. The 
 convulsions of churches, in fact, exactly correspond with those 
 of nations, and all things indicate that some fearful crisis is at 
 hand. 
 
 The love of the world reigning in the church, has extinguish- 
 ed the love of God; the line of separation, between the world 
 and the church, is destroyed; the very benevolence of the ags 
 is often tainted by impurity of motive, and the want of an 
 alliance with integrity of principle, and often common honesty; 
 all the features of the last times, as delineated by the apostle, 
 are prominent and visible amongst us; and the worst feature 
 of all, in our case, is a want of a due sense of the evil, and of 
 proi)er feelings with respect to our declension. We boast of 
 our Bible Societies, and gur Missionary Societies, and, cer- 
 tainly, they are the brightest ornaments of our age and coun- 
 try, and have been dear to my heart, from their first -institu- 
 tion to this day; and God forbid that I should say a word to 
 damp their generous ardour, or to check the flow of their 
 benevolence; but do we not sound our trumpets too loud, and 
 spread our phylacteries too wide, if not in synagogues, at least 
 on platforms? And do not these things remind us of the 
 awful charge, alleged by the faithful and true witness, whose 
 eyes are as a flame of fire, against the degenerate church of 
 Laodicea; which some of our ablest expositors have regarded 
 as a type of the last state of the Ciuirch Catholic, immediately 
 before he appears in judgment? ''Thou sayest tliat I am rich, 
 -and increased in goods, and have need of nothing;" is not 
 this too often the language of our annual reports, our platform 
 
gg THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 exhibitions, and even of our fire-side conversations? But 
 what saitli the searcher of liearts? — "Thou knowest not that 
 thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and 
 naked, and because thou art lukewarm, therefore I will cast 
 thee out as an abomination." The very suspicion that this 
 may possibly be the case should make us tremble. Upon the 
 whole, when we deeply ponder and seriously reflect, upon our 
 shocking recklessness of iiuman life, and our infidel insensi- 
 bility to the value of immortal souls, the iniquity of our colo- 
 nial system, and our participation in the abominations of Indian 
 idolatry; upon the universal diffusion of Infidelity, through 
 all orders of the community, and the general rejection of the 
 gospel by the nation; upon the sin of our national administra- 
 tion, and the awful state of things both in the world, and in 
 the church: oh! what a weight of guilt, of public national 
 transgression, stands in fearful record against .us! Shall not I 
 visit for these things, saith the Lord? shall not my soul be 
 avenged on such a nation as this? We fear and tremble: we 
 hope, but it is against hope; for how can we hope to escape? 
 We niay, indeed, obtain a temporary alleviation of the present 
 distress, but, instead of exj)ecting any permanent relief, we 
 fear it is only the commencement of overwhelming calamity. 
 It is an observation, that cannot be too often repeated, that the 
 worst feature, in our case, is the great ignorance of our real 
 character which prevails, and the indifference manifested to our 
 state of danger. There seems to be a fearful anxiety, on the 
 part of some men who ought to know better, and perhaps who 
 do know better, to conceal, both from the world and the 
 church, the predictions of those judgments which are to pre- 
 cede the Millennium. How will such men escape the cliarge 
 of blood-guiltiness in the great day of the Lord? Will this 
 ward off a single blow, lengthen out the tranquillity a single 
 day, or lighten the wrath of divine indignation? Whether 
 men will hear, or whether they will forbear; against these lands 
 the vengeance of God is denounced, and will assuredly be exe- 
 cuted. Britain is one of the ten kingdoms, symbolized by the 
 toes of the great and terrible image, which are to he broken to 
 pieces together; and by the ten horns of the fourth beast, 
 \vhich is to be destroyed and given to the flame; which must 
 be her doom, unless a reformation, of which we have not the 
 remotest expectation, can be eflected. 
 
 Is then the case of Britain so utterly ho])cless? Is there no 
 avenue by which she may escape? Are we really to believe 
 that this vast empire, — upon whose dominion the sun never 
 sets in his diurnal or annual course; and whose influence is 
 still more extensive, reaching, as from a common centre, in 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. G9 
 
 every line of direction, to all nations, whether barharous or 
 civilized, — must inevitably perish? Are we not assured that 
 the inworking prayer of a righteous man availeth much with 
 God, — that it moves the hand that moves the universe? 
 I)oul)tless; however fanatical such a sentiment may appear to 
 the purblind eye of Infidelity, it is unquestionably warranted 
 by the authority of scripture. Yet when a guilty people have 
 filled up the measure of their iniquity, prophets and righteous 
 men are forbidden, by the God of nations, to pray for them, 
 and he has told them that he will not hear Ihem. Thus he 
 said to Jeremiah, — "Thou shalt not pray for this people, 
 neither shalt thou cry unto me for them; for I will not hear 
 thee." And if such be now the state of Britain, may not the 
 prayers of the righteous be unavailing? But when Abraham 
 interceded on behalf of the cities of the plain, did not the 
 Judge of all the earth wait until his servant gave the signal 
 for their destruction; and assured him, that if there were only 
 ten righteous persons in Sodom, he would spare the city for 
 their sakes? And may not the number of righteous persons, 
 therefore, which our country nourishes in her bosom, i)rove 
 her security? I bless God that there are, indeed, not only 
 ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, but a much larger number of 
 righteous men to be found in Britain, who sigh and cry for 
 the abominations which are done in the land, and vvh.o stand 
 weeping between the porch and the altar saying, — Oh, Lord! 
 spare thy people, and give not thy heritiige to a reproach! 
 But was there not an equal, or even a larger number, in pro- 
 portion to the mass of the population, in the land of Judea, 
 only a few years before Jerusalem was destroyed? We can- 
 not have forgotten that three thousand st)uls were converted to 
 the obedience of the faith in one day; five thousand on the 
 day following; soon after^ a great multitude, of which no 
 nundier is given, both of men and women; that a great com- 
 pany of priests also believed on Jesus; that the Lord still con- 
 tinued adding to the church; not as we add to our churches in 
 the present day — ten or twenty at most — at a church-meeting, 
 but multitudes daily of such as shall be saved; and that, be- 
 sides all this, the word of the Lord was mighty, and prevailed 
 through all the regions of Judea, Galilee, and beyond Jordan. 
 And liovv lovely and dignified was the character of these first 
 Christians under the pentecostal effusion of the Holy Spirit! 
 Plow far superior to the most eminent Christians of the pre- 
 sent day! They continued, with one accord, in the Apostles' 
 doctrine, in breaking of bread, and in prayers, and in praising 
 God. They had one heart, one soul, arul one common pro- 
 perty; so that the Heathens were constrained to say, — See how 
 
70 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 these Christians love one another. And did their presence 
 and their prayers prove the security of their beloved city and 
 nation? Oh! build not your confidence on sucli a sandy foun- 
 dation. And will the judge of all the earth, you ask, destroy 
 the righteous with the wicked? That be hv from me, saith the 
 Lord. An ark was built for Noah and his family, before the 
 windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the 
 great deep were broken up; a Zoar was provided for Lot, 
 before the Lord rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and 
 Gomorrah; and a place of safety was prepared in the moun- 
 tains of Judea, for the devoted followers of the Lord Jesus, 
 before Jerusalem was laid in ruins by the Roman army; to 
 which, in obedience to their Lord's command, they fled, and 
 escaped the terrible fate of their countrymen; and, in like 
 manner, some ark of salvation, some Zoar, at a safe distance 
 from the place of the outpouring of Divine wrath; some Pella 
 in the mountains, some refuge, some asylum will be prepared 
 to which the weeping remnant shall fly and be safe. 
 
 Still you demand, may not the institutions of Christian 
 benevolence, which Britain has originated and still so nobly 
 supports; her Bible societies, her Missionary societies, and the 
 benefits she is conferring, by their agency, upon the heathen 
 world, prove her security? I candidly confess that I was 
 once of this opinion, and called these excellent institutions not 
 only the ornament, but the safeguard of our beloved country. 
 They are still dear to my heart, and may command any assist- 
 ance tliat I can render them, however feeble it may be, to the 
 utmost extent of my ability. But will they admit of a compari- 
 son with the Apostolic Church at Jerusalem, and her godlike in- 
 stitutions, of whom it is said, "that the multitude of them that 
 believed were of one heart, and of one soul; neither said any of 
 them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; 
 for as many as were possessors of lands, and of houses, sold 
 them, and brought the prices of the things which were sold," 
 and threw them into one common treasury, for the relief of 
 the brethren, and the furtherance of the gospel. How con- 
 tracted is the benevolence that characterizes the church in the 
 present age, however commonable in itself, compared with that 
 of the mother of all the churches, when walking in the influ- 
 ence of the spirit <)f holy love, poured upon her without mea- 
 sure! Will the labours of our missionary societies bear a 
 comparison with those of the Apostles, and their fellow- 
 labourers, planting the gospel, not only in Lesser Asia, and 
 Greece, and Italy, the great theatres of action tlien in the 
 world; but northward as far as Scythia, southward as far as 
 Ethiopia, eastward as far as Parthia, and India, and westward 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 7X 
 
 as far as Spain and IJritain; according to the testimony of 
 Eusebiirs, Socrates, Theodorct, Julianus, and all contemporary 
 historians, both civil and ecclesiastical; whose testimony is 
 confirmed by that of the Apostle of the Gentiles, who tells us, 
 in his epistle to the Colossians, written a short time before the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, that the gospel had come into all the 
 world, that is tlie Roman world; and was preached to every 
 creature under heaven — the political heaven of the Roman 
 empire? Once more, can the benefits, ineffable and important 
 as tiicy are, which we have conferred upon the heathen na- 
 tions, bear a comparison with the gift of a Saviouk, which 
 Jerusalem conferred upon the world? And yet the holy city 
 was laid in ashes, and her children were sent into long and ter- 
 rible captivity. As before Jerusalem was destroyed, and the 
 holy land trodden under foot of the Gentiles, a place was pre- 
 pared for the church of God in the Roman empire; so, before 
 the vials of wrath are emptied upon the fragments, or upon 
 the Papal kingdoms of that empire, a place must be prepared 
 for the church beyond its limits. Is not this the great work 
 which our Bible societies, and our Missionary societies, are 
 now executing under the direction of a special Providence? 
 And when this purpose is executed, may not the British empire 
 be destroyed, as the Babylonian, the Persian, the Macedonian, 
 and the old Roman empire, were overthrown, when the pur- 
 pose, to which they were appointed, was executed? When 
 the engine has done its work, may it not be broken or laid 
 aside? 
 
 But how long will it be to the end of these wonders? — Is 
 the great and terrible day of the Lord near at hand? Is this 
 the predicted crisis of the nations, and- of Britain's destiny? 
 A miraculous degree of inspiration is necessary, to enable any 
 man to answer these quesljons, j)ositively, in the affirmative. 
 To this I make no pretensions, and therefore I would guard 
 against the presumption. God has reserved the times and 
 seasons in his own power. Secret tilings belong to' hiin, and 
 things that are revealed unto us, and to our children. But as 
 he hath been pleased to lay before us several chronological 
 prophecies, doubtless, with some wise and gracious design; it 
 is our duty to examine them, with devout attention, and fer- 
 vent prayer, and see whether, by comparing them among our- 
 selves, and, with the general system of prophecy, and the 
 signs of tiie times; something may not be discovered, to put 
 us upon our guard, and to encourage the servants of God, to 
 bear up with patience under the trials of their faith, which, 
 being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, 
 though it be tried in the fire, shall be found to praise, and 
 
72 
 
 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. The Spirit 
 of Prophecy informed Daniel that, at the time of the end, — 
 the crisis which we have supposed to be near at hand, — many 
 shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but that the 
 wicked shall go on to do wickedly; that none of the wicked shall 
 understand these events when they happen, but that the u-ise shall 
 understand them. 
 
 Seventy prophetical weeks, or 490 natural years, according 
 to the numerical prophecies of Daniel, were to intervene, from 
 the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jeru- 
 salem, to the first advent of the Messiah. And the prophecy 
 was so well understood by the Jewish nation, that, at the time 
 of his appearance, every eye was open, and every mind was 
 awake and attentive, in Judea,and wherever the Jews resided, 
 to mark the signs which might indicate his coming. And not 
 only so, but these prophecies having been translated into the 
 Greek language, which was, at that time, universally read, and 
 universally understood, a general expectation of his appearance 
 prevailed, throughout the world. The learned Mede, and 
 Dr. Prideaux, have clearly proved that Daniel, or rather the in- 
 terpreting angel, in that remarkable prophecy, not only pre- 
 dicted the precise time of the Saviour's advent, but that he 
 divided the history of his life into three distinct periods; the 
 first of which he spent in obscurity; the second comprehends 
 his public ministry, a'nd that of his precursor, John the Bap- 
 tist; and the third, which, though the shortest, is incomparably 
 the most important, includes the closing scene of his suffering 
 and death; and that he also foretold the year, the month, and 
 the week, '<when the Messiah should be cut off, not for him- 
 self, but for the transgressions of the people, when he should 
 finish transgression, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in 
 everlasting righteousness, virtually abolish the sacrifice and 
 oblation, and confirm the covenant of redemption." Three 
 prophetical years and a half, or 1260 natural years, are fre- 
 (juently mentioned by Daniel and St. John, as the period that 
 shall intervene, from the time of the full dominancy of the 
 Papacy, to the second coming of the Messiah, to destroy the 
 Man of Sin, to overthrow the kingdoms of the Papal empire, 
 and to establish his Millennial kingdom in its meridian glory. 
 
 As the object of these lectures is not a profound or critical 
 analysis of the chronological ])ro])hecics, but rather of a prac- 
 tical nature, I shall not presume to say, in the confident tone 
 of infallibility, at what precise time this mysterious 12G0 years 
 commenced; whether in the reign of the tyrant Phocas, ac- 
 cording to the opinion of Mr. Faber, and other commentators 
 of high authority; or in that of the Emperor Justinian, as is 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 73 
 
 maintained by Mr. Freer, and Mr. Irving, and other respect- 
 able writers; or not until tlie Papal horn was full grown, and 
 fully developed, when the Roman pontiff became a secular, as 
 well as a spiritual, sovereign, in the reign of Pepin and Char- 
 lemagne, according to the interpretation of Bishop Newton, 
 Sir Isaac Newton, Vitringa, and Boulevard, and otlier authors 
 of great authority. It should seem, from many prophetical 
 intimations, that vvhen the 1260 years have run out their course, 
 or very soon after, the Man of Sin is to be destroyed; that the 
 kingdoms of the Papacy are to be broken in pieces, and beaten 
 to powder; that the Ottoman empire is to be overthrown; and 
 that the scattered remnant of Abraham's seed are to be re- 
 stored to the land of their fathers. But the Man of Sin is not 
 yet destroyed; the kingdoms of the Papacy are not yet broken 
 in pieces; the Ottoman empire is still standing; and the seed 
 of Abraham are still scattered among the nations. We may 
 therefore, I think, conclude, that the mysterious period is not 
 yet finished, and that a great work yet remains to be accom- 
 plished on the vast theatre of the world. 
 
 Recent events, Jiowever, especially the late Revolution in 
 France, the convulsions of the continental nations, and the 
 sudden and almost instantaneous change of public opinion in 
 this country, and in all Europe, prove that the Supreme Ruler 
 of the nations may, and probably will, accomplish a great 
 work, in a sliort time; and all things indicate that the great 
 day of the Lord is not far distant. In correspondence with 
 the chronological prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse, 
 certain signs, or prognostics, are given us, as harbingers, an- 
 nouncing the speedy apj)earance of the Son of Man, in the 
 power and glory of his kingdom, '-Now," says our Lord, 
 "learn a parable of the fig-tree; when his branch is yet tender, 
 and putteth forth leaves, ye see and know, of your ownselves, 
 tliat summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see 
 these things come to pass, know that tlie kingdom of God is 
 nigh at hand," 
 
 Although the Father holdeth the times and seasons in his 
 own power, and nomanknoweth the day, or the hour, wherein 
 the Son of Man cometh; and although it was not given in com- 
 mission to the Son, to make it known in his public ministry; 
 yet, by comparing the signs of the times with the numerical 
 prophecies, we may know, with certainty, when the awful and 
 glorious day of the Lord is rapidly advancing upon us. The 
 great and broad outlines of prophecy are obvious to every 
 man who is exercised in the study of the prophetical writings, 
 iong before the predicted events are fulfilled; but the smaller 
 lines which refer to the times, the places, and the minute cir- 
 
 voL. II. — 36 
 
•^4. THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 cumstances of their accomplishment, are more faintly, or less 
 distinctly, defined; and it has pleased God, that a considerable 
 obscurity should rest upon the prophetical dates, until the con- 
 summation is drawing near. Thus the prophecies of Daniel 
 were closed up and sealed till the time of the end, when the 
 book was to be opened, the seals were to be removed, the 
 mysterious dates were to be developed, many were to run to 
 and fro, and prophetical knowledge was to be increased. The 
 period here foretold, is that in which we are now living; for 
 never since the time of the Reformation has there been such 
 deep and intense attention paid to the sacred prophecies as 
 within the last thirty or forty years. The seals are now being 
 removed, the signs of the times shed a light on the prophetical 
 dates, the prophetical dates reflect their light upon the signs of 
 the times, while the general or discursive predictions lend 
 their beams also to the general stock of information; and all 
 together form a concentrated body of light, visible and con- 
 spicuous to all, except to those who are wilfully blind. 
 
 Among the signs of the times, or the precursors, which an- 
 nounce the speedy approach of the great day of the Lord, 
 witness the present concussion of the nations. 
 
 We have entered on a new era in the history of the world. 
 The great wheel of human affairs has nearly turned round once 
 in our time; revolution again has begun its march, and God, 
 who has said, "I will Overturn, will overturn, will overturn it, 
 and it shall be no more until he come, whose right it is, and I 
 will give it him," — has told us wliere all these mighty revolu- 
 tions will terminate, that is in the downfall of the Papal king- 
 doms in the western Roman empire; in the annihilation of 
 the Turkish empire; in the destruction of the heathen nations, 
 in their national capacity; and, finally, 0! transporting thought, 
 in the universal establishment of the millennial kingdom of our 
 Redeemer. 
 
 The simultaneous shaking of ajl the provinces of the Otto- 
 man empire with the convulsions of all the kingdoms of the 
 Papacy, is another sign that the day of God is advancing. 
 Popery and Mahomedanism — the great eastern and western 
 apostacies, rose about the same time; and, about the same time, 
 according to the spirit of prophecy, they may be expected to 
 fall in one common ruin. 
 
 The fearful progress of Infidelity is mentioned, as another 
 prognostic of tiie nearness of that great and terrible day. Daniel 
 foretold, that when the reign of Papal superstition was nearly 
 over, at the time of the end, an Infidel power should arise, and 
 do according to his will; that he should exalt himself and 
 magnify himself above every god, and speak marvellous things 
 against the God of gods; and should prosper till the indigna- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 75 
 
 tion be accomplished. And have we not seen in these latter 
 days an Atheistical monster rising out of the foetid and vermin- 
 producing marshes of the Mother of Harlots, in a neighbouring 
 country; possessed and goaded on by infernal furies, breaking 
 down the thrones and overturning the altars of Papal super- 
 stition; stalking abroad among the nations, with portentous 
 stri'des; trampling upon every thing sacred and divine; shaking 
 the foundations and tearing the very elements of society; 
 exalting and magnifying liimscif above all the gods whom his 
 fathers worshij)pcd; denouncing and cursing the Son of God 
 as an im])ostor; speaking marvellous things against the God of 
 gods; blaspheming his name; impiously denying his very ex- 
 istence; and shedding pestilence and death throughout Europe 
 and the world? Then the reign of the last scourge of the 
 .church commenced; nor was the temporary re-establishment 
 of Popery by Napoleon, nor the restoration of the Bourbons, 
 nor the recent expulsion of Charles X. any interruption to his 
 reign: in the present French government, he is again embo- 
 died in full power, and will ere long, discover his impious and 
 his sanguinary character. Under this reign we are now living; 
 but, blessed be God, it will be of short duration. The Apos- 
 tles Peter, Paul, and Jude forewarned the church, that in the 
 last days of the last times, perilous times should come; that 
 Atheistical scoffers should arise, walking after their own lusts, 
 and saying. Where is the promise of his coming? laughing at 
 the doctrine of the Lord's second advent; willingly ignorant 
 of tlie ti-emendous catastrophe of the deluge; boasters, proud, 
 blasphemers; fierce, despisers of those that are good; traitors, 
 heady, high-minded; despising government, presumptuous, 
 self-willed, speaking evil of dignities; ever learning, boasting 
 of the march of intellect and scientific discovery, but never 
 able to come to the knowl^jdge of the truth; resisters of the 
 truth; men of corrupt minds, rcj^robate concerning the faith; 
 promising the people liberty, while they themselves are the 
 servants of corruption; mockers, blas])hemers of the name of 
 God: in short, Infidels and Atheists, who deny the Father and 
 the Son, the only Lord God, who made heaven and earth; and 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, whom he has sent as the Saviour of the 
 world. These are the features of the last days of the last 
 times, and they are the characteristics of these days and these 
 times; we are therefore, living in the last days of the last 
 times, and may, consequently, expect the speedy appearance 
 of the coming of the Son of Man. "When the Son of Man 
 cometh," says the Son of Man himself, "will he find faith in 
 •the earth?" Such an interrogation on a subject so awful, pro- 
 ceeding from lips so sacred, implies the strongest negation; as 
 
lyg THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 if he had said, — when the Son of Man cometh, the faith of 
 God's elect will be nearly extinct. And the great Apostle to 
 the Gentiles, when speaking of the breaking off of the Gen- 
 tiles, or the unnatural branciies from the olive-tree, for their 
 unbelief, and the re-engrafting the Jews,or the natural branches, 
 into their own olive, tells us, that God, who had before con- 
 cluded the Jews in unbelief, will conclude the Gentiles also in 
 unbelief; and afterwards have mercy upon all, at the re- 
 engrafting of both Jews and Gentiles, when the Redeemer 
 shall come to Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 
 and the receiving of the Jews shall be as life from the dead to 
 the Gentile world. Things are now rapidly hastening to this 
 awful state of unbelief, which made Bossuet say, in words I 
 have before cited, "Let the whole Catholic Church, let all 
 Christendom read this chapter, and tremble for the calamities 
 that are coming upon them." 
 
 The propagation of the Gospel in heathen lands, to prepare 
 a place for the church beyond the limits of the Papal empire, 
 before it is broken in pieces and annihilated, is another sign 
 indicating the nearness of that day. For the gospel of the 
 kingdom, our Lord has told us, must be preached in all the 
 world, as a witness to all nations; not, you will observe, for 
 the conversion of all nations — for this glorious and immense 
 accession to the kingdom of our Redeemer is an achievement 
 reserved for the millertnial age — but as a witness to all nations: 
 and when this witness has gone its rounds, then the end of the 
 age, or the present state of things, shall come. Look, with 
 fixed and devout attention, upon the union and co-operation of 
 our Bible and Missionary societies: observe their progress, 
 mark their success from nation to nation, from region to re- 
 gion, and behold in them the symbolical angel of the Apoca- 
 lypse, flying in the midst of heaven, and shaking eternal bless- 
 ings from his wings, having the everlasting gospel to preach 
 to them that dwell upon the earth. This remarkable sign, 
 moving with speed and majesty in the spiritual heaven of the 
 universal church, and indicating the coming of the Lord, is 
 visible to all nations; for the symbolical angel takes wing im- 
 mediately before the days of vengeance. And it is remarkable, 
 that these noble institutions of Christian benevolence originated 
 in this country, at the momentous crisis when the Papal king- 
 doms began to shake under the visitations of divine wrath. 
 Yes, my brethren, it was amidst the rage and madness of 
 Atheism, — amidst the horrors and chaos of anarchy and revo- 
 lution, — that these societies rose with placid dignity; combin- 
 ing, as they rose, the wealth, the talents, the influence, and 
 the energies of myriads of Christians, in various nations and of 
 
TFIE BRITISH EMPIRE. 77 
 
 all denominations, in one generous cfiTort to rescue the heathen 
 world Irom the hondage of corruption. Verily the finger of 
 God is here. Mark this sign ol" the speedy coming of the 
 Lord, for it is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our 
 eyes. * 
 
 The deep interest that has, of late years, heen awakened for 
 the Jewish nation, the extraordinary movements now taking 
 place among that wonderful people, and the eager expectation, 
 which at this moment prevails among them, of the coming of 
 the Messiah, is another indication that he will speedily make 
 his ai)pearance. A small remnant of tlie seed of Abraham, 
 according to the election of grace, have been, within these few 
 years, converted to the Christian faith, like the grapes of the 
 vine after the vintage; only here a berry, and there a berry, 
 upon the topmost boughs; and Christian churches, consisting 
 exclusively of converted Jews, have been formed, and are now 
 forming, both in this country, on the continent of Europe, and 
 in the east. The Jews in Poland, where they exist in prodi- 
 gious numbers, and are, it is said, formed into armies of the 
 finest soldiers in Europe, and commanded by officers and 
 generals of their own nation, frequently assemble in their syna- 
 gogues, for fasting, humiliation, and united supplications to 
 the God of their fathers; with their faces directed to Jerusa- 
 lem and the ruins of the temple, according to the import of 
 Solomon's prayer; under a deep impression that the years of 
 
 * The Boston Transcript contains a letter, giving a description of an anni- 
 versary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The closing part is as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "This, remember, is the Bible society. They confine themselves to the un- 
 adulterated word of God. They have circulated more than half a million 
 copies last year, and over ten millions in all. Their income was over $500,000. 
 All over the earth they have their stations and agents. The Secretary .said 
 he believed even the Barings thgmselves, never, in one day, accepted bills 
 from so many quarters. They count upon it, and do not hesitate to be in debt 
 S-Ot),000. They count upon its increase, too. It has increased from the be- 
 ginning, and some S75,000 during the last season alone. The society has is- 
 sued 107 diflerent volumes of Bibles in more than 80 languages.- A splendid 
 beneficence it is indeed, beautiful in spirit; in management, a glory to Great 
 Britain; in operation a blessing to the world — i( almost makes amends for the 
 bloody ravages in which England has often led the way. It cheers me with 
 the consciousness of improved humanity, and with the hope of still better 
 days. I give you the Bible Society as a spedimen. It is no more than a just 
 one. Most of these societies, I believe, are conducted upon what Christians 
 generally call broad liberal principles. All of them are distinguished by the 
 strongest English traits and habits of business; by great energy, and a fearless 
 enterprise, united steady judgment and accurate calculation of particulars. 
 No mercantile firm in Great Britain could do that business better than they 
 do. Their reports, however extensive, are infallibly correct to a farthing; and, 
 at the same time, succinct and clear as light. Their zeal as institutions or as 
 individuals, does not interfere with their coolness or science as agents in a 
 preat undertaking on behalf of the whole religious community of Great 
 Britain. It only makes them still more scrupulous, assiduous, and faithful." 
 36* 
 
78 
 
 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 their long captivity are hastening to a close; and that their 
 God will soon turn again the captivity of his people. In Ger- 
 many, especially in Poland, in the Russian empire, in the 
 various provinces of the Ottoman empire, and rn all the eastern 
 nations, there is a universal expectation of the advent of the 
 Messiah; not less intense than that which preceded his first 
 coming, when he came to his own, and his own people re- 
 ceived him not. About twenty years ago, scarcely 200 Jews 
 could be found in all Judea; and now, it is said, that there are 
 not less than 20,000, and their number is every year increas- 
 ing; indeed there seems to be a general movement of the 
 whole nation.* Do not all these things speak aloud, as with 
 
 * The manner in which this subject is treated may be seen by the following 
 extracts from the secular press: 
 
 "A letter has been received in New York, from a gentleman of high stand- 
 ing in the literary and diplomatic circles of Berlin, dated Feb. 15th, 1841. The 
 Commercial Advertiser, in commenting on a return of rhe Jews to the East, 
 says that the matter depends almost "simply upon a word from Prince Metter- 
 nich and Lord Palmerston. We happen to know that a pamphlet was print- 
 ed and circulated last summer in Beilin, urging upon the lour powers the 
 establishment of Palestine as an independent slate, whither the Jews might 
 return with an assurance of protection and. security." The same paper then 
 proceeds to make the following extract from the letter to which we have al- 
 luded, observing that it serves to show ihat the subject has not been lo.st 
 sight of, and is perhaps brought nearer to some important decision than the 
 public has been aware of: 
 
 'The allies having obtained their end in Syria, are somewhat at a loss how 
 to dispose of their conquest. They are seriously thinking of setting up, or re- 
 viving, a Christian kingdom' at Jerusalem, — a project which seems to be re- 
 ceived with favour at Vienna. But then what are they to do vviih the other 
 Christian population of Syria? This is one of the questions which France 
 has asked them. They are now very anxious to draw her from the isolated 
 position into which they have forced her; as they find that after all they can- 
 not permanently and satisfactorily settle the East without her concurrence. 
 
 'To those who have an opportunity of reading the diplomatic papers, it is 
 curious and amusing to see the game that is going on, between those faithful, 
 confiding, and loving allies, England and Russia, in attempting to entice 
 France to favour their respective projects in the Levant. Under the pretext 
 of preserving peace among the. different members of the great Mohammedan 
 family, they have put at immediate hazard the peace of Christendom; and 
 now affect to be very much surprised that the French should think of fortify- 
 ing their capital. Their real opinion is in favour of that project, as a means 
 of giving France additional strength, not merely for defensive but for ofien- 
 sive war. Such is the opinion of the best militai-y authorities here.' 
 
 'The Jewish InlcUigenccr for February, 1841, gives the following account 
 of M. Guizot's proposal of the freedom of Jerusalem, under the equal protec- 
 tion of all the Powers, without supremacy of any one in particular, with 
 liberty of religion:— 'This idea was, for the first time, expressed at a public 
 dinner, at which Mr. Eynard and M. Guizot, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 were present; and it seemed even as if the latter was the first to start it. Mr. 
 Eynard has since been extremely active in pursuing the matter. He has re- 
 quested the editor of V Esptrance to write an article on the subject. He has 
 seen several influential persons who have partaken in the same desire; he has 
 mentioned it in the highest quarter; and he doubts not but that France, if 
 otherwise satisfied with the Eastern question, will strongly and successfully 
 support the project. He particularly desires that public opinion should be 
 elicited on tne subject; he still recollects how, when the question was of 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 79 
 
 the voice of God, telling the nations that the prophecy is going 
 to be fuiniled, which says, that "the ciiilih-en of Israel after 
 having been for many clays without a king, and without a 
 prince, and without sacrifice, and witiiout an image, and with- 
 out an ephod or ])riest, and witiiout tcraphim or cherubim, 
 shall afterwards return and seek the Lord their God, and 
 David their king; and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness, 
 in the latter days." The throne of David, be it remembered, 
 is the throne of the Messiah, who shall have dominion from 
 the river unto the ends of the earth; and the universal domi- 
 nion promised to David, is the universal dominion of the Mes- 
 siah, which is the great subject of universal prophecy, and 
 especially that of our text. Come hither, says an ancient 
 father of the church, all ye seed of Abraham, peeled and 
 bruised, and scattered among the nations; come and sit down 
 with me at the feet of the great and terrible image, which 
 Nebuchadnezzar saw in the visions of the night; look up, and 
 behold the burnislied gold and silver, and brass and iron; 
 symbols of the mighty monarchies by which you have been 
 persecuted and broken; behold that little stone, cut out of the 
 mountain without hands, smiting the image on its feet and toes, 
 and breaking the gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron, to 
 pieces, becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth, 
 — that little stone is the emblem of your Messiah's kingdom, 
 which shall break in pieces all these kingdoms, and stand for 
 ever. In all things the Jews have the pre-eminence. The 
 promise, says the Apostle, is first to the Jews, and then to the 
 Gentiles. Tiie Gentiles were added to the Jewish Christian 
 church at Jerusalem, the mother of us all; they were unnatural 
 branches ingrafted into the Jewish olive, of which the Abra- 
 hamic covenant is the root and the fatness; they are living 
 stones builded together with the Jews upon the foundations of 
 ti)e apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 corner stone; all of Jewish extraction. And when the first 
 heavens and the first earth are passed away, and the new Jeru- 
 salem comes down from God, out of heaven, in all her Mil- 
 lennial purity and glory; the names of the twelve tribes of 
 Israel, the rcj)resentatives of the Jewish church, are seen writ- 
 ten on her twelve gates, and the names of the twelve apostles 
 of the Lamb, all Jews, are engraved on her twelve foundations. 
 The present state, therefore, of that extraordinary people is 
 
 Greece, in which he then took and still takes a lively interest, pnblic opinion 
 had the most happy influence upon the Governments. And certainly that 
 would be a beautiful result, if Jerusalem was made free, and liberty restored 
 to Zion.' 
 
go THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 another sign that the restitution of all things, at the second 
 coming of the Messiah, is at hand. 
 
 The infidel insensibility of the world, and the awful torpor 
 of the church as to the signs of the times and the indications 
 of the Redeemer's speedy approach, are also subjects of direct 
 prophecy. With regard to the world, that day, we know, 
 shall come on them as a thief breaking open the house in the 
 dead of the night; for when they cry peace, peace, and even 
 laugh at the promise of his coming, sudden destruction shall 
 come upon them, and they shall not escape. "As it was in 
 the days before the flood," saith our Lord, "they were eating 
 and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the day 
 that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood 
 came, and took them all away; so shall it be in the day where- 
 in the Son of Man cometh. Likewise, also, as it was in the 
 days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, 
 they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went 
 out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and 
 destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the 
 Son of Man is revealed." Such was the state of the Jews 
 before the desolation of Jerusalem: but that this passage is 
 chiefly intended to describe the general state of mankind, just 
 before the final judgment, it is evident from the first chapter 
 of the second epistle to the Thessalonians, and the seventh 
 verse. There the apostle is confessedly speaking of the last 
 judgment, the day of which he calls the day "when the Lord 
 Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, 
 in flaming fire." Is not this, then, "the day when the Son 
 of Man is revealed?" But you will ask, what fault is here? 
 Is it a crime to eat and to drink, to marry, to buy, to sell, to 
 plant, to build? Certainly not: the acts themselves, abstract- 
 edly taken, are lawful, but the principle was criminal. All 
 sprung from infidelity, and an inordinate love of this present 
 evil world. They believed not God, speaking by Noah, the 
 preacher of righteousness. The patriarch, both in his public 
 ministry, and by building the ark, when warned of God, gave 
 testimony of the fear of God, and thus "he became heir of the 
 righteousness which is by faith." By this, he is said to have 
 condemned the world, which did not believe in God, did not 
 fear God, but despised the ark of salvation; and thus became 
 heirs of the unrighteousness and condemnation, which is by 
 unbelief. Thus it was with the Infidels of the old world; 
 thus it was with the Infidels of Sodom and Gomorrah; thus it 
 was with the Infidels of Jerusalem and the land of Judea; and 
 thus it will be with the Infidels of these last times. Void of 
 thought, destitute of faith, and reckless of futurity, they are 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 81 
 
 like victims dancinp; round the altar on which they are about 
 to be sacrificed. That day shall come upon all them that 
 dwell upon the earth, as a snare. Let us now look for the 
 last si<2;n within the sacred enclosure of the church of God. 
 This also, it is remarkable, forms a subject of prophecy. Our 
 Lord spake several parables to his disciples, concerninfi; his 
 second advent; and in one of these, the state of ihe church, 
 with respect to her expectation of her Lord's return, is clearly 
 intimated. "Then (at the time of his coming) shall the king- 
 dom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their 
 lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of 
 them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were 
 foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the 
 wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, JVhile the 
 hrideoroom lurried — (mark what follows,) — they all slumbered 
 and slept. And at midnight, there was a cry made, behold, the 
 bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him." The whole pro- 
 fessing church, both real Christians and hypocrites, is thus re- 
 presented as falling asleep while the Lord delayeth his coming, 
 and roused from its death-like lethargy by the annunciation of 
 his return. 
 
 How strikingly does this parable characterize the present 
 state of the professing church. Listead, therefore, of the pre- 
 sent indifference and Infidelity manifested by professors, being 
 any shadow of evidence against the truth of the doctrines 
 stated in these lectures, that circumstance is in itself a proof 
 that the time is near at hand. The midnight cry is now heard: 
 is not his coming, therefore, near, very near; even at the door? 
 It can surely be little satisfaction to the true Christian to know 
 that his lisllessness has more effectually lulled an ungodly 
 world into security. For you yourselves know perfectly, that 
 the day of the Lord cometlj as a thief in the night. For when 
 they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh 
 upon them. But are there none, even among those who-make 
 a decided profession of the gospel, who have, in these last 
 times, joined themselves with the Infidel scoffers in asking, 
 where is the promise of his coming? Blessed are those ser- 
 vants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. 
 But, alas! alas! professing Christians of the present day have 
 assumed a very different attitude. How clearly did the om- 
 niscient Jesus foresee, and how distinctly did he foretell, the 
 present awful state of the visible church, as immediately pre- 
 ceding his second appearance. 
 
 All these signs of the times, shedding their light upon the 
 mysterious dates of the chronological prophecies, and deriving 
 light from them in return, i. e. the present concussions of the 
 
g2 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 nations; the simultaneous shaking of the Ottoman and the 
 Papal empires; the reign and dominancy of Infidelity; the 
 extensive propagation of the gospel beyond the limits of the 
 western Roman empire; the state of feeling and excitement 
 in the Jewish nation; the Infidel indifference of the world; 
 the death-like slumber of the church; and the midnight cry 
 that has recently been raised, and that is now ringing in the 
 ears of an Infidel world, and a sleeping church; all indicate 
 that the 1260 years have nearly, at least, run out their course. 
 And when ye see these things, know that the kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand. Of that day and that hour knoweth no 
 man; but we may know with certainty, by these signs and 
 these prophecies, that it is fast approaching. 
 
 But your time forbids me to proceed. In our next lecture, 
 we shall inquire into the duties of British Christians, and of 
 all classes of the community in Great Britain, at this crisis; 
 and whether there be any foundation to hope for an escape 
 from these awful visitations, or of securing a mitigation of our 
 punishment, in the great day of the Lord. To conclude; — 
 the midnight cry is now heard from a thousand voices; behold 
 the bridegroom cometh; he comes in clouds of flaming fire, 
 with all his mighty angels, taking vengeance. But who may 
 abide the day of his coming? Not the unbelieving and im- 
 penitent; they shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without 
 remedy. Not the hypocrite and the formalist, roused from 
 their fatal delusions, when it is too late; like the foolish virgins, 
 they shall find the gates of mercy for ever closed against them. 
 Who shall stand when he appeareth? They who wait for 
 him, and who love his appearing, and his kingdom. Go ye 
 out to meet him; shake off the lethargy with which you are 
 oppressed; gird your loins; trim your lamps, keep them ever 
 burning and shining; be watchful, be sober, and hope unto the 
 end, for the grace which shall be brought unto you at the reve- 
 lation of Jesus Christ. Behold he cometh in clouds of glory! 
 Prepare my soul to meet him! 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 83 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Daniel ii. 44. 
 
 "A?>d in ihe days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
 kingdom,''' ^'C. 
 
 The subject of these lectures is not political, but religious. 
 Their object is not speculation, but practice; not to gratify a 
 vain curiosity, or to intrude into the secret cabinet of the Most 
 High, and, with a rash hand, to lift up the veil which he has 
 drawn over his secret councils, any farther than he has been 
 pleased to reveal them by his servants, his prophets; but to 
 impress upon the minds of my countrymen, and especially my 
 Christian brethren, the duties which are imperatively binding 
 upon them, at this great and eventful crisis. What conclusion 
 you may have drawn from the facts and circumstances that 
 have been laid before you, and from those awful parts of sacred 
 prophecy, at which we have glanced, 1 know not; but tlie im- 
 pression on my own mind is, that the day of the Lord is 
 drawing near, and that, althougli there is at present a pause 
 among the nations, yet that this pause is only that short one, 
 intimated in the sixteenth chapter of the book of Revelations, 
 preparatory to those fearful convulsions, which are to follow 
 the outpouring of the seventh vial. Every attentive observer 
 must be aware that the evil principles of Infidelity, Popery, 
 and disorganization, are alU busily at work, and preparing 
 materials for some prodigious explosion. Such, at this instant, 
 is the precise state of things. Soon, therefore, we may ex- 
 pect •'•that the great voice will come out of the temple of 
 lieaven, from the throne, saying — It is done. And then, to- 
 gether with voices, and thunders, and lightning, there will be 
 a great earthquake, such as was not since men were ujion earth, 
 so mighty an earthquake, and so great." How awful is even 
 the apprehension of such a concussion to happen in our time! 
 Should it be realized, what will be the doom of our country? 
 What will be your lot, my dear brethren? Let me urge the 
 (question home upon my own heart; what will be my doom in 
 that awful day? To be indifferent, is not wisdom, but infatua- 
 tion. 
 
 Be our opinion, however, what it may, yet let us remember 
 
§4 THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 that as secret things belong unto the Lord, and only things re- 
 vealed to us, and to our children, and as the plain and positive 
 precepts of scripture, and not the eternal decrees of God, are 
 the rule by which men and nations are to act and govern them- 
 selves; so no opinion we may form, from the light of prophecy, 
 and the signs of the times, should induce us to neglect those 
 means, by which we may hope, if possible, to escape the 
 threatened judgments, or at least to gain a lengthening out of 
 the tranquillity. A ray of hope may, perhaps, be derived 
 from that solemn and gracious declaration of the Most High, 
 by the prophet Jeremiah: "At what instant I shall speak con- 
 cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and 
 to pull down, and to destroy; if that nation, against whom I 
 have pronounced these things, turn from their evil, I will re- 
 pent of the evil that I thought to do unto them." 
 
 Our own eternal destiny, which is to each of us, as indi- 
 viduals, immensely more important than the destinies of all 
 the empires in the world, demands our awakened and most 
 serious attention. The kingdom of the Messiah is the king- 
 dom of immortal souls, ransomed from eternal death by its 
 great founder, and placed by the side of this kingdom, by the 
 Spirit of Prophecy; the magnificent empires of Babylon, 
 Persia, Greece, and Rome, at once the terror and admiration 
 of the world, are but as the chaff of the summer thrashing- 
 floors, which the wind carrieth away, so that no place is found 
 for them. Death, whenever it comes, will assuredly be the 
 end of the world to each of us, when our fate will be irre- 
 vocably sealed, and no speculation upon the fate of nations can 
 prepare us for the kingdom of heaven. If we are to judge of 
 the magnitude of an object from the means made to secure it, 
 and the price paid for it, by a wise intelligence, man must be 
 of more importance than a world; for the Son of God, the 
 Lord of Glory, would not die to create a world; a word was 
 sufficient — he spake and it was done: nor to preserve it, for it 
 must be destroyed. Bid he died to redeem man. The import- 
 ance which we attach to man, does not arise from the organi- 
 zation of his mortal frame, though fearfully and wonderfully 
 made, but from the deathless spirit with which that frame is 
 animated. Destruction seems to be the order of the present 
 system, and whatever does not belong to man as an heir of 
 eternity, seems to be made only to be destroyed. The riches 
 of individuals and the wealth of nations, make to themselves 
 wings and fly away; the race of earthly glory is soon run, and 
 heroes have sighed for other worlds to conquer. The pleasures 
 of sin are but for a season, and they leave a sting behind, 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 85 
 
 loaded witli deadly poison; youth is but a dew-drop of the 
 morning, which the rising sun exhales; beauty is but a super- 
 ficial tincture thrown upon the skin, which a fit of sickness 
 washes away; health, strength, agility, and whatever depends 
 upon the body, is peculiarly precarious; and what is life itself, 
 the foundation of all earthly enjoyment, but a vapour, which 
 appeareth but a moment, and is destroyed by the next rough 
 blast. States and. empires have their day like mortal man; 
 they rise in grandeur, and sink in ruins, under the smiles or 
 frowns of the Judge of the whole earth; the heavens them- 
 selves shall be folded up as a moth-frctten garment, and shall 
 be changed; and heaven and earth shall pass away with an ex- 
 ceeding great noise; but the spirit that is in man shall survive 
 the mighty wreck, and when as many millions of ages have 
 passed off, as there are grains of sand upon the shores of the 
 ocean, it will be no nearer to its end than it was the moment 
 its existence commenced. As there will be no end of its being, 
 there will be no termination of that happiness or misery, to 
 which it will be consigned in the article of dissolution; and, 
 before the body is committed to the grave, earth to earth, 
 ashes to ashes, dust to dust; the conscious spirit will be exalted 
 to the joys of heaven, or condemned to the torments of hell 
 to all eternity. For such a being, God only can be an ade- 
 quate portion, and to redeem the soul to God, Jesus died. 
 Awake, then, oh man! to serious reflection. Forget not, 
 amidst the concussions of nations, thy own dignity as an heir 
 of immortality. Ponder the momentous interrogation of the 
 Creator of the world, the Redeemer of man, and the Prince 
 of the kings of the earth, — "What shall a man be profited, if 
 he gain the whole world, and lose his o-wn soul." It is the 
 inost concerning enquiry that can engage or absolve the atten- 
 tion of a being, passing through the shadows of time to the 
 dread realities of an eternal world. It admits only of one 
 answer, yet that answer is seldom given, but with reluctance, 
 uneasiness, and conscious guilt, liut any man who shrinks 
 from the enquiry, and who is afraid to meet it in all its por- 
 tentous importance, is really in the dark, as to the real causes 
 of the evils of the times, and of the means of escaping the 
 danger. But he who honestly follows out the awakening 
 question in all its bearings, will soon discover that our national 
 peril arises from our guilt in the sight of God, and that there 
 is no avenue of deliverance, without repentance towards God, 
 and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son of God 
 is now saving to us, in his word, and by the administration of 
 his Providence, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
 perish." But the annunciation damps our spirits, and throws 
 VOL. II. — 37 
 
QQ THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 a gloom around us; and we are more ready to cry out, "Art 
 thou come to torment us before the time?" than to say, "Jesus, 
 thou Son of David, have mercy upon us." 
 
 How awful is the state, how impious the character, of modern 
 Infidels. Their eyes are shut, their ears are closed, and their 
 hearts they have hardened, lest they should see with their eyes, 
 and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and 
 be converted, and God should save them. No wonder that 
 they charge the students of prophecy with insanity, or that 
 they brand their monitors with the epitliets of fools, fanatics, 
 and madmen, as the Infidels before the flood did the preacher 
 of righteousness, during the 120 years while the ark was pre- 
 paring, and the aspect of things seemed to afford them some 
 plausible pretext for their impious scorn and raillery. The 
 sun rose and set as usual; the rain descended at proper times, 
 and in moderate degrees; the seasons rolled, on; fruits of the 
 earth were ripened and gathered in; and it does not appear 
 that a single prognostic was seen to announce the coming 
 storm. The faith of Noah, therefore, appeared to them as the 
 credulity of imbecility; his ministry as the ravings of mental 
 aberration; and his labour, expense, and all his contrivances, 
 in the building of the ark, as the climax of religious infatua- 
 tion. "Divine justice," says an ancient writer, ''has leaden 
 feet, but iron hands; its march to vengeance is slow, but its 
 executions are terrible.'" The patience of God was at length 
 exhausted; the hour of vengeance came; Noah entered into 
 the ark; God shut him in, and all was over. When they saw 
 the cataracts from above meeting the torrents rushing from the 
 fountains of the great deep beneath, and the raging billows of 
 a boundless ocean, amidst the wild uproar of nature, rising 
 above the summits of the highest mountains, to wliich they 
 had climbed for safety; how bitterly did they condemn the 
 madness of their infidelity, and how gladly would they have 
 stepped into some ark of salvation. Similar to this was the 
 terror and the desperation of the Infidels of Sodom, when Lot 
 was gone, and the flame of Sodom ascended up as a burning 
 furnace towards heaven. 
 
 Let the Infidel, therefore, hear and fear, and turn unto the 
 Lord; for our God, who is coming to take vengeance, is a con- 
 suming fire. Let him no longer set his mouth in blasphemy 
 against the heavens, nor contemn the authority of the King of 
 Zion, saying, "Come, let us break their bands asunder, and 
 let us cast away their cords from us." "He that sitteth in the 
 heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision; he 
 shall speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore 
 displeasure; when he breaks the unbelieving nations in pieces 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 87 
 
 with a rod of iron, like a potter's vessel." All thy impious 
 cavils against the gospel, and all thy blasphemous sophistries, 
 which have been answered a thousand times, will stand thee in 
 no stead on that day. Hast thou pondered, and canst thou 
 now ponder, without irritation, the awful sanctions by which 
 the claims of the gospel, which thou despisest, are guarded 
 and enforced, — "He that believeth not shall be damned." 
 These words proceeded from the lips of the compassionate 
 Saviour; they pronounce tliy doom; but who can explain the 
 import of the word damnation? lie that believeth not is con- 
 demned already, and the wrath of God abideth upon him: — 
 these words proceeded from the lips of the illustrious harbinger 
 of the compassionate Saviour; but who knoweth the power of 
 God's wrath? Yet, on thee, man, the wrath of God abideth: 
 — in sickness or in health, at home or abroad, sleeping or 
 waking, in war or peace, amidst the stability or the crash of 
 nations, in life and in death, the wrath of God abideth upon 
 thee; and, dying in thy infidelity and guilt, it will plunge thee 
 into everlasting perdition. Hast thou an arm like God? Canst 
 thou thunder with a voice like his? Canst thou bear the 
 weight of his vengeance? When he arises to punish, who 
 shall attempt to rescue? "How will thine hands be strong, or 
 thine heart endure, in the day when he shall deal with thee. 
 He will do it, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 Whom his grace does not subdue, his vengeance will over- 
 whelm. He shall reigu until all his enemies are made his 
 footstool, and all who refuse to bow to the sceptre of his love, 
 shall be broken in pieces with his rod of iron. Oh! then, let 
 me beseech you, by the tender mercies of God, and by the 
 compassion of a dying Saviour; by the terrors of the law, and 
 by the grace of the gospel; by the worth of your own souls, 
 and the immense importance of eternal things; by the wrath 
 that is coming upon the nations; by the joys of heaven, and 
 by the sorrows of hell; by every thing that is tender, and 
 every thing that is awful, — let me beseech you to kiss the Son, 
 to bow to the sceptre of his kingdom, lest ye perish from the 
 way, when his anger is kindled but a little, — yes, but a little; 
 a single spark would prove sufficient to consume all nations, 
 and to burn down to the lowest hell. 
 
 Let the unbeliever, who makes a profession of Christianity, 
 tremble, when he reads the denunciation of God's wrath, 
 speedily to be inflicted on guilty nations! Time is passing off; 
 eternity is pressing forward; the judge is at the door. The 
 contemplation of such calamities, ai)out to overtake and over- 
 whelm a secure, though guilty world, is enough to melt the 
 hardest heart into compassion. "Look away from me," said 
 
gg THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 the prophet, "I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me, 
 because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people; for it 
 is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity, 
 by the Lord God of hosts, in the valley of vision." Will a 
 lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young 
 lion cry in his den, if he has taken nothing? Can a bird fall 
 into a snare upon the earth, where no gin is laid for him? 
 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be 
 afraid? Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not 
 done it? The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord 
 God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Truly it is a fearful 
 thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Why, then, 
 will men rest in forms of godliness, while destitute of its vital 
 saving power? Remember the fate of the foolish virgins. A 
 lamp of profession, v/ithout the oil and flame of grace, may 
 carry you to the gates of heaven, but will leave you there; 
 they that were ready went into the marriage, and the door was 
 shut. Why will the wicked refuse to forsake his way, and 
 the unrighteous man his thoughts? It is yet the accepted time, 
 and the day of salvation. "Let him, therefore, return to the 
 Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for 
 he will abundantly pardon." Why should he delay in apply- 
 ing to the blood of sprinkling, until compelled, in the bitter- 
 ness of unavailing remorse, to exclaim, "The harvest is past, 
 the summer is ended, ^nd we are not saved?" Let him betake 
 himself without delay, to him who alone shall be a covert 
 from the storm, and a hiding-place from the tempest. Then 
 will the Lord hide him in the secret place of his pavilion. 
 The place of his defence shall be the munition of rocks; 
 though thousands fall at his side, and ten thousand at his right 
 hand, no evil shall befall him, neither shall any plague come 
 nigh his dwelling. The Lord shall give his angels — the 
 ministers of his providence, — charge over him, to keep him in 
 all his ways. Consider, then, unbelieving man, the situa- 
 tion in which thou art placed. Before thee lies eternity, — 
 eternal happiness, or eternal woe. A sinner, both by nature 
 and by practice, thou art exposed to the wrath of God, and the 
 vengeance of eternal fire. Thy unbelief has added to the 
 national guilt, in the rejection of the gospel. The vengeance 
 of heaven hangs over thy head; the sword of the avenger is 
 tracking thy guilty steps; the storms of wrath are gathering 
 around thee; hell from beneath is moved to meet thee at thy 
 coming; and before thee lies the atonement of a Saviour's 
 blood, as thy place of safety; listen, then, to the warning voice 
 of prophets and of apostles, and of the Son of God himself, 
 who saith, "Flee from the wrath to come, to the hope set 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. gg 
 
 before thee in the gospel, and stay not in all the plain lest thou 
 be consumed." 
 
 The devoted followers of the Lord Jesus may be admonish- 
 ed to holy vigilance and guarded circumspection. While they 
 rejoice in the prospect of a speedy meeting with the great God, 
 even their Saviour Jesus Christ, for now is their salvation 
 nearer than when they believed; yet they ought to rejoice 
 with trembling. The state of the church demands their fervent 
 and persevering prayers; the opposition made to the truth by 
 friends and brethren may occasion pungent sorrow; and the 
 objects of impending judgment call for their deepest commise- 
 ration. True patriotism and loyalty, attachment to their right- 
 ful sovereign, and deep concern for the safety of their beloved 
 country, are sentiments which ought, especially at this crisis, 
 to rule and reign in their heart. There is, too, in the dangers 
 to which they are themselves exposed, ground of fear and 
 humility, of godly jealousy and constant vigilance. These 
 are, indeed, perilous times in which our lot is cast. Seducing 
 spirits are abroad; of whose wiles they ought to take heed. 
 The present aspects of societ}' are ominous. Infidelity, 
 worldliness, a disrelish for the doctrines of the Reformation, 
 or the Apostolic doctrine, latitudinarianism of principle, and 
 indifference to spiritual things, have increased, and are still 
 increasing, in the professing Christian church. We have not 
 faith, even as a grain of mustard seed; for no mountains of 
 difficulties are removed by us in the present day. We boast 
 of our liberality, regarding it as a high attainment, although, 
 in numberless cases, it is only another name for licentiousness. 
 We characterize the age as enlightened; but where is there 
 that ardent desire, and fervent prayer for the illumination of 
 the Eternal Spirit, by which our pious forefathers were so 
 eminently distinguished? Intellect, as it is called, but very 
 unworthy of the name, has usurped the seat of the faith that 
 accompanies salvation; and unbelief is displayed in a thousand 
 various forms, and in every form still retains its essential 
 character of opposition to the revealed will of God. It is 
 therefore of the utmost importance that we be on our guard 
 against the sin of unbelief, — the sin which does so easily beset 
 us, — locking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. 
 "Take heed, brethren," says the Apostle, in his epistle to the 
 Hebrews, while ruin was hanging over the nation, "lest there 
 be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in apostatizing from 
 the living God." Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversaries 
 are going about like roaring lions, seeking whom they may 
 devour; whom resist, steadfast in the faith. Hold fast that 
 which ye have received; let no man take away your crown 
 37^ 
 
9Q THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 from you; walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, re- 
 deeming the time, knowing that the days are evil. Beware 
 lest the enemy find you off your guard, or lull to sleep that 
 guarded circumspection which ought always be kept awake. 
 Ye wrestle not only with flesh and blood, but with principali- 
 ties and powers, with the rulers of the darkness of tliis world, 
 and with wicked spirits in high places; and the contest is now 
 raging with fierce and unexampled violence. Wherefore, take 
 to yourselves the wliole armour of God; the helmet of salva- 
 tion, the breast-plate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, the 
 shield of faith — whereby ye may be able to quench all the 
 fiery darts of the wicked; the sword of the Spirit — which is 
 the word of God, and the preparation of the gospel of peace; 
 praying always, with all prayer and supplication; watching 
 thereunto with all perseverance, being strong in the Lord, and 
 in the power of his might. Watch ye, therefore, put off the 
 works of darkness, stand in the attitude of expectation, and 
 pray always; "forasmuch as ye knovv^ neither the day nor the 
 hour wherein the Son of Man cometh, that ye may be account- 
 ed worthy to escape all these tilings that shall come to pass, 
 and to stand before the Son of Man." 
 
 Mutual exhortation, and mutual admonition, among the 
 brethren, in times like these, are especially necessary. When 
 Cain had slain his brother Abel, a voice from heaven demand- 
 ed of him, ''Where i's Abel, thy brother?" To this solemn 
 and conscience-awakening interrogation, the unhappy fratricide 
 sullenly replied, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Certainly, it 
 miglit have been retorted, as his elder brother, thou wast his 
 natural guardian; at least, thou oughtest not to have been his 
 murderer. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth out from 
 the earth unto me against thee: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt 
 thou be in all the earth, bearing on thy brow the mark of my 
 holy indignation. There is, my brethren, a reciprocity of 
 deep and awful responsibility, existing between husbands and 
 wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and all the 
 relations of life, but especially among the members of the 
 household of faith, in reference to a future judgment and an 
 eternal world. Every man, in this sense, is appointed his 
 brother's keeper. Every man is charged to watch over the 
 soul of his brother, as one that must give an account. What 
 a solemn deposit! Wiiat a charge to Toe entrusted to one man 
 over another! Whataweiglit of responsibility does it involve! 
 Who does not shrink, with fear and trembling, from the pros- 
 pect of appearing before tiie divine tribunal, charged, in this 
 respect, with blood-guiltiness? Yet who can lay his hand upon 
 his heart, and sa^, with the great apostle, when resigning his 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Ql 
 
 charge over the church at jNIiletus, ''I take heaven and earth 
 to record this day, that I am pure from the hlood of all men; 
 for I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God?" 
 Where is that tender anxiety, that travailing in hirth, as the 
 apostle expresses it, for men, until Christ he formed in them 
 the hope of glory? Where is that brotherly love, that careful 
 watchfulness over each other's spiritual interest, that fidelity 
 of aflcctionate reproof, that fervency of prayer for each other, 
 and that bearing of each other's burthens, which are so re- 
 peatedly and solemnly enjoined by the law of Christ? JNIay 
 we not all acknowledge, with grief and contrition of spirit, 
 that we are verily guilty concerning our brother? for that 
 when we saw his anguish, and besought us with tears, and we 
 would not hearken; therefore, is this evil come upon us. Let us 
 not forget that we must meet our brother before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ; and, oh! most holy, most merciful, most 
 mighty, and most w^orthy Judge eternal, grant that we may 
 all find mercy in that day! But he that confesseth, and for- 
 saketh his sins, saith the Lord, shall obtain mercy. While, 
 therefore, we repent and confess, may our repentance and con- 
 fession be followed by reformation; and let us listen to the 
 apostolical exhortations which are so often repeated, and so 
 earnestly pressed upon our attention. Instruct, reprove, and 
 admonish one another; provoke one another to love and good 
 works; strengthen the weak, support the feeble-minded, bear 
 ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ; con- 
 fess your faults one to another, and pray for one another. 
 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are 
 spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, con- 
 sidering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Exhort one another 
 daily, lest ye be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 
 Brethren, if any of you do^err from the truth, and one convert 
 him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from 
 the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall 
 hide a multitude of sins. If such admonitory exhortations 
 demand the attention of the Christian church, at all times, with 
 what mighty force do they press on our attention in the pre- 
 sent state of the church, of the nation, and of the w^orld. We 
 have before observed that the epistle to the Hebrews was 
 written by St. Paul, to his countrymen professing the Chris- 
 tian faith, only a few years before the overthrow of their 
 church and nation. And it is by the consideration of the near 
 approach of that event, that he urged these and similar exhor- 
 tations: — "and so much the more," says he, "as ye see the 
 day approaching." 
 
 The study of the prophetical scriptures, in comparison with 
 
92 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 the operations of Providence, or the signs of the times, is also 
 an imperative duty. Despise not prophesying, is a divine ad- 
 monition. We have a sure word of prophecy, to which, says 
 the Eternal Spirit, ye will do well to take heed, with fixed 
 attention, holy reverence, and fervent prayer, as unto a light 
 shining in a dark place. One grand and sublime system of 
 prophecy runs through the whole of the sacred volume. Every 
 promise is a prophecy of future good; every denunciation is a 
 prophecy of future evil, whether to individuals or communi- 
 ties. The whole patriarchal and Mosaic ritual, its altars, its 
 oblations, its priests, its tabernacles, its sprinklings and purifi- 
 cations, and all its patterns of heavenly things, were predictive 
 as well as typical. The whole scripture partakes of the nature 
 of prophecy, either predicting future events, or recording their 
 accomplishment in sacred history; while doctrines, precepts, 
 and the minuter parts of the holy book are .interspersed and 
 interwoven with what may be called the prophetical substratum 
 of the holy oracles of God. When our Lord commanded the 
 Jews to search the Scriptures, he meant the prophecies, for 
 they are they which testified of him. The men of Berea were 
 more honourable than those of Thessalonica, because they 
 searched the scriptures daily, — the prophetical scriptures, — to 
 see whether the things spoken of by the apostle were so or not. 
 Indeed, scripture and prophecy are convertible terms, or ex- 
 pressions of precisely the same signification. To despise pro- 
 phecy is, therefore, to offer despite to the Spirit of Grace; to 
 neglect the study of prophecy is to pour contempt on the word 
 of God. Remember that an unity of design, and a continuity 
 of thought, worthy of that infinite Intelligence to whom a 
 thousand j^ears are as one day, characterizes the sacred volume; 
 that redemption is the grand theme, and that the final triumph 
 of pure and undefiled religion, arrayed in all the beauties of 
 holiness, in the universal establishment of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom, and the brightest display of the glory of God, is the 
 ultimate end and blessed consummation. To the want of a 
 due attention to this principle, it is owing that passages are so 
 often mangled by being torn from their connection, that their 
 beautiful symmetry is mutilated, and the majesty of the word 
 of God destroyed; that Infidel cavils are engendered, and that 
 numberless prophecies, which are already fulfilled, are wrapt 
 in impenetrable obscurity; and that the Holy Book is in a 
 great measure, even to the church, closed up, and sealed. 
 With regard to unfulfilled prophecy, even the most mysterious, 
 that they may be understood before their accomplishment is 
 clear, from the well-known fact, among many others, that 
 Daniel's famous numerical prophecy, one of the most mys- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 93 
 
 terious in the Bible, concerning the JNTessiah's first advent, was 
 so well understood, that at the time of his coming, an eager 
 expectation of his appearance universally prevailed. Of the 
 events predicted in what are supposed to be the mysterious 
 prophecies of Daniel, and which are to take place in the latter 
 days, it is expressly said, that at the time of the end, the wise 
 shall understand them, but the wicked shall not understand 
 them. And the Son of God himself, in his introduction to 
 the mysterious book of Revelation, pronounces a blessing upon 
 the man who readeth and upon tliose who hear the prophecies 
 of this book, and do the things that are contained in them. 
 Regardless of the stupid and infidel clamour that you hear 
 around you, search the prophecies; take heed unto that light 
 shining in a dark place, and follow the example of the pro- 
 phets, who inquired and searched diligently, that they might 
 know what things and what manner of times the Spirit of 
 Christ that was in them did signify. With the searching of 
 the scriptures combine a holy watchfulness of the operations 
 of Divine Providence. 
 
 How severely did our Lord reprove the Jews for their wilful 
 blindness in not discerning the signs of the times in his day: 
 — "When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, ye say, there 
 Cometh a shower, and so it is; and when ye see the south 
 wind blow, ye say, there will be heat, and it cometh to pass; 
 ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and the earth; 
 how is it that yc do not discern this time?" A reproof which 
 certainly implied, that had they compared the signs of the 
 times with the sacred prophecies, they would have known 
 that he was the Messiah. Again, had not his disciples after- 
 wards marked, and understood the signs, which he had given 
 them, of the near approach of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 how could they have fled to^ the mountains for safety, in obe- 
 dience to his command? And again, when describing the 
 signs, which shall immediately precede the restoration of the 
 Jews, and the restitution of all things at his second coming, 
 he says, — and the admonition was especially intended for the 
 church in the latter days, — ^'ivheti ye see these thitigs begi?i to come 
 to pass, then lift up your heads, for your redemption draws 
 nigh." In the book of Revelation, when the entranced pro- 
 phet, rapt in the visions of the Almighty, beholds the vials 
 emptied in succession upon the earth, and the sea, and. the 
 rivers and fountains of waters, on the sun, and the seat of the 
 beast, and the great river Euphrates; during the last of which, 
 a way is prepared for the return of the Jews, and the spirits of 
 devils go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole 
 world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God 
 
94 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 Almighty; and only a short time before the seventh angel 
 pours out his vial into the air; and a great voice comes out of 
 the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, — it is done; 
 when immediately all nations will be shaken and convulsed, 
 and Great Babylon comes up in remembrance before God; — at 
 this momentous crisis, the prophet hears the voice of the Son 
 of God, interrupting the process of the prophetical scenery, and 
 thus addressing the church, existing in this awful interval, that 
 is, the present period, and saying, "Behold, I come as a thief, 
 suddenly, in an hour when I am not expected; lift up your 
 eyes, regard with deep and devout attention those i.idications 
 which announce my coming, for blessed is he who thus watch- 
 eth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they 
 see his shame. He shall be preserved in the midst of those 
 calamities, which shall overwhelm the wicked. A place of 
 safety shall be opened unto him in the day of trouble; he shall 
 enter into the chambers, close the doors upon him, and there 
 be protected under the shadow of my wing, until the indigna- 
 tion be accomplislied." Such is the blessedness promised to 
 the watchful Christian at this crisis. 
 
 Loyalty, patriotism, submission to the powers that be, and 
 a separation from the collision of all political parties, are in- 
 cumbent duties of the devoted disciples of the Lord Jesus at 
 this crisis. While the ancient prophets, in their official cha- 
 racters, lifted up their voices, like trumpets, against the trans- 
 gression of the people, and the times, and denounced the wrath 
 of God against kings and nations; still, as subjects of the state, 
 they submitted to the higher powers, even to imprisonment 
 and martyrdom. This is the spirit which Christianity incul- 
 cates upon the subjects of Him, whose kingdom is not of this 
 world, in every page. Fear God, and honour the king, is an 
 express command, that cannot be misunderstood, and admits of 
 no evasion. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; 
 for there is no power but of God; the powers that be are 
 ordained of God. Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth 
 the ordinance of God; for this cause pay you tribute also: — 
 Render, therefore, to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is 
 due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to 
 whom honour. Stand aloof from party conflict; link not your- 
 selves with the Infidels of the age; for what communion has 
 light with darkness; what concord has Christ with Belial; or 
 he that believcth with an Infidel? Flee the precincts of in- 
 fection; maintain a holy singularity for God; bear an honest 
 testimony against the evils of the day; but let it be in the 
 spirit of your divine Master, who was holy, and harmless, and 
 undefiled, and separate from sinners; who was led as a lamb 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 95 
 
 to the slaughter, meek and uncomplaining, and marking the 
 way with blood; who besought the weeping dauglUers of Jeru- 
 salem not to weep for him, but for the calamities that were 
 coming upon the nation; and who spent his last breath in 
 prayers and apologies for his Infidel murderers. By exempli- 
 fying such a spirit, you will most cflectually advance the good 
 of your country, and the triumpli of your Redeemer's king- 
 dom. Love is omnipotent, and by the mighty power of the 
 spirit of love, the apostolic church achieved all its glorious 
 conquests. And the Christian church, during a considerable 
 period after the apostolic age, acted upon the same holy prin- 
 ciple, and displayed the same lovely spirit. These principles 
 are embodied, and this spirit animates Tertullian's famous 
 apology, addressed to the Emperor and Roman senate. After 
 mentioning the numbers, talents, wealth, and influence of 
 Christians, in all the provinces of the empire, from which the 
 senate might have inferred the formidable resistance which 
 they might offer, even to the government; and, as some sup- 
 pose, shake even the foundations of the empire: he then adds, 
 with an address peculiar to himself, in words to this effect: — 
 "But our master is the Prince of Peace; he disarms his fol- 
 lowers, that they may conquer; he arrests the spear from the 
 hand of Ephraim; strikes the battle-bow from the hand of 
 Judah; and throws the warlike chariot into the fire. You 
 send us to the mines and gallies; we go, after the example of 
 the fathers of our faith, not knowing whither we go; — you 
 plunder us of our possessions, and reduce us from wealth or 
 competence, to want and beggary, but we suffer the spoiling 
 of our goods joyfully, knowing that in heaven we have a better 
 and a more enduring substance; — you expose us on your pub- 
 lic theatres, to be torn to pieces by wild beasts, as the ofTscour- 
 ing of all things, but we mur;nur not; you nail us to the cross, 
 in this we glory, for thus our master suffered; — you consign 
 us to the darkness and the stench of dungeons, but we return 
 good for evil, blessing for cursing, and kindness for insults, 
 injuries, and cruelties. These are the weapons by which we 
 fight; and be it known unto you, ye rulers of the earth, 
 that by these weapons we shall overcome." Gibbon, Voltaire, 
 and other Infidel historians, condemn this spirit as mean and 
 pusillanimous, which they ascribe to the degrading genius of 
 Christianity. But happy would it have been for the world, 
 and the church, had she always been animated by this spirit. 
 Here is true dignity, — here is genuine heroism: — 
 
 "The passive hero, that sits down inactive, 
 And smiles beneath aflliction's galling yoke, 
 Oiudoes a Caesar's toil." 
 
96 THE DESTINIES OP 
 
 Witness the gentleness, the sweetness of temper, the placid 
 dignity, with which the first martyrs endured the severest 
 torments, which struck their tormentors with astonishment, 
 and often proved the means of converting them to the faith 
 which they persecuted. Let us be careful to maintain and 
 exemplify this spirit at the present crisis. 
 
 Whatever may be the conduct of our rulers, or the nation 
 at large; whatever hardness of heart, impenitence, and insen- 
 sibility to impending judgments, may prevail in the world, or 
 in the church, and whether a proclamation for a general fast 
 should be issued from the throne or not; it is right, uud meet, 
 and the bounden duty of all real Christians, to weep in secret, 
 mingling their prayers with their tears, over the iniquities, 
 and for the calamities, of a guilty land. Thus Jesus wept over 
 Jerusalem, and said, "Oh, that thou hadst known, at least in this 
 the day of thy visitation, the things that belong to thy peace, 
 but now they are hid from thine eyes." Permit me to remind 
 you of the promise of divine and signal protection, made to 
 the weeping remnant, amidst imminent dangers, and fearful 
 calamities, which perhaps, before- we are aware, we may be 
 called to witness in this country. You will find it recorded 
 in the third chapter of EzekiePs prophecy: — "I looked," says 
 the prophet Ezekiel, "and behold, an hand was stretched forth 
 unto me, and lo, a roll of parchment was therein, and he spread 
 it before me, and it whs written within and without; and there 
 was written therein lamentation, and mourning, and woe. 
 Then said he unto me, hast thou read this, son of man? Is 
 it a light thing that they have committed all these abomina- 
 tions, and filled the land with violence, and have returned to 
 provoke me to anger? Therefore, will I deal in fury: my eye 
 shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they may 
 cry in my ear with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. 
 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, cause 
 them that have the charge over the city to draw near, every 
 man with a destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, 
 six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth 
 towards the north side of the city, and every man a slaughter- 
 weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed 
 with linen, with a writer's ink-horn by his side; and they 
 went in, and stood by the side of the brazen altar. And the 
 glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, 
 whereupon he was, to the threshold of tlic house. And he 
 called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's 
 ink-horn by his side, and the Lord said unto him, go through 
 the midst of the city, and set a mark upon the foreheads of 
 the men that sigh, and that cry, for all the abominations that 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 97 
 
 are done in the midst thereof. And to tlie others he said, in 
 mine hearing, go yc after him tiirougli the city, and smite: 
 let not your eyes spare, neither have ye pity, but come not 
 near any one upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanc- 
 tuary. And it came to pass, while they were slaying, and I 
 was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said. Ah, 
 Lord God! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in the 
 pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? Then said he unto 
 me, the iniquity of the house of Israel is exceeding great, the 
 land is full of perverseness; for they say the Lord hath for- 
 saken the earth, and tiie Lord seeth not. And as for me also, 
 I will recompense their way upon their head. And behold, 
 the man clothed with linen, which had the ink-horn by his 
 side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast 
 commanded me." If such judgment were inflicted upon Jeru- 
 salem, the city of the living God, what vengeance may we 
 not fear will be executed upon London in the day of her 
 visitation? if such calamities befell the Jewish nation, 
 the people of God, the portion of his inheritance, this 
 peculiar treasure, what may not be the desolation of the Eng- 
 lish nation in that day? and if judgment begin amongst us, as 
 it did amongst them, with the house of God, what shall be the 
 end of those \vho obey not the gospel? But blessed are they 
 who sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in the 
 land; the man with the writer's ink-horn has set upon them 
 the discriminating mark of divine protection. He who saved 
 Noah in the ark, when the deluge swept away its apostate 
 myriads; who set his mark upon righteous Lot, amidst the 
 deep and desperate wickedness of the cities of the plain, and 
 hrought him out of Sodom ere the fire was permitted to fall 
 from heaven and overwhelm its rebellious multitudes in a 
 deluge of flame; He will hide them under the shadow of his 
 wings, in the secret place of his pavilion,' and give the minis- 
 ters of his providence charge over them, to keep them in all 
 their ways. 
 
 All the faithful servants of God are under obligations, the 
 most sacred, at all times, but especially at the present crisis, 
 to promote, by every means in their power, the interest of all 
 those societies which characterize the age, and whose object it 
 is to spread the knowledge of the Saviour, both at home and 
 abroad. Among these noble institutions, the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society holds her rank, as queen in the gold of 
 Ophir. Her throne is founded in righteousness, the sceptre 
 of her kingdom is a right sceptre, and mercy and truth go 
 before her face. _ Learning, good sense, and piety are her 
 prime ministers; the mitre, the coronet, and the diadem, while 
 
 VOL. II.— 3S 
 
93 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 they adorn her palace, and grace her court, derive from her 
 smiles a lustre which the diamond never knew, a dignity which 
 imperial grandeur never could confer. Missionary Societies, 
 Continental Societies, Irish Evangelical Societies, Sabbath 
 Schools, and Jews' Societies, are the virgins, her companions, 
 that follow in her train. She unites all hearts, she throws 
 down all partition-walls, and speaks with a voice of majesty 
 and love, which will one day be heard commanding all nations 
 to break their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into 
 pruning-hooks. Her empire is the globe, her blessings extend 
 through immensity, and through eternity. Next in lank to the 
 Bible Society stands the whole body of Missionary Societies, 
 of all denominations, whose object it is to explain the contents 
 of that charter of eternal blessings, which the Bible Society 
 translates into all languages, and sends to all nations. Next in 
 order are the societies which are formed for'the relief, the con- 
 ciliation, and the conversion of the house of Israel. Next to 
 them in the esteem of every Englishman whose heart glows 
 with love to his country, are all those societies which are 
 formed for the amelioration and spiritual emancipation of poor 
 Ireland, whicli hangs as a dead weight upon the empire, threat- 
 ening her with convulsions, agony, and death. Nor must we 
 forget the Continental Society, calling upon those who fear 
 God in the Papacy to come out from the midst of her. And 
 last, though not the least, are the Sabbath Schools, formed for 
 the religious and moral improvement of the rising genei'ation, 
 both at home and abroad. These are not rival, but friendly 
 powers: not hostile to each other, but confederate against the 
 powers of darkness and sin. Though divided into various 
 battalions, and distinguished by their respective standards, like 
 the tribes of Israel in the wilderness, they are one army, yea, 
 one family. The cloud of glory covers them all, the king of 
 Zion is in the midst of them; and, at his command, the wilder- 
 ness shall be traversed, Jordan shall be driven back, the walls 
 of Jericho shall fall down, and the ark of the covenant of the 
 God of the whole earth shall enter into the possession of the 
 Gentiles. Why, then, should Ephraim envy Judah, or Judah 
 vex Ephraim? Why should there be any misunderstanding, 
 any jar or collision of interests, or any want of the most per- 
 fect union, good will, and kind co-operation among tliese ex- 
 cellent institutions? Po you, my friends, prove, by your si)irit 
 and conduct to all, that you arc the friends of all; remember- 
 ing the greatness of their object, and the good that they have 
 done, and may yet do, to their country and to the world. 
 
 Fervent and persevering prayer, ofl'cred up in steadfast and 
 unwavering faith in the divine promise, for the purifying in- 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 99 
 
 iluence of the Holy Spirit at this crisis, is the imperative duty 
 of all true Christians. I mean the prayer of the heart, the in- 
 working prayer, the prayer of strong faith; for if a man 
 (loubteth, he is like a wave of the sea, that is driven by the 
 wind, and tossed: let not that man think that he shall receive 
 any thing of the Lord. I mean the prayer of perseverance and 
 increasing importunity, like that of Jacob, when wrestling with 
 the redeeming angel of the covenant, and saying, 0, my Lord, 
 I will not let thee go, exce]:)t thou bless mc; and which is so 
 forciblv urged by our blessed Lord, upon his Apostles and all 
 his disciples, when he said, Ask and yc shall receive; and not 
 only so, but seek and ye shall find: and if you receive not and 
 find not, after asking and seeking, then, kindling into more 
 glowing ardours, knock until the door is opened; for he who 
 thus asketh shall receive, he who thus seeketh shall find, and 
 to him who thus knocketh it shall be opened; he shall receive 
 the Spirit, he shall find the Spirit, and the door of salvation 
 being opened, the plentiful efTusion of the Spirit shall be poured 
 upon him. That this is the blessing to which the Lord refers 
 is obvious from what follows; "If ye, being evil, know how 
 to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall 
 your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask 
 liim." I mean the prayer of solitude, like that of Peter on 
 the house-top; like that of Daniel wlien the angel Gabriel, fly- 
 ing swiftly, touched him about the time of the evening obla- 
 tion, saying, 0, Daniel, thou art greatly beloved; thy suppli- 
 cations are heard, and I am come forth to give thee skill and 
 understanding. Understand the matter, therefore, and consi- 
 der the vision." 
 
 In large public assemblies, the mind is so much distracted, 
 and the heart has so much to do with man, and so little to do 
 with God, I candidly confess that I can hope little from what 
 are called congregational prayers. I mean the secret, silent, 
 solemn prayer, that rises in tiie temple of a heart that feels it- 
 self with God, and feels its God in his own temple; Of the 
 efficacy of such prayers we have many instances in the holy 
 scriptures. I mean the social prayer of kindred hearts, unit- 
 ing in intense desire for some great blessing which God has 
 promised; like that little band, who continued with one accord 
 in praver and supplications, in an upper room at Jerusalem, 
 when suddenly tiie Holy Ghost descended from heaven, in a 
 visible form, and an audible manner, as a mighty rushing wind, 
 and became visible in the shape of fire, which appearance di- 
 vided itself into several distinct flames, and sat each upon the 
 l>eads of the apostles, who sj)ake as the Holy Ghost gave them 
 utterance. Tiiese visible emblems of the presence of the Di- 
 
IQQ THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 vine Majesty were attended with the renewinc;, sanctifying, 
 and saving influences of the Eternal Spirit. And, oh, what 
 glorious effects immediately followed, upon multitudes of 
 Jews in Jerusalem and in Judea, and devout men from every 
 nation under heaven; and when the door of mercy in the house 
 of Cornelius was opened to the Gentile world, upon the Gen- 
 tiles also was the same Divine Spirit poured in perhaps still 
 more abundant measure, when myriads of them pressed into 
 the kingdom of God, from the east and from the west, and 
 from the north and from the south, to sit down with Abraham, 
 with Isaac, and with Jacob. Such an outpouring of the Holy 
 Spirit we are warranted to expect at the commencement of the 
 millennial age; and a more abundant effusion of his holy influ- 
 ences than we have ever yet witnessed, is necessary to the sal- 
 vation of our country. For, until the Spirit is poured down 
 from on high, even the land of Emanuel will, produce nothing 
 but thorns and briers, which are nigh unto cursing, and whose 
 end is to be burned. Pray, then, brethren, without ceasing; 
 pray in faith, keeping a firm hold of the divine promise; pray 
 in secret, enter into your closet, shut the door upon you; and 
 pray to Him that seeth in secret, and let your heart constantly 
 ascend in silent, fervent supplication, to your father's throne; 
 forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, for retired 
 social prayer, as many do, and so much the more as ye see the 
 day approaching. Arid remember that, while the prayers of 
 the saints are ascending from the golden censer of the inter- 
 ceding angel, the seals are being opened, the vials are poured 
 out, the trumpets are pealing among the nations, and the Lord, 
 your Redeemer, is pushing on his conquests of mercy, amidst 
 the fall of nations and empires, until the kingdoms of this world 
 become the kingdom of our God, and of his Messiah, and he 
 shall reign for ever and ever. 
 
 The patrons, teachers, and superintendents of Sabbath 
 schools, have also an important service to perform at this criti- 
 cal juncture. Nations are composed of individuals and fami- 
 lies; whatever, therefore, tends to promote personal virtue, and 
 domestic order, is a blessing to the community; and as Sabbath 
 schools, when properly conducted, greatly facilitate the attain- 
 ment of these objects, they are entitled to universal patronage. 
 Their formation was coeval, or nearly so, with Missionary So- 
 cieties, which coincidence is a remarkable feature in the aspect 
 of the times. Their utility was perceived at once, while the 
 most pleasing anticipations were cherished of the results which 
 it was thought they would produce. It was said that in the 
 course of a few years, they would render criminal tribunals, 
 penal statutes, and the office of the executioner, unnecessary. 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. JQl 
 
 And, certainly, they have done much good, though all our 
 pleasing hopes are not realised. Serious objections have been 
 raised, and supported by plausible arguments, and are still 
 urged, with increased vehemence, against tiie expediency of 
 educating the lower classes of the community. It is said that 
 learning tends to raise the poor above the level of their condi- 
 tion; that it renders them discontented with the allotments of 
 Divine Providence; and what is worst of all, tliat it furnishes 
 them with power to do that mischief which they could not 
 have done had they been left to their native ignorance. In 
 confirmation of these arguments, they appeal to facts, — men- 
 tion numberless instances of juvenile ofienders, who have been 
 educated in Sabbath schools, and triumphantly ask, — Has not 
 juvenile delinquency increased, in proportion to the increase 
 of Sabbath schools, and juvenile instruction? Admitting all 
 this to be correct, all arguments against the instruction of the 
 ])oor may be answered by one consideration: that God has 
 given to man a revelation of his will in writing; it must, there- 
 fore, be right to teach the poor to read: to deny this, would be 
 to impugn the wisdom and the goodness of the author of that 
 revelation. It must, however, be conceded, that as man is 
 born in sin, and conceived in iniquity, to enlarge the capacity 
 of the human mind by education is to enlarge the sphere of 
 depravity, and to increase the power of doing evil; conse- 
 quently, that the education of either the higher or the lower 
 classes must always be a dangerous experiment; unless, in pro- 
 portion to the enlargement of the capacity, and the advance of 
 education, you can throw in the correcting and restraining 
 principles of religion and morality. This is a very serious 
 consideration, and demands the attention, especially, of all the 
 acting members of Sabbath schools. 
 
 There are now between ^wo and three millions of children 
 in the schools belonging to the three kingdoms, whose minds 
 are laid open, by the teaching which they receive in those in- 
 stitutions, to the poison of Infidelity; for if they w^ere not 
 taught to read the Bible, they would not be able to read the 
 Infidel and Atheistical publications of the day. This prodi- 
 gious machine must operate with great effect, and produce 
 either much good or much evil; Infidels are aware of this, 
 and, knowing that knowledge is power, they are waiting to 
 seize it, and drive it with an irresistible impetus, against the 
 existing order of things. The business of the tcacliers and 
 superintendents of Sabbath schools is to keep hold of this ma- 
 chine, and to retain the direction of it as long as possible. Let 
 it- be your constant object, my dear brethren, to secure all the 
 good of these excellent institutionsj and guard against the 
 38^* 
 
2Q2 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 abuses to which they are liable. For this purpose, labour to 
 impress upon the opening mind a deep and an habitual sense 
 of the sacred ness of the Lord's day. Nothing operates as a 
 more powerful restraint upon the evil passions of the human 
 heart, than a holy reverence for the institutions of the Sab- 
 bath; and nothing tends more to demoralize a nation profess- 
 ing Christianity, than to weaken and destroy that reverence. 
 Suppose the Lord's day were levelled and made common with 
 the other days of the week, would there be no ground to fear 
 that religion and morality would soon become extinct? What- 
 ever tends to secularize the Sabbath in the associations of the 
 juvenile mind, should be carefully avoided. Teaching writing 
 and arithmetic on the sacred hours of this day has this ten- 
 dency, and in a thousand instances has been productive of the 
 most pernicious effects, by laying the mind open to the insinu- 
 ations, and preparing it to receive the principles, of Infidelity. 
 Even teaching reading is a secular employment, and should 
 be avoided if possible; to this end it would be desirable to 
 establish week-day Schools, in the districts of the Sabbath 
 Schools, for teaching the children to read, preparatory to their 
 receiving religious instruction only on the Lord's day. At 
 any rate, the whole time devoted to instruction should be so 
 employed as to correspond with the sanctity of the day, and to 
 make the children see and feel, that they are then as much en- 
 gaged in the service df God, as though they were joining in 
 the public worship of the sanctuary in his own house. Re- 
 niember that your schools are exclusively religious societies; 
 they originated in religious principles; and the inculcation of 
 pure and undefilcd religion is their immediate and their ulti- 
 mate object. If the condition of the poor be ameliorated, if 
 the tone of public morals be raised, and the vital interests of 
 the community be advanced, you know how to appreciate these 
 blessed effects, and to whom the glory is to be ascribed: but they 
 are not the end you have in view; they are advantages flowing 
 indirectly from your labours of love, but they are not your 
 grand ultimatum. They may be compared to the blessings, 
 which a band of angels may be supposed to shed from their 
 wings, as they pass over the regions of corruption and death, 
 bearing the heirs of immortality to the bosom of their God. 
 Like those ministering spirits, your eye must be fixed on eter- 
 nity; like them you labour for eternity; and, in the salvation 
 of the heirs of glory, your labours, like their's, will terminate. 
 In every child under your instruction, there is a germ of more 
 value than a world, to be unfolded in eternity, it may be, into 
 the powers of an angel of light. God has sown the precious 
 seed; he has done his part: pastor, parent, teacher, do thine, 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 1()3 
 
 and let all remember that it is not the will of your Father that 
 one of these little ones should perish. Delii^iitful task, to rear 
 the tender thought; to plant a fence around it, to shield it from 
 the blast of hell; to watch it, to water it, and to superintend 
 its growth, unfold its beauties, and ditfuse its fragrance in the 
 heavenly Paradise. While thus discharging your oiTices of 
 love, lifting up your hearts to God in fervent prayer for a 
 divine influence, you are rendering the most important ser- 
 vices to your country, and your God. 
 
 I must now request the attention of my beloved and honour- 
 ed brethren in the Ministry. Awful is the responsibility that 
 attaches to your office, and to the station which you occupy, 
 A watchman sleeping on his post, endangers his own life, and 
 the safety of the citadel. On the vigilance of the military 
 watchman often depends the security of the whole army, and, 
 under certain circumstances, it may be, the destiny of his 
 country. But a charge of higher import demands the atten- 
 tion of the spiritual watchman; to his care is committed the 
 salvation of immortal souls, that must for ever live in raptures 
 or in woe, and the welfare of the church of God, to whose in- 
 terests the revolutions of states and empires are subservient. 
 Permit me, affectionately and seriously, to remind you of the 
 solemn charge recorded in the thirty-third chapter of the pro- 
 phecies of Ezekiel. "The word of the Lord came unto the 
 prophet, saying, Son of Man, speak to the children of thy peo- 
 ple, and say unto them, when 1 bring the sword upon the land, 
 if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set 
 him for their watchman; if, when he seeth the sword come 
 upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people, then 
 whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not 
 warning, if the sword come and take him off, his blood shall 
 be upon his own head; but he that taketh warning shall de- 
 liver his own soul. But if the watchman see the sword 
 come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not-warn- 
 ed; if the sword come, and take them away in their iniquity, 
 I will require their blood at the watchman's hand. So thou, 
 Son of Man, I have set Thee as a watchman unto the house 
 of Israel; therefore, thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, 
 and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, 
 wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to 
 warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man sliall die ia 
 his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Never- 
 theless if thou warn the wicked man of his way to turn from 
 it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; 
 i)ut thou hast delivered thy soul." This solemn admonition, 
 primarily addressed to the prophet Ezekiel, admits of an im- 
 
JQ4 THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 portant application to the ministers of the gospel, in this coun- 
 try, at the present momentous crisis. It rings an alarm in the 
 ears of British pastors, louder than a peal of seven thunders. 
 God! my heart fainteth, my flesh trembleth, because of thy 
 judgments. Let not thy indignation kindle against us, nor thy 
 terrible glory make us afraid, but let the light of thy counte- 
 nance shine upon us, and pour into our hearts the softening 
 and the purifying, influences of thy Holy Spirit, that we may 
 both save ourselves, and them that hear us, for Jesus Christ's 
 sake, Amen. 
 
 Finally, in order to escape the calamities with which we are 
 threatened, fialional repentance and reformation are indispensa- 
 bly necessary. Individuals must be duly affected with a sense 
 of their personal transgressions. A nation is a society of in- 
 dividuals, united by one form of government, and by the same 
 code of laws. Of such a society, every individual is a con- 
 stituent member; we cannot, therefore, think of national sins, 
 without viewing them as committed by the persons of whom 
 the nation is composed. They become national, when perpe- 
 trated by, or acceded to, by the great mass of the people, or 
 at least, by the leading part of the nation. When this is the 
 case, every man, except so far as he does his utmost to check 
 their progress, is concerned in the guilt, and exposed to the 
 punishment. Therefore, when the Lord calls a nation, groan- 
 ing under public calamities, or threatened with still heavier 
 judgments, to repentance and reformation, and prescribes the 
 nature of that repentance which he will accept; he declares that 
 "they shall be on the mountains, like doves of the vallies, all 
 of them mourning, every one for his own iniquity."* 
 
 Nor is it sufficient, that individuals view their own iniqui- 
 ties as contributing to the accumulation of the general guilt. 
 Every man ought to consider the active hand which he has 
 had, in conjunction with others, in the national trespasses. Can 
 we really view the rejection of the gospel, as a national ini- 
 quity, without being conscious of our partnership in this fear- 
 ful guilt, by our perversion and abuse of this high and sacred 
 privilege, by our unbelief and impenitence under this glorious 
 dispensation of grace and mercy? Can we sincerely lament 
 them ournful prevalence of every species of iniquity, without 
 remembering how little we have done to stem the torrent, by 
 our fervent prayers, faithful warnings, and holy example? The 
 God of nations, the searcher of hearts, condemns all profes- 
 sions of public repentance, as deceitful and unacceptable to him, 
 if they are not attended with this personal contrition. "I 
 hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright, no man re- 
 * Ezekiel vii. 10. 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 105 
 
 pented him of his own wickedness, saving, alas! what have I 
 done?"* 
 
 An united and public confession of national sins, by all orders 
 of the community, is also required. Therefore, when the 
 JNIost High would reduce his apostate and rebellious people to 
 ])enitence, he commands that all ranks of persons should meet 
 in a solemn assembly for confession, humiliation, and prayer. 
 "Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the 
 elders, gather tlie children, and those tliat suck the breast. 
 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the 
 porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people, Lord, 
 and give not thy heritage to reproach."! Thus Nehemiah, in 
 the midst of an immense concourse of people, particularly 
 confessed the guilt of persons of all ranks in Israel. "Neither 
 have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept 
 thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments, and thy 
 testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. For 
 they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great 
 goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fruitful 
 land whicli thou gavest before them, neither turned they from 
 their wicked works."i 
 
 This united and public humiliation, for the sins of all orders 
 of the community, must be attended with the confession of 
 former iniquities, or the iniquities of our fathers. We become 
 heirs of the guilt of our ancestors, by our own personal trans- 
 gressions, by continuing in the practice of the same sins, or of 
 others that resemble them. In this case, "we sin with our 
 fathers; or, like them, we prove a stifl'necked and rebellious 
 race." National sin is represented, by the Holy Spirit, as a 
 swelling tide, which rises higher and higher, by the transgres- 
 sion of the children adding to the iniquity of their fathers. 
 "Our iniquities are increased over our heads." It is compared 
 to the growth of a poisonous tree, which becomes taller and 
 stronger every year, till at length it hides its top in tbccl-ouds: 
 — "Our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. "§ When chil- 
 dren walk in the steps of their fathers, the guilt is accumulated, 
 and the cry for vengeance waxes louder and louder. This 
 augmentation of national guilt is represented by the growth of 
 man, from infancy to maturity; or described, at least, as some- 
 thing growing up with him. In this manner, the guilt of a 
 nation is fearfully augmented by the active rebellion of one 
 generation after another: — "We have sinned against the Lord 
 our God," saith the prophet Jeremiah, "we and our fathers, 
 from our youth up even unto this day. "|| The guilt of chil- 
 
 "* Jeremiah viii. 6. - t Joel ii. 10, 17. * Xehemiali ix. 31, 35, § Ezra i.v. G. 
 li Jeremiah iii. 25. 
 
IQQ THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 dren is more aggravated than that of their fathers, if they con- 
 tinue in the same ungodly courses, hecause the conduct of 
 their fathers is held up to them as a beacon, to deter them from 
 following their wicked example. For thus saith the Lord, 
 "Behold it is written before me, I will not keep silence, but 
 wmII recompense, even recompense into their bosom, your ini- 
 quities and the iniquities of your fathers together." But why 
 recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their 
 ofispring? Because they continued in the same sins: — "Your 
 fathers have burnt incense upon the mountains, and ye have 
 blasphemed me upon the hills, therefore will I measure their 
 work into your bosom."* Thus our Lord informs the Phari- 
 sees, in a passage which we have before cited, that by rejecting 
 the gospel and persecuting his Apostles, they would fill up the 
 measure of their fathers' iniquity, and bring upon themselves 
 all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of 
 righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias, whom they slew be- 
 tween the porch and the altar. 
 
 An united and cordial application by faith and penitence, to 
 the great atonement of the Son of God, is also indispensable; 
 this is intimated to us by the typical ordinance of the great day 
 of atonement. In the solemnities of that day, the High Priest 
 was to lay both his hands upon the head of the typical victim, 
 and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, 
 and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon 
 the head of the goat, and to send him away into the wilder- 
 ness. Thus a whole community ought not only to confess their 
 transgressions, but, in the exercise of faith and penitence, to 
 transfer them over to him, who is the propitiation for the sins 
 of a whole world, and who was typified and prefigured by all 
 the sacrifices of that solemn day, that they might be no more 
 remembered. Such is the evangelical nature of that- repen- 
 tance which will characterize the Jewish nation in the last day, 
 or at the time of the end, after their restoration to the land of 
 their fathers; and which is so beautifully described by the 
 prophet Zechariah. "And it shall come to pass in that day, 
 saith the Lord, that I will pour upon the house of David, and 
 the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of suppli- 
 cation. And they sliall look upon me whom they have pierced, 
 (and has not Britain pierced and crucified him afresh?) and 
 they shall mourn for him as one mourncth for his only son, 
 and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness 
 for his first-born. In that day, there shall be a great mourn- 
 ing in Jerusalem, as the mourning of lladadrimmon in the 
 valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family 
 * Isaiah Ixv. G, 7. 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 107 
 
 apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives 
 apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives 
 apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives 
 apart; the family of Shemei apart, and their wives apart; all 
 the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives 
 apart. 
 
 National repentance must be followed by national reforma- 
 tion: all repentance without this is, in the language of scrip- 
 ture, holding fast deceit, and refusing to return. Observe once 
 more, that this is the only possible way of obtaining either de- 
 liverance from the judgments with which we are threatened, or 
 an alleviation of our punishment. Thus the Lord speaks by 
 the prophet Jeremiah: "If so be they will hearken, and turn 
 every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil 
 which I proposed to do unto them, because of the evil of their 
 doings."* Indeed, the Lord is so full of compassion, and so 
 unwilling to destroy, that he hath often averted impending 
 judgments from a guilty people, when their reformation was 
 only of an external kind. Although the penitence of the Nine- 
 vites was only outward and transient, like the morning cloud 
 and the early dew that passeth away, yet the Lord spared 
 them. God saw their works; "that they turned from their 
 evil way; and God repented him of the evil that he said he 
 would do unto them, and he did it not."t But this kind of 
 reformation is not attended by a removal of the Lord's indig- 
 nation. He may suspend the stroke, but he does not avert it 
 altogether. "For all this, his anger is not turned away," says 
 the prophet, *'but his hand is stretched out still." The punish- 
 ment is not remitted; it is only suspended for a time; and, we 
 may add, the longer judgments are delayed, the heavier will be 
 the visitation. Thus it is declared, "If ye will not be reform- 
 ed by these things, but will'walk contrary unto me, then will 
 I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you seven times 
 for your iniquities.":|: "Although an individual or a nation 
 break off their sins by an outward righteousness, and their ini- 
 quity by shewing mercy to the poor, yet it is only a lengthen- 
 ing out of their tranquillity. "§ This was the case with Nineveh, 
 and its guilty inhabitants. For although the JNIost High 
 sjjarcd the city at that time, when they outwardly repented at 
 the preaching of the prophet Jonah, yet he destroyed it not 
 long after, as was particularly foretold in the prophecies of 
 Nahum. Such is the nature of that repentance and reforma- 
 tion, which affords the only ground to hope for the preservation 
 of our country, amidst the wreck of nations which will cer- 
 
 * Jeremiah xxvi. 3. t Jonah iii. 10. t Leviticus xxvi- 23. 
 
 § Daniel iv. 27. 
 
IQg THE DESTINIES OF 
 
 tainly precede the Millennium. If such a moral regeneration 
 of the empire should be effected as that which the Sovereign 
 of the world demands, before he repents of the evil which he 
 has threatened, and withdraws the denunciation of his wrath; 
 if the fatal chain that links her destiny to that of the Papal 
 empire should be completely severed; and if Britain should be 
 brought to bow to the sceptre of the King of kings and Lord 
 of lords, she may then survive the general overthrow, and, 
 though her chastisements may be severe, she may yet be hon- 
 oured as the grand instrument in the hands of Providence to 
 accomplish the purposes of eternal love and mercy to a guilty 
 world. If not, the decree is past, and her ruin is irrevocably 
 sealed. Let every man, therefore, be active in the station 
 where God has placed him, in promoting the reformation of 
 others to the utmost extent of his authority, his influence, and 
 his example. Should the nation still continue impenitent and 
 obdurate in wickedness, yet, as individuals professing to wit- 
 ness against the defections, both of former and of present times, 
 let us return unto the Lord by searching out every man the 
 plague of his own heart, and saying, in deep contrition, what 
 have I done? Thus you will, at least, deliver your own souls, 
 and the Lord will spare you in the day of public calamity. 
 Be also earnest in prayer, that he may bring others to repent- 
 ance, that he may turn the nation to himself, rending their 
 hearts and not their garments, and that he may turn from the 
 fierceness of his anger. Pray that the Lord may give you the 
 same spirit which animated and melted the weeping prophet, 
 and that his language miay be really yours: "Oh, that my head 
 were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
 weep day and night for the sins of the daughter of my people." 
 Thus will you enjoy the blessedness and protection of those 
 who sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in the 
 land, and on whose foreheads the protecting angel has affixed 
 the seal of the living God. 
 
 To conclude, — AH the prophets of the Old Testament, and 
 the prophets of the Apocalypse, close their commissions, and 
 take their leave of the church of God, amidst tlie glories of the 
 Millennium: and amidst these glories I would close these lec- 
 tures, and take my leave of you, my dear brethren, this 
 evening. This is the restitution of all things of which all the 
 prophets have spoken since the world began, and of which 
 transported in the visions of the Almighty through revolving 
 ages to this l)lcsscd consummation, and seeing the accomplish- 
 ment of their own predictions, sung in strains of heavenly 
 harmony; to which the rise and fall, the convulsions and revo- 
 lutions, of kingdoms and empires, arc all subordinate, and in 
 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. JQQ 
 
 which they will all terminate; for which all nature stands, — 
 the sun rules the day, and the moon and stars govern the 
 night, the earth performs its annual and diurnal course, the 
 tide ebhs and flows, and the stars of heaven move in their re- 
 spective spheres; for which the whole creation, laden with the 
 bondage of human corruption, says the apostle, '"groans and 
 travails in pain together until now;" and for which the Divine 
 Majesty became incarnate, veiled his glory, died, rose again, 
 and ascended in human nature to the throne of supreme and 
 universal dominion, to direct, control, and overrule, all events, 
 until the mystery of God is finished and unfolded. Then the 
 Lord of hosts himself shall reign upon mount Zion, and in Je- 
 rusalem, before his ancients gloriously. The light of the moon 
 shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of one day shall 
 be the light of seven days; the veil shall be removed from 
 the heart of the house of Israel, and the death-covering from 
 the face of all nations — Jews and Gentiles, turning to the Lord, 
 as the heart of one man, shall behold his glory, and be changed 
 into the same image, from glory to glory, and the whole 
 earth shall be filled with his glory; heavenly love, and 
 peace, and harmony, shall reign in every bosom; discord shall 
 cease among individuals, and nations shall learn war no more; 
 "all seasons shall be Avoven into one, and that one season an 
 eternal spring; the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard 
 shall lie down with the kid, the cow and the bear shall feed 
 together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, the sucking child 
 shall play with the asp, the weaned child shall run in and out 
 of the cockatrice den; they shall not hurt nor destroy in this 
 holy mountain, or empire of love, for the knowledge of the 
 Lord, and the glory of the Lord, shall cover the earth as the 
 waters cover the sea. 
 
 Oh, how mine eyes long to see the wonders of that 
 day! Arise, oh, King of Grace, arise! Gird thy sword 
 upon thy thigh, oh most Mighty, with thy glory an'd 
 
 MAJESTY, ascend THY CHARIOT OF SALVATION, AND RIDE ON 
 prosperously, BECAUSE OF MEEKNESS, TRUTH, AND RIGHTE- 
 OUSNESS; MAKE THE NATIONS WILLING IN THE DAY OF THY 
 power; GO FORTH FROM CONQUERING, STILL TO CONQUER, 
 UNTIL THY LOYAL SUBJECTS SURPASS IN NUMBER AND IN BRIL- 
 LIANCY THE DROPS OF MORNING DEW. CoME, LoKD JeSUS, 
 
 co-AiE quickly; why does my Lord delay his coming? Why 
 
 TARRY THE WHEELS OF HIS CHARIOT? BeHOLD, SAITH THE 
 
 Lord, I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord 
 Jesus. 
 
 vofc. II. — 39 
 
,;i;i;:i 
 
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