are already manifested in every part of his eloquent and powerful writings.

His comprehensive range of prophecy is not restricted to the Jewish Church, but, like that of St. John's, it is also addressed to the rulers of his people and to the kingdoms of the world.

Isaiah is supposed to have been a man of noble birth and of royal descent. The lofty tone of his discourses, and the undaunted manner in which he denounces the most fearful judgments against the wickedness of the rulers of his own nation, show him to have been a man eminently endowed by nature and by inspiration for the dignified and commanding position which he occupied in the Jewish Church.

With what tenderness does he entreat his people to walk in the law of their God, setting before them the evils that must befall them if they depart from his ways, and giving vent to his deep sorrow on account of the frequent apostacy of the nation! He proclaims the severe chastisements of God against their idolatry; he utters the punishment of captivity as the consequence of such an offence in the sight of God, and shows them the severe bondage to other nations to which it will inevitably reduce them.

But he never separates himself from the interests of his people. In his prophetic warnings and encouragements he goes with them in their captivity, and consoles them with hopes of deliverance. He sits down and weeps with them by the rivers of Babylon, while the silent harp hangs upon the pendant willow. His soul is filled with anguish because of the sufferings of his people, and with indignation at the mockery and contumely with which they are treated by their enemies. His noble spirit, chafed and wounded, rises and swells with indignation against the oppressors. He asserts the deliverance of his people-calls upon them to turn unto God, and cry to the Most High for help. He assures them that he who hath wounded will heal again, he who hath broken will bind again. Then, turning to their proud oppres

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sors, he flings the wrathful denunciations of heaven in the face of Egypt and Babylon-those incorrigible tyrants of the earth, whose cruel power had crushed and ground his people to the very dust, and, in terms of profound indignation, he dooms them to the unerring retribution of a just and an avenging God.

Foreseeing the downfall of all these kingdoms, that so frequently oppressed and plundered his nation, and the return of all Israel unto God, and to the inheritance of their fathers, he utters in strains of triumph the consummation of their glory, in the language of the forty-ninth chapter of his prophecy. There his full soul swells with joy, as he proclaims the unequalled glories which will distinguish the Jewish people on that day.

Before we leave this subject, it will be worth while to hear this noble prophet of Israel, in the remarkable manner in which he speaks of the various means by which the Jews will return to their ancient possessions. He says: Thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. The camels and the dromedaries shall cover thee, (these were the means of travel in the prophet's time,) and the ships of Tarshish shall bring thy sons from afar, &c. (another mode of travel, where the great western sea-the Mediterranean-affords the opportunity.) But still another mode of conveyance passes before his view in this great panorama of a nation's emigration, not paralleled by any former custom of travelling known to the world; and as the prophet looks upon it, he exclaims, in the language of surprise: Who are these that fly as a cloud! and as the doves to their windows; (or places of rest;) as if he had said: camels and dromedaries and ships, we know, but what is this? moving like a cloud, stately and swiftly over the face of the waters! Had the prophet a glimpse of our great ocean-steamers, which, when enveloped in their smoke and steam, have very much the appearance of a cloud as it floats along the face of the sky? Another feature he describes, in this new method of

travel they fly as doves to their window-alluding, probably, to that species of the dove which we call the wild pigeon; remarkable for the swiftness of its flight, and moving through the air as if without effort, in prodigious long lines. What figure could be employed more appropriately than this, to express the long rail-road train of cars, and the ease and swiftness with which they fly over the earth?

The Christian prophet gives a full description of these wonderful modes of travel, in the tenth chapter of the Revelations, and I have no doubt they will be chiefly the means by which the Jews will be transported to their own country. If so, this discovery of steam-power has in itself much that is prophetic.

But it is time for us to resume the discourse of our Christian prophet. Having announced the drying up of the Euphrates as an event under the sixth vial, of the greatest moment, because of what was to follow it, he takes a short retrospect of the political state of Christendom, and shows what agents and influences have predominated over the kingdoms of the earth, and the subjection they were under to those influences.

13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

14. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

These unclean spirits, as the prophet denominates them, had their origin in three distinct sources. He represents them as coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false

prophet, and by these spirits, acting sometimes singly and at other times conjointly, the kings of the earth, and finally of the whole world, are led, or drawn into measures which ultimately produced their overthrow.

The dragon must be regarded, from the history already quoted, as nothing else but popery in its persecuting character. The beast is the two-horned beast, or popery in the possession, or struggling to maintain the great temporal power which it held for 666 years; and the false prophet will be found in the image of the beast! the most indefatigable teachers and propagators of the false religion, which were ever engaged in the service of popery. They were, also, the most unblushing pretenders to miracle-working, and, taking them all together, the most disagreeable and pertinacious obtruders into state and domestic secrets. They contrived to become the instructors of the noble and wealthy families of Europe, and the confessors of kings and princes, as well as of all the inferior orders of society. It is to this particular relation of intimacy with all classes of men, and all orders of government, which they held, that the prophet refers, when he says they are like frogs!-he means the frogs of Egypt-sent as a judgment upon that land.

In the first place, the frogs of Egypt were exceedingly numerous, they were over all the land, and they were also most disgustingly present, even in the culinary vessels, as well as in the kneading trough and the bed-chamber! Their pertinacious obtrusiveness led them into every secret place and apartment of domestic life. The resemblance between the three spirits and the frogs, in this respect is very striking. It is found in the intimate knowledge with which the church may possess itself of all domestic and state secrets, by means of auricular confession. This is well known to be a peculiarity of the Church of Rome, by which the priest may learn the most important secrets of state, and have it in his power to defeat the profoundest schemes of diplomatic policy. To what other cause than this can we ascribe

the frequent expulsion of the Jesuits from some of the most powerful governments of Europe? The confessional was

more dreaded by many of the crowned heads than insurrection, or an invading army, because the secrets of every cabinet were within its reach; and the words which the king uttered in his bed-chamber to-day might to-morrow be whispered in the confessional! The same may be said of all the domestic relations of life, from the kneading trough, or the kitchen, to the bed-chamber! In these respects the resemblance between the prying and obtrusive frogs of Egypt and the spirit which came out of the mouth of the false prophet, is striking enough.

I am not discussing the merits of auricular confession. It is a peculiarity of the Church of Rome, which she deems useful to her interests, and I admit that, if used in a strictly religious way, it may be most advantageously employed in promoting spiritual instruction and comfort; but, at the same time, all must be convinced that it lays open to the priesthood all those matters of state policy and domestic interest which the safety of the one and the peace and harmony of the other require should be sacredly private. But let us now look into the manner in which those three unclean spirits exercised so great an influence over the kings of the earth.

The few very brief references that have been made to history on these subjects, have been sufficient to show that the kings or powers of Europe that were in league with Popery have oppressed and persecuted the Christians of the Reformation, at the instigation or by the command of the Pope. Even their own subjects, as in France and Germany, as well as in other countries, have been punished and destroyed in the most barbarous manner by the authority of Rome. The crusades, too, afford a striking exemplification of the force of that influence. These fanatical wars were got up and prose. ented for the purpose of extending the authority of Popery, and by them whole countries were laid waste, and multitudes of people perished by the sword, and by pestilence and