different conditions of men throughout all the earth; the king would not be happy if he were a subject, and the subject would be as far from happiness if he were a king. The master would not be happy a servant, neither would the servant be happy a master, except his training had prepared him previously for the change. But God hath given to every man the material in his own nature and in his own circumstances, out of which, by obedience to His will, he can make himself perfectly happy, whatever be his condition or rank in life; and this is true equality, the only equality that can be attained with God's approval; and they are but filthy dreamers, who teach men to seek their happiness by pulling down those ranks and gradations of the social state, which are essential to the life, the health, and the vigour of the whole body.

The history of the visible church commences with the life of Abraham, and unto him God declared the end from the beginning. When the Lord called Abram He said unto him, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. xii. 1-3.) This promise applies to the Jewish nation; it was 1921 years before Christ that God spake thus unto Abram; and 1921 years after Christ, in the year 1903, the Jewish nation, when God has gathered them together from all quarters of the earth, shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The promise also applies to the whole redeemed family, of whom Abraham gave one-tenth unto Melchizedek, king of

Righteousness and Peace, these being they who shall compose that great kingdom, which shall be set up on the earth in the last days.

The history of God's kingdom and dominion over all the earth commences with the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who besieged Jerusalem, and led the Jewish nation captive, and unto whom was given dominion unto the end of the earth, God's chosen nation being made subject unto him. In his case, God was also declaring the end from the beginning, He having made known to Nebuchadnezzar what should be in the latter days. The king saw two dreams; the first, which passed from his mind, but which God revealed unto Daniel in a night vision, was an outline of the history of the world till the end of time. The second, which he remembered, was concerning himself as the head of the great image; and what happened to him was a figure of the comparative degradation of mankind, from thence, until God would set up that glorious kingdom in this world of which his was but typical. What the kingdoms, and nations, and kindreds, and tongues, and people of the earth are to be even in this life, is a state as far exceeding in honour and glory what they have ever yet been, as the state of Nebuchadnezzar when restored to the use of his reason, the glory of his kingdom, his honour and brightness, excelled his state of degradation when driven from men and made to eat grass as oxen, his body being wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagles' and his nails like birds'. Nebuchadnezzar was seven times or seven years in that degraded state; the transaction is figurative of the history of mankind. The seven times are 2520 years, reckoned from the time when Nebuchadnezzar

was restored to the use of his reason, 562 years before Christ, until the first year of Christ's universal reign upon the earth, the year 1939. From Nebuchadnezzar's restoration until the pope's era is a period of 1168 years; from thence, the year 606, the years in fulfilment of prophecy are 360 days each; so that from 606 till 1939, which is in prophetic reckoning 1958, is a period of 1352 years, which, when added to 1168, make in all 2520 years. His hairs grew like eagles'; so it is written, the first great beast which came up out of the sea was like a lion and had eagles' wings. His nails grew like birds'; so also it is written that the third beast had four wings of a fowl upon the back of it. The occasion of his being so dealt with was his refusal to give God all glory, and his opposing and exalting himself against God; for "the king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men." (Dan. iv. 30-32.) The sin of mankind has been "that when they knew God they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful: but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping

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things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." (Rom. i. 21-25.) Among those under the dominion of the beast, having seven heads and ten horns, social and religious improvement is a moral impossibility. Men forget in their calculations the moral element in a man's nature, the proper cultivation and full exercise of which towards God and his fellow-men, can alone crown him with honour and glory. Hence the European nations are also divided into three states; while all of them are in literature, arts, and science much superior to the tribes of Asia and Africa, and have also comparatively a clearer moral perception; still they differ from one another most materially in point of social and political privileges; and they differ in these external matters, in exact proportion to the extent in which they differ in the possession and practice of true religion. The first state comprises Austria, Hungary, Sardinia, Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Rome. The second state comprises the northern states of Germany, France, and Switzerland. The third state Great Britain and Ireland. During the latter days there will be manifest a similar comparative difference in these several states; the first shall then be glorious, the second shall be much more glorious, and the third shall be most glorious. In the ascent upward the distinction is preserved, for in the highest of these states there will be other three states in one. Ireland shall be the first state, and she shall be happy and glorious. England shall be the second state, and she shall be much more happy and glorious. Scot

land shall be the third state, and she shall be most happy and glorious. Each of the three shall be only comparatively different in their degrees of happiness and glory; they shall each be as happy and as glorious as they are capable of being made in this life. We shall now return and trace the history of these several states as revealed in prophecy.

Dan. xi. 18. "After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many." This refers to the missions undertaken by the Romish church to parts of the world beyond Europe, with the view of making up for the loss of those in Europe, who did not stand on the side of the pope, neither was for him, at the time of the reformation. "To repair in some measure this very great loss, the popes have laboured much more earnestly than their predecessors had done, to extend the bounds of their kingdom out of Europe, both among the nations not christian, and among the christian sects. In this very important business, first the Jesuits, and afterwards persons of the other monastic orders, have been employed. Yet if we except the achievements of Francis Xavier and his associates in India, China, and Japan, which have been already noticed, very little that is great and splendid was accomplished in this (the sixteenth) century, the arrangements for this business being not yet perfected." (Mosh. vol. iii. p. 249.) "The arduous efforts commenced by the Roman pontiffs in the preceding century, (the sixteenth,) for extending the christian church, and thus exalting and enlarging the glory and majesty of the Romish see, were in this century placed upon a permanent and solid basis; whereas, before, they had been tottering and ill-supported. In the first place, Gregory XV., at the instiga