Waymarks in the Wilderness and Scriptural Guide

sion that the times of Daniel and John will end, and that Christ will come that year. While many who have been long established in the old theory will feel disturbed, and perhaps some of them much aggrieved, at this view of the subject, I am persuaded that, if they live long, they will be truly grateful for a work which will plant their feet on a rock-the plain, obvious, and grammatical reading of the book of God.”

This is welcomed as an expression of what is taking place in the minds of many millenarians, and because it may lead many more to examine the whole subject anew, with what results we have little doubt. The satisfaction with which we witness the renunciation of this baseless fancy, which has so long and so strangely dominated over the whole exposition of prophecy, is not only that it will clear up the whole field of inquiry, but that it will take away much that now practically removes our blessed hope into the distance, and so strips it of power to comfort or purify, and will render it really a precious because a present hope. Practically, it must be a very different thing to be calculating the date of His coming, occupying ourselves with a series of great events which are supposed to intervene, and to be waiting for our gathering together unto Him, under the conviction that it may take place any day, and that nothing but the long-suffering of God delays it even for one day. It may, indeed, be asked, But are there not great things in the prophecies which must be fulfilled before His glory is revealed? Yes, all these seals remain to be opened, these trumpets are yet to sound, these vials. are yet to be poured out. But it is not for these we are waiting, but for the sound of that trump of God

at whose voice the dead in Christ will rise, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and it behooves us to inquire where alone we can obtain information-whether this does not take place before a single seal is opened.

In reply to the question, Where are we in the course of prophecy? we answer, Just where we hear the Lord's voice still saying to us, "Surely I come quickly." Oh! that we were lovingly and unceasingly responding, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" If it were so, how loosely should we sit to this world! How calm should we be under its afflictions! How superior to its charms! How should we look down upon all its gilded pageants, yearning, indeed, in sorrow over the giddy multitudes beguiled by it on the way to death, but our hearts filled with the remembrance of those sweet words which Jesus left as His closing testimony, to abide in all its assurance and power upon our spirits: "He which testifieth these things saith, SURELY I COME QUICKLY.' Does He not let out all His heart in the utterance ? tr Surely," He says, "Surely I come quickly!" In the joy of His anticipation of then receiving His bride, He says, "Surely I come quickly." Oh! that there were some suitable response on our part to the affection of our heavenly Lord and Bridegroom! May the Spirit in us and in all saints respond, and that in the fulness of divine life and love, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"