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spread of light in these latter days; and if so little comparative progress has been made in this highly favoured country during 300 years, is there not a danger in holding out an expectation, that the day of the Lord will not come until all are converted?

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What have we seen from the mass of evidence which I have produced this evening as to the character of the dispensation in which we live? Does it not speak in a voice of thunder, The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Remember it was pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness," which led to the destruction of Sodom; it was pride of privilege, and resting in externals, which led to the rejection of Israel! Be not then wise in your own conceits. Look at Israel-look and learn not to boast, "for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee."

Again: We have seen that the dispensation of grace in these latter times is not to nations but to individuals-one of a city, and two of a family. The whole field is purchased, yea, the whole may be ploughed up and sown; but there will be tares and thorns to the very last; and the angels, the reapers, will separate the one from the other in the time of harvest, when the wheat shall be gathered into the garner, and the tares be bound

in bundles for the burning! Oh, I beseech you, seek more and more to realize the individuality of religion. "To his own Master he standeth or falleth." In vain are you a member of a church whose faith is sound and Scriptural; in vain do you connect yourself with sects and parties; in vain do you enjoy the society of the excellent of the earth, if your own heart is not right with God!

Once more: What is the close of the Gentile day? Apostacy-" Perilous times shall come"*Men shall deny the Lord that bought them-Men shall be scoffers, walking after their own lusts— blasphemers disobedient to parents, without natural affection, traitors, heady, high-minded; and this too shall produce its effect on the professing church. "Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."+ Oh, what a startling, stirring motive is this! Is Is my Saviour near at hand! and am I lukewarm, faithless, sleeping, careless; am I on the verge of the coming glory ; and am I content still to live as if I had no expectation of it? How can my heart be so dull and stupid, when such blessedness is so near! The

* 2 Tim. iii. 1.

† Matt. xxiv. 12.

more ungodliness abounds, the more let me be stirred up to make known the Saviour's name! for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed; the more I see the signs of the Son of man, the more may I lift up my head, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh. Such reflections, dear brethren, instead of fostering a self-righteous spirit, and an undue dependence upon outward means, will lead to a lowly submission to Divine sovereignty, a loving obedience to commanded duty, and cheerful and happy reliance on the promised help; and that "hope which maketh not ashamed," and which is glorious and full of immortality, will animate every faculty of soul and body, and direct our hearts into the love of God, and the patient waiting for Christ.

To whom, &c.

LECTURE IX.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE RESTORATION OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL AT THE END OF THE "TIMES OF THE GENTILES."-THE SCRIPTURE SIGNS OF THOSE TIMES DRAWING TO A CLOSE, COMPARED WITH PRESENT EVENTS.

BY THE REV. ALEXANDER R. C. DALLAS, M.A. RECTOR OF WONSTON, HANTS.

LUKE XXI. 23, 24.

There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

It is by no trifling effort that the mind can grasp the range of thought suggested by the subject at present under our consideration; nor is it a light matter to consider the grouping of all the beings interested in our present assembling. I do not mean to allude only to the millions of the

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