sage of the future into the past. The future, therefore, is a living interest to us all, from the present instant to the end of time, and throughout the succeeding ages of eternity. There is nò moment, in all that endless series, which will not be as sensibly present to our experience, as that which we now call the present; no moment, with which we shall not be as intimately con versant, either in these bodies or out of them, by our unperishing capacities, for delight or agony. For man, though he may lose his life, cannot, for a moment, lose his existence. In this comparison, therefore, the future predomi nates over the past, with far greater preponder ancy than the past can predominate over the present; and it predominates also over the present, because it comprehends the sum total of those impressions, which in the present we experience only by succession.

It is THE FUTURE, therefore, which constitutes the proper object of THE CHRISTIAN'S

thought; and it is THE CONSIDERATION of THE FUTURE, which advances him so eminently in the dignity of A THINKING BEING. To him, the past is chiefly of importance, as it supplies him with a guide or clue to the knowledge of the future; and in tracing the order of time, from its EARLIEST PERIOD, as disclosed by the revelation of God, to its coNCLUDING PERIOD, as disclosed by the same revelation, he becomes sensible of the small relative importance of present time, by observing how speedily it is passed over in the progress. THE END of that survey, the infinitely great interest in which it terminates, constitutes the only final

thought, as a THINKING BEING.

object of his

And an ear

nest and hopeful anxiety, concerning that interest, constitutes the most operative principle of his action, as a MORAL BEING: For, "he "who hath that hope in him purifieth himself, แ even as HE is pure" from WHOSE hand he knows that interest must be obtained.

(6 PRIMARY

The following Tract had its origin, in a train of meditation of this nature; by which the author endeavoured to connect, in his own mind, all the primary events and periods of the world from its commencement to its close, as they stand revealed in the retrospect of Sacred History, and in the prospect of Divine Prophecy; so as to be able to establish a sound and reasonable judgment, of the relation of present time to the latter of those periods. By " events and periods," is here meant, those preeminent stages of history and prophecy, which exhibit to the mental eye a chain of summits, conducting the mind, by a sure and direct progress, from the beginning of time, to its end. For, as in the Chains of Mountains, which are interposed in the spaces of the Earth, there are some summits more elevated and conspicuous than the rest, which distinctly mark out, even to a distant eye, the general course, extent, and termination of the chain, so that we

can plainly discern both where it began and where it ends; in like manner there are, in the Chain of Times which God has, for a while, interposed in the space of Eternity, some points or summits distinguishable above all others, by means of which that chain can be surveyed and traced with equal distinctness; and its beginning, and its end, be as plainly discerned. These are, the chief periods or stages in the series of the Divine Dispensations; and certain principal events in the transactions of mankind, which have been chosen by the Holy Spirit of prophecy, to mark out the succceding stages until the consummation. These, which are here denominated

PRIMARY events and periods," are but few in number; and if we wish to bring them into a connected view within our minds, so as to be sensible at once of their progressive relations,

* Tempus autem est, id quo nunc utimur, (nam ipsum quidem generaliter definire difficile est,) pars quædam æternitatis. Cicero de Invent. i. 59.

we must strip them of all detail of circumstance.

He who would make a general sketch of the direction and extent of the chain of Alps, will confine his attention to the most elevated summits. The fewness and the barrenness of thèse, far from disqualifying them for the survey, will render them the fittest objects of his observation; and enable him, without distraction or diversion, to prosecute and complete his work. And so, in surveying the Chain of Times in general, as it is illustrated to us by the light of revelation: we must survey it by those few pre-eminent summits, bare and unfurnished as they may appear, which present an entire chain of points, having mutual relation and corres pondence with each other. In this elevated view, the eye must travel over many lofty, but inferior summits; of great relative importance, indeed, to particular parts of time, but of none whatever to the course of time in general. In this survey, the histories of Egypt and Carthage,