in their place of rulers; to this end Christ was proclaimed King by Peter on the day of Pentecost, and by every true preacher since; against which proclamation of God's King, every king or magistrate who lifteth up the horn of his own or another's power, shall die like one of the princes, shall be dashed in pieces like the potter's vessel. Though Christ, therefore, be the King proclaimed, the devil is the king whom. they have preferred, except this kingdom, whose foundations are (were, alas!) true, whatever its administration may be. Christ hath not, therefore, judged among the nations, nor rebuked many peoples; nor have men abstained from war, or making weapons of war, whereof all Christendom seems but one great forge, where every hammer is plied, and every inventive faculty strained, for such an explosion of war as the world hath never yet seen. Neither doth the house of Jacob walk in the light of the Lord. The conclusion, then, is simple, that the last days are not come, because none of the events of the last days are yet in being.

The next passage to which I have to direct your attention, is the last verse of the book of Daniel, where it is written, "But go thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." The first question here is, what days meaneth he? The verse preceding furnisheth the answer: "Blessed is he that watcheth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." These are the days at the end of which Daniel was to

stand in his lot; that is, his allotted office or station upon the earth; for if it be his condition in the middle state, then he is in it long ere now. Daniel is now resting with Job and the rest of the saints; but at the end of these days he shall stand in his lot of active administration. Now concerning this awakening from the sleep of the dust, you have particular mention made of it in ver. 2, and in ver. 1, concerning the deliverance of the Jewish people, and the time of unexampled trouble which is to precede it. And in the last verse of the foregoing chapter, you have the destruction of the infidel Antichrist, which is to precede these, or to fall out about the same time. Of which events not one having yet happened, we can with perfect certainty say, that "the end of the days," or the last days, are not yet ushered in. But a more particular consideration of this passage will throw yet more light upon the subject which we have in hand. After Christ--for it is no other-had revealed all the mysteries up to the resurrection of the saints, Daniel heard (ver. 6) a questioner ask further information as to the time, "how long it should be to the end of these wonders." Who received for answer, that it should be for "a time, times, and a half;" that is, the period of the little horn's tyranny over the saints: but how much longer he saith not, but signifieth that it should be for a season longer, until God should have accomplished to scatter (that is, should be done or finished with scattering) the

power of the holy people; then all these things should be finished. That is to say, they would run through the Papal period, and continue till the restoration of the Jews. Daniel, not understanding this, because it was sealed till the times of the end, and hath only lately been opened, did inquire at one of the questioners, "What shall be the end of these things?" and in answer received this information (ver. 11): "From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination which maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that watcheth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty days." All the time up to the conclusion of the Papal usurpation is reckoned by times, being one thousand two hundred and sixty days; but all beyond it is reckoned by days, being thirty days and forty-five days, these being the odd days over the three times and a half; a time or year being three hundred and sixty of these days, as we learn from the Apocalypse. (Compare xi. 2, 3, with xii. 6, 14.) The times and the fulness of the times, so often mentioned in the New Testament, I consider as referring to the great period numbered by times; the days, to the thirty and the forty-five days by which the course of the Lord's purposes overwent the three times and a half. Of these days, I should consider the fortyfive days to be the last of the days in which these great events are to be revealed. Now if this reasoning be correct, as there can be little

doubt that the one thousand two hundred and sixty days concluded in the year 1792, and the thirty additional days in the year 1823, we are already entered upon the last days, and the ordinary life of a man will carry many of us to the end of them. If this be so, it gives to the subject with which we have introduced this year's ministry, a very great importance indeed. Further, if youwill look to the opening of this vision (x.14), you will see a great confirmation of this our conclusion; for it is there said, that this vision was expressly given to shew him "what should befal his people in the latter days." Now in all the vision the Jewish people are not once mentioned till xii. 1, when they are delivered immediately upon the fall of Antichrist; which is not yet happened, and is, as we believe, just about to arrive.

Before leaving the book of Daniel, I would direct your attention to another passage (ii. 28), where Daniel declareth unto Nebuchadnezzar, that God had sent that vision of the great image to make known to him what should happen in the latter days. Now of that vision, though the four successive monarchies be a part, yet the destruction of them by the fifth monarchy of Messiah is the chief part, and is no doubt the great end of the vision, in order to instruct Nebuchadnezzar, and all kings that should come after him, concerning the end of these four monarchies, into which God had divided the tract of time, until he should set his own King

upon his holy hill of Zion. The great image is only presented before him, that the stone cut out without hands, which destroyeth it, might be represented. And the interpretation satisfies no curiosity as to the three kingdoms which were to succeed him; but as to the fifth kingdom, gives him full and clear revelation that it was to belong to the saints of the Most High. Therefore "the latter days," concerning which the vision was sent to teach Nebuchadnezzar are the times of the destruction of the four monarchies, and the setting up of the fifth in a time which is yet to come, but which we believe to be close at hand. I consider it, therefore to be clear, from the book of Daniel, that the latter days do signify the time at which the Jewish people shall enter to the long promised and long delayed kingdom, after the four Gentile monarchies shall have been brought to an end by the Stone of Israel, which is to come out of Joseph; at which time the characteristic predictions of Jacob shall begin to have their accomplishment.

Besides these, dear brethren, there are several other passages, which I would run over hastily, beginning with Numbers xxiv. 14; which is the parable spoken by Balaam the son of Beor, when Balak king of Moab would have had him prophesy evil of the children of Israel: "Come, therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days." Now, what are these events? Ver. 17 contains the prophecy of Messiah's coming as a star out of