all idea of building up anything; and their objections are so metaphysical, so fanciful, so transcendental, that they have only had effect with a few speculative minds; they have made no impression upon the masses of mankind. If we turn to other forms of error, Mahometanism is dying out; Romanism is losing its influence; and the hour is almost at hand when a voice shall ring from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and shall rise no more at all." We see on every side evidence of the progress of the Bible; and of the fulfilment of this prophecy; and of the decadence or disappearance of all that stands in its way. And after heaven and earth have passed away, and a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, are come, will Christ's word cease then? No; the only change will be-all its promises will be enjoyments, all its prophecies history, all its invitations experience; and what is now inscribed upon the parchment, or upon the frail paper, shall be inscribed upon all space as its glorious page, the stars will be its magnificent letters, constellations will be its magnificent sentences; the winds will whisper its sweet sounds, the waves in their chimes will give utterance to its glorious truths; and that word so long persecuted, then enthroned and enshrined, will be the reference book of the redeemed in glory; and ever as a Christian wants to trace and retread all the way through which God led him upon earth, he will take the chart in his hand with the experience in his heart ; and ever as he discovers a new place where he raised an Ebenezer here below, he will lift up a fresh song unto Him that loved him, and washed him from his sins in his

own blood, and hath made him a king and a priest unto his God. But this sentence shall be felt in hell, as well as enjoyed and realized in heaven. The lost in misery will be constrained to say, Heaven and earth have passed away, O God; but thy word has not passed away. Thou didst say, He that believeth not shall be damned; O God, it is true, hopelessly, terribly, without mitigation, without measure, without end, it is true. And the saved in heaven shall be able to say, He that believeth shall be saved; O Lord, it is true, gloriously true. It will be discovered then that what we thought adjuncts were essentials, and what we thought exaggerated metaphors were literal truths; and that the least promise, or blessing, or mercy, that Christ spoke or that the Spirit taught was never couched in exaggerated language, but rather in words not vast and magnificent enough to embody the glorious living truth.

Christian believer, here is comfort, in the great tribulation to you. Of the least promise that you choose to select you may say, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but this promise shall not pass away. "I will never leave thee; I will never forsake thee;" this is not a random expression; nor language that needs to be diluted; it is literally and strictly true, applicable to you, may be enjoyed by you, wherever you are, and under whatever circumstances you are placed. Hesitating, trembling one, who would be a Christian, and yet fears; who believes that the Gospel is true, and yet says, I wish I felt its power; I wish I could believe; I wish I could see my way as clearly to Christ and to happiness as you do. The way is plain ; is plain; "Him that cometh unto me," says

Christ, "I will in no wise cast out." Heaven and earth may pass away, but I will not cast him out. Do I address those who sigh and grieve over all they see around them; heathen at home, darkness at our doors, vice in public places, sin everywhere? There is a There is a promise which will cheer you; and what is it? "The whole earth shall be filled with my glory, saith the Lord of hosts." Then remember you are on the winning side; a Christian is in a Phalanx that never can be permanently if it be temporarily beaten; for the whole earth shall be covered with the glory of the Lord, as the waters of the ocean cover the channels of the great deep. If these words reach a preacher of the Gospel, there is comfort here for him also. One sometimes feels depressed to be doomed to ceaseless sowing, and never, or at all events rarely, reaping; but we are wrong. Ours is to fulfil the Master's commission; it is his to evolve the appropriate issue; and he himself has made the distinction; "One soweth, and another reapeth." Some ministers excel in ploughing, harrowing, tearing up, and preparing the heart's rugged soil, taking out its gnarled roots of wickedness, in order that a second may come and sow the seed. He that sows the seed amid the tears of weeping eyes, as martyrs have sown it amid the blood of warm hearts, may never see the harvest; but another will come in, and he will bring home the sheaves with joy rejoicing. can therefore fall back upon this promise, and I must say it is enough, "My word shall not return unto me void." If, therefore, we speak Christ's truth, it is hardening some, it is softening others; and where we can see no immediate issue at all, it is going forth upon the wings of

We

the wind to accomplish promised, pledged, and magnifi

cent results.

the poet,

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We take therefore the words of advice of

Drop it where thorns and thistles grow,

Scatter it on the rock;

Then when the glorious day,

The day of God is come,

The reapers shall descend,

And heaven cry, Harvest home."

These are words of promise, and therefore of encouragement. A greater than the poet has said, "My word shall not return to me void.' This is the foundation of our hopes of success.

LECTURE XXIX.

A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY.

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”—2 PETER iii. 8.

IT is the obvious drift of the apostle, in these words, to vindicate God from the charge of what seems delay in fulfilling his promises to them that fear Him, and in executing judgments upon them that dishonor and disobey Him. You must not, says Peter, measure the greatness of God by a rule of human construction; you must recollect that eternity is the measure of his existence; threescore and ten mete out ours; and that on the great scale of an everlasting Being, a thousand years is less, relatively, than a single day is when measured and estimated in relation to the few and weary years that bound the pilgrimage of man. The idea that. the sacred penman teaches us is, that our days are fleet and few; that God's days are endless and enduring; and the practical inference we are to draw from it is our duty to use the days, few or many, that God has given us, for those great and magnificent ends which will involve at once our highest happiness and God's greatest glory. Man's life since he sinned and fell, and still more since the Flood, has been

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