miracles which are performed by that "wicked" in the former case, and the second beast in the latter, have only one object in view, which is to deceive the nations of the earth, and to procure divine honours for the man of sin, as described in the chapter to the Thessalonians in the one instance, and as in the thirteeenth chapter of the Revelation in the other.

Moreover, we find that they are associated together in their final doom. Paul speaks of the man of sin as the son of perdition, and that "wicked" as being destroyed with the spirit of Christ's mouth, and with the brightness of His coming; and we have already seen that the two beasts of the thirteenth chapter of the Revelation are the same as the beast and the false prophet (Rev. xix. 20), who come to their end at the close of the battle of Armageddon, so that we arrive at the conclusion that both Paul and St. John's are parallel prophecies, because this twofold apostasy severally corresponds in origin, character, object, resources and end, which we think furnishes a combination of evidence which it is utterly impossible to resist.

When we contemplate the severity of the test to which the Church that shall be dwelling upon the earth during that day shall be exposed, we cannot fail to trace the hand of a righteous and

holy God, for there shall be no escape from that warfare by taking neutral ground. The reign of the beast will be truly one of terror as of power. No half measures then: no half and half religion then no mixture of worldly policy with truth will stand the trial then. Then all men who will not worship the beast shall be put to death (xiii. 15): then all who do worship shall be damned (xiv. 9, 10). The alternative will be death and eternal life on one side-life and inevitable damnation on the other.

We do not desire ourselves, neither do we ask our readers to judge of the condition of the Church by observations directed towards others; but let every man look into his own heart, and he will therein see that precise condition spoken of by our Lord, in His last epistle to the Seven Churches, wherein He declares that, because they are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, He will spue them out of His mouth. It will not prove a day when the outward semblance of religion can be substituted for the reality-when a man can maintain a respectable position in the religious world by yielding to God the observance of a cold and formal duty; whilst the warmth of the affections and the devotion of the heart are unreservedly bestowed upon those things which God declares He hates. The day of lukewarm and indifferent professors of religion has ceased.

The five foolish virgins, it is true, may have re turned with the oil of faith in their lamps; but for this occasion it is no longer of use, for the door of the marriage feast is shut, and faith is now turned into sight, and their judgment will consist, in giving them the stumbling-block of their iniquity in a sign; for they would not believe without a sign -they would not walk by faith-and God has, therefore, given them visible realities to deal with; for if any man will not worship the beast or his image, or receive his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, they shall be exposed to all the persecuting horrors of that day, enforced with all the matchless cruelties of hell. And is there then no escape-no deliverance? Will there appear no alternative between two such frightful extremes? Let the word of God afford the answer; and, then, let our readers judge if there can exist escape from such a fearful ordeal: for it is a message to the Church, no longer urged in accents of melting tenderness or gentle persuasion, but thundered from the heavens as the voice of Him whose voice shall yet break the cedars of Lebanon, and shake the wilderness with its majesty and power: it is the voice of Him who was once the meek and lowly Jesus, but who now sitteth enthroned in power and majesty in the clouds of heaven, surrounded with all His saints and angels. Hear the words of this heavenly

Messenger, and judge if escape be possible:"If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone

in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

We can imagine the smile of incredulity and scorn with which many may regard the supposition that image worship can ever constitute the temptation of such an intellectual age as the present; but we remind our readers that refusing to sacrifice before an idol-and that the idol of a living man-constituted the test of fidelity towards God in an age as enlightened, and among a people as cultivated and refined as ourselves; for it must be known to all conversant with ecclesiastical history, how universally this formed a short but unequivocal evidence of Christianity in the earlier ages. Our readers may have some conception of the horrors of that day, by referring to the history of the persecutions of the Church, during the first two or three centuries under the

Pagan Roman emperors; and then let them surround those which are yet to come, under the infidel Antichrist, with all the relentless cruelty of the demons of hell, who know that their time is short, and judge themselves if the horrible picture be too highly coloured; for if they did these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

This severe trial of the lukewarm and lethargic Church will form part of the great tribulation of that day, under the intense agony of which all ranks and distinctions of society shall be lost, as described in the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah; men shall cast that which they have most esteemed to the moles and bats, as no longer worthy of their regard. Indeed, the mind recoils with dread from the contemplation of the accumulated horrors of such a state of society; for Christendom shall groan under every form of natural and supernatural evil-at once the victims of cruel and devastating wars, anarchy, and revolution on the one hand; tyrannical and oppressive rule on the other; pestilence, disease, famine-and, as if her cup were not full enough—the frightful extremities of religious persecution, urged with all the energy and enforced with all the unrelenting cruelty of hell.

The inspired writers, both in the Old and New Testaments, have exhausted the most forcible language and imagery in depicting the calamities of