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ended; and this bride is plainly stated to be The New Jerusalem (chap. xxi.)

*

A comparison of this 19th chapter, which speaks distinctly of The Vintage of the Earth, and treading of the wine-press, and of the 20th, 21st, and 22d chapters, with many passages of the Old Testament prophets, such as those referred to in the note below, will show beyond a doubt to every attentive reader of the Bible that they refer to the same events. In each of these two sets of passages we have the gathering together of the Lord's enemies against Him; His complete and final triumph; a slaughter on a vast scale, the treading of the wine-press by Him, and Him alone; the issue of the war, the New Jerusalem, new heavens and a new earth, the regeneration, or restitution of all things; the Lord dwelling in Jerusalem; the nations walking in her light; their kings taking their honour and glory to her; and streams of living water going forth from her. We leave it to the reader, who may hitherto have paid but little attention to these points, to identify the two sets of passages, the one from the Old Testament prophets, the other from the Revelation. Nothing satisfies the mind so much as working out a subject for one's self.

Now, the great epoch spoken of in these passages from the older prophets is there distinctly called "The year of the Lord's controversy for Zion" (Isa. xxxiv. 8). There seems, then, very strong ground for believing that "The war of Ar-Magedon" may be none other than this; and that ArMagedon may signify Jerusalem. Among these passages are some which speak plainly of the nations being gathered together against Jerusalem, and of the Lord's fighting for Mount Zion and Jerusalem (Isa. xxxi. 4, 5; Zech. xii. 2, 3, 6, 7, 8; xiv. 2, 3). Again, the scenes of some of the battles in this war will undoubtedly be, some in Idumæa (Isa. xxxiv. 6; lxiii.); others in the mountains of Israel (Ezek. xxxix. 17); and even under the very walls of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom (Isa. xxx. 33; xxxi. 4; xxxiv. 1-8). But if this be the true solution, it may be asked, "Why is not Jerusalem plainly named?" Several reasons readily suggest themselves

* Hosea ii. 18; Isa. ii. 4; xvii. 12-14; xxiv. 21-23; xxvi. 21; xxix. 7, 8; xxx. 25, 27, 28, 30-33; xxxiii. 3-12; xxxiv. 2–8; xlix. 26; li. 22, 23; Ixiii. 1-6; lvi. 14-16, 24; Micah v. 15; Joel iii. 2, 9-19; Jer. xxv. 29-33; xxx. 11, 16, 23; xlvi. 28; Hab. iii. 6, 12; Zeph. iii. 8; Ezek. xxi. 4, 5, 9, 10 ; Dan. ii. 34, 35, 44; vii. 11, 26; Obad. 15, 16; Hag. ii. 22; Zech. i. 21; ii. 8, 9; ix. 13, 17; xii. 4, 9; xiv. 2, 13, 14 ;-Hosea ii. 19; Isa. xlix. 5, &c.; lxii. 5; lx. 10-20; Micah iv. 7; Joel iii. 17; Jer. iii. 17; Zeph. iii. 14-20; Zech. ii. 5, 10-13; Isa. lxv. 17; lxvi. 22; Zech. viii. 20-23; xiv. 8, 9, 16-19 &c.-Dan. xii. 2; vii. 11; ii. 35.

in reply, and one may be this, to distinguish Jerusalem, such as she will be during the contest, from the New Jerusalein, which will not be established until after it.

Here I leave the reader to the many solemn thoughts which the consideration of this subject may well excite; and the more so, that the three unclean spirits of Infidelity, Popery, and Sacerdotalism are gone forth, and are now together abroad; that in the most recent events in Italy, Austria, and Spain, &c., we have possibly what is intended by another announcement, found no longer under the sixth, but under the seventh and last vial,-"the cities of the nations fell;" and that in this Ecumenical Council at Rome, without the Latin sovereigns or their representatives, we have, as the Times remarks, "a new phase of the Papacy;" this new phase having been long ago foreseen in the Apocalypse under the difference between the beast of chap. xiii., having diadems (the emblem of sovereign power) on the horns, and that of chap. xvii., identical with it in the main, without diadems on the horns, which last phase it is to take on the eve of the great final contest, and the triumph of Christ. We may well say, therefore, "The coming of the Lord draweth near." "Blessed are all they that look for Him."* EWD. BILEY.

ART. III.-CHRISTIANITY AND INFIDELITY. WHILE true faith is the "gift of God," and is quickened in us by His Word, which is His "power unto salvation," and the experience of that "power" becomes to us the internal evidence of the Truth; we are also, as far as able, to use and exercise ourselves in all the external evidences which nature and the moral world may afford. It is in this outer sphere alone where unbelievers dwell, and form for themselves a so-called religion, or frame objections to the spiritual truth of Christ. On the other hand, it is only from the vantage ground of that spiritual sphere that the true relation of nature and morals to Almighty God is seen; and it behoves those who are established in the faith of Christ, so to acquaint themselves with the external evidences as to be able to array them in suitable order to meet the needs and questionings of modern sceptics. With such views the Scottish Christian Evidence Society, having com

* We give the foregoing article as furnishing materials for the study of the passage; but we are not prepared to homologate all the conclusions.EDITOR.

mittees in Edinburgh and Glasgow, has been projected, after the model of the like society formed in London in 1870-71. The action of that society has been beneficial; its operations include public lectures and discussions, classes for the study of the evidences of Christianity under competent leaders, &c. We give here an analysis of two of its published series of lectures as a specimen of the modern treatment of such subjects. Probably a carefully prepared digest of arguments used in past as well as modern apologetics might prove a useful manual of reference for such as may become engaged in these discussions. Science and Revelation, by Dr R. Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury.*

It can be shown by scientific proof, that revelation is a necessary part of the system of this world. Belief (not mere acquiescence) is not easy of attainment, any more than virtue; both are disciplines, both are victories gained by a struggle. We may believe man was intended to attain to a higher and more perfect state than his present, by virtue and by faith.

In the present system of things we find no being endowed with any faculties without there being also provided a proper field for their exercise, and a necessity imposed upon that being of using those faculties. There is a very exact correspondence between endowments and the state of things around, e.g., from a single bone we may tell the order of animal it belonged to, its habits, food, habitat, and mode of life. We see a vast chain of vegetable life, fitted to find its own subsistence, and to propagate its species. Its main function is, Huxley says, to "manufacture out of mineral substances that protoplasm upon which all animal life depends." If a plant is not suited to its habitat, and cannot use its powers, it degenerates and dies. A like correspondence of creature and conditions prevails in respect to the animal world. Animals have apparently no powers beyond those indispensable for their existence, and they necessarily employ all their living powers. There is neither excess nor defect; "rudiments" only prove this, for the rudiment might have been perfected, but is not, because it would have been useless.

Teleology, the science of ends, which gives the reason why a thing is what it is, with causes and effects, belongs to the metaphysician, they say; yet it is a fact that scientific men do try to account for the present state of things, saying there is a struggle for existence, a competition in nature, which brings useful faculties into the utmost exercise, while useless ones are abolished. But let us look at man. He is a *Modern Scepticism: Lectures delivered in connection with the London Christian Evidence Society. London: Hodder & Stoughton. 1871.

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living organisation, and comes under the law of having faculties which he needs, and which he must use, or else degenerate and die. He is provided, as are the other creatures, with means for obtaining food, for safety, and for propagating his species; but his means, i.e., reason, &c., are as far above those of brutes with senses and instincts, as theirs are above the simpler powers of vegetation. Man reasons on cause and effect, and sets causes in motion to produce the effects he desires. Reason implies mental faculties, and with this the power of articulate speech, and its correlated powers of reading, writing, and ciphering, and thence a plenitude of other powers. Now, there is a vast chasm between these powers and the powers of brutes; and the points of agreement between the two serve only to expose the gap rather than to bridge it over. Supply all the physical wants of the brute, and he is content; but man has, besides, mental wants to be satisfied, or he will pine. And to satisfy all these there is ample provision; and we see what arts and sciences, painting, music, numbers, eloquence, have grown out of the use of his faculties. Man learns and grows by experience; instincts are but slightly progressive,-animals indeed seem to require man to quicken their instincts. But man is liable to retrogression; and in fact individuals and communities have always been either ascending or descending in the scale, morally and intellectually; and so, while there is an ample field for the exercise of our faculties, we must use them to keep from degradation and extinction. No advance of science will relieve us from this necessity; indeed the valuable part of every science is its theory, or mental part, and the exercise it gives the mind. Do not the ever augmenting problems connected with our social condition. demand the unwearied exercise of man's reasoning faculties to the utmost? But more than this. Besides having reason, man is distinguished from brutes by knowing right and wrong. Using his intellectual faculties, and not his moral, he would be merely an intellectual animal; but the moral is an essential part of his nature. He is therefore bound to use this faculty, will suffer from not using it, and has a proper field for its use. Human life, with relative duties pressing upon all, perpetually raises the question of right and wrong; not a step in life but conscience intervenes. This constitutes man a responsible agent. And if responsible, then to some One, who can form an equitable judgment from knowing man's inner motives and intents as well as the outward acts. This judge must then be omniscient; and to reward or punish for human actions, He must be omnipotent. And as no adequate reward or punishment follows in this life, there must be a future state in which men will be

dealt with according to their true deserts. So conscience judges; and so it finds an ample provision in the God of the Bible as the only absolute Judge. Now, the only thing that acts powerfully upon man's moral faculties is religion; it gives him culture, raises, refines, and purifies. Conscience holds a direct and evident relation to religion; it is scarcely amenable to reasoning; it condemns because the thing condemned is a sin against God; it approves because the thing done is right and as God commands; it never asks whether the thing is a sin against society; it thus brings man into direct relation with God. Infinite results must depend upon this relation; but while in nature we find ample provision for physical and mental wants. and excellence, it does not provide for moral wants and excellence. As surely, however, as man's physical and mental wants are provided for by God, who called those wants into being, so surely will his moral and religious wants be supplied. This He has done by revelation-the proper object of which is the relation in which man stands to God, especially with reference to the future life. Science, e.g., geology, takes no more account of man than of a Megatherium; but the Bible subordinates all to man and his relation to God. It does not teach science, which man's natural faculties can acquire from the study of nature; and its references to such things are, of course, in a popular way; otherwise it would come into constant collision with science, since that is ever modifying and being added to. When that shall have become settled and wholly completed, doubtless it will piece in with the Word of God; for there can be no contradiction between His teachings in nature and in revelation-though men may misinterpret and misunderstand both.

Now, if revelation is that knowledge which, being necessary for us as moral agents, is yet unattainable by our natural powers, then reason is no judge of what revelation teaches. Reason has the high office of testing the evidence upon which the fact of the revelation rests. The existence of mysteries in a revelation is reasonable; but the existence of immorality in it would be fatal to its claims, for it must not degrade my moral and spiritual powers, any more than nature should degrade my physical and mental powers. If religion be true, it must ennoble, purify, and perfect man; it must make him better physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually, and consecrate all his powers to God.

The Nature and Value of the Miraculous Testimony to Christianity, by Rev. Dr John Stoughton.

When Thomas doubted the resurrection of our Lord, he was

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