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men." This song the angels sung, then vanished from their sight; but the shepherd's hastened to see if the thing was true, and found him lying in the predicted manger, wrapped in swadling bands, A. M. 4000.

At this time there was a universal peace; for we have the fact of history, that Cæsar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, had shut the temple of Janus, as a token that then there was a universal peace.

Earth and her powers stood still, and kings with awful eye,
Sit as if they knew their sovereign Lord was by.-MILTON

FOURTH DIVISION.

Having now passed through some of the signs which went before the flood, and before the advent of Christ, I shall, therefore, next attempt to show the signs of our own times, which indicate the Millennium not very remote; but must be preceded by an effect of the power of the great God, such as man has not witnessed since the world began.

Roll onward earth, and sparkle in thine orb,
Till the six number'd days are quite absorb'd--
Till the great week of time, six thousand years,
Shall waft us from this soil of groans and tears.
Then multiply ye signs of millennial days,

Till earth's in glory rob'd and songs of praise.

It is hoped that the reader is now, in a measure, prepared to view the subject in a more propitious light, having seen that God does afford signs and forerunners that men should be admonished of the things which he intends to accomplish on the earth. Which signs we now shall bring forward, as being more intimately connected with the present age, and past ages of the Christian Church.

The great success which has marked the progress of the gospel, from its author to the present day, is a sign which may be seen of all people; though its way has been opposed by kings and emperors, and the great ones of the earth; though the depravity of the whole race of men, has lifted up a standard against it, yet has it through seas of blood, oceans of flame, forests

of swords, gulfs and dungeons, a world of deceit and wickedness, urged its gentle way: though enemies more to be dreaded than these, and of a subtlier kind, have assailed the blessed Gospel, yet have they not prevailed. Though a Voltaire has said that he was weary of hearing that twelve men had propagated the Gospel, yet he presumptuously and arrogantly boasted, that he would show to the world that he could destroy the whole alone. But his death was marked with dreadful horrors; his pitiful cryings and cowardly behaviour at that extremity, showed him but poorly qualified to conquer the Son of God, or to put to flight the least of his disciples. Though with him a host of infidels, in every age, have assailed the Gospel with all the powers of their pandæmonian compact, and have poured upon it a flood of scorn and contempt, yet the Gospel shines in all its glory of simplicity and truth.

Although a Constantine thought to add to its strength by his feeble prop of law, because he knew not its nature, yet it stood on its own foundation, gloriously independent.

I would here remark, that the manner of Constantine's conversion to Christianity, does not carry with it. any convincing proof, that he was regenerated by the grace of God, at that time.

The manner of his conversion was as follows: When Constantine the great was in Gaul, A. D. 312, there appeared in the sky, a little after noon day, above the sun, a splendid luminous cross, with this inscription on it: "By this conquer;" in consequence of which,

he was convinced that if he espoused the Christian cause, he should conquer his enemies, and win the whole empire to himself.

Accordingly, in A. D. 324, he totally defeated Licinus, who had shared the empire with him, and became sole emperor, which was the summit of his ambition. See Clark, on Daniel.

Though the Popes of the Roman Church have wrested, from age to age, the salutary words of the Gospel, and have, since the time they became antichristian, supported their doctrines and power, by keeping their adherents in total ignorance the most pitiful, and by coersion the most cruel; yet there has been, and still are millions who dare confess Him, in the very face of death, "of whom Moses and the prophets did write."

But the preaching and writings of eminent and holy men, in various nations, from the time of the great reformation in the days of Luther till now, have, by the providence of God, been sapping the foundation of that enormous BOHON UPAS, the Roman Papal Church in Italy and ere long its trunk will fall, and the region where it grows, and has for ages poisoned with its effluvia distant nations, shall be destroyed and not healed, but shall be given to salt, the salt of eternal burning.

The great means by which God has, and is effecting the emancipation of those who are bound in darkness and ignorance, is by the scriptures of truth being put into the hands of every man. Yet many have been the attempts to suppress this most holy book, but still

it prevails, and will prevail. The union and zeal which is now manifest among all the evangelical sects, to send this book to all nations, is a notable sign, in this our day, that the time is not very far off, when a universal and individual knowledge of the Bible shall he possessed by every bosom.

The monsters, bigotry and prejudice, are passing away like the shades of night before the rising sun, and a union of energy among the Churches is taking their place, of whom there is forming a vast army, who shall press onward to certain victory. Worldly grandeur and a religious monopoly is not their object: but to send the Scriptures to all nations, tongues and languages, and to instruct the ignorant, are their highest and only aim.

There are, at the present time, three thousand Bible Societies in the world, and all formed within twenty years. The annual income of these is about four millions five hundred thousand dollars, which will naturally increase from year to year. This vast annual sum, without any additional increase,will amount, in twenty years more, to the immense sum of ninety millions of doldars. It is easy, therefore, to see, that in a hundred years, if God continues to bless this means, there will be put into the hands of all heathen nations, the holy Scriptures, the words of life; yes, and it is probable this will be done much sooner than a hundred years.

More than three millions of Bibles have already been distributed among these nations, who are the objects of commiseration, and are read in a hundred and

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