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CONCLUSION.

of Christ and it is my desire to lead you through the dark ages of the Church and the World, to that Reformation in the sixteenth century, the benefit of which has extended to our own days. For the present, my dear young readers, I shall bid you farewell, only reminding you in faithful love, that, though you were born in Christendom, and are numbered among the Christian inhabitants of this land, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except you are born again. The mere water of baptism can no more convey the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, than the mere wine at the Lord's supper can communicate the atoning power of the blood of Christ. Do not err, my beloved children, every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Many are now teaching that God gives his Spirit to infants at their baptism, and calls them to be his children, yet at last they may die in their sins: but thus it is written, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance;" therefore, that sinful course of life, which is falsely said to lead to the withdrawal of those good gifts, simply proves they have never been received. At the last day it will be worse than useless to have borne the thrice blessed name of God, if you are found strangers to the Father's love, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost.

ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY.

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less dangerous than their protection; and it is the latter that now comes into exercise: for Satan, having failed to destroy the religion of Christ, supported the mockery of it with all his might (Rev. xii. 3; xvii. 3). The mystery which excited the Apostle John's wonder, the mystery of iniquity, of which the Apostle Paul saw the first working, was now unfolded and set up by the adversary in opposition to God's mystery. It seemed as if Satan had grown weary of fruitless attempts to hinder the progress of Christianity by open violence, for the last persecution had exhausted the powers of tormenting, and the enemy now began to work more mightily within the Church.

But He who is "over all, God blessed for ever," will finally destroy the devil and all his works: and, in the meantime, all whom the Father hath given to the Son have been coming to Him, and still come, in spite of every obstacle. Let us never, then, imagine that God's purposes can be rendered ineffectual by man's sin, or Satan's devices. All the false glitter and outward show of nominal Christianity could not hinder the extension of God's salvation to whom He would, from one end of the earth to the other. In these days it is well also to remember that the lowly follower of the Lord Jesus, with a right understanding of his Master's mind, ought to have no fellowship with those who would violently overthrow existing establishments. An establishment is among the things that were, under the Jewish dispensation, and among the things that will be in the Millennium dispensation, by the will of God. An establishment that would secure sound Christian instruction could not at any period be opposed to the mind of God; but an establishment which gives the world the name and the form of the Church, as in the days of Constantine, and makes provision as if there were a nation of worshippers, appears to be entirely contrary to the spirit of the present dispensation.

Nevertheless, the children of God, who would refrain from supporting anything which their Father does not authorize, ought, in the same manner, to shrink from overturning by an arm of flesh that which their Father permits; always remembering that the Lord Jesus is quickly coming to take to himself his great power and reign, and then all will be set right.

The continuation of my Work will embrace the history of Christendom, or that part of the world which bears the name

of Christ and it is my desire to lead you through the dark ages of the Church and the World, to that Reformation in the sixteenth century, the benefit of which has extended to our own days. For the present, my dear young readers, I shall bid you farewell, only reminding you in faithful love, that, though you were born in Christendom, and are numbered among the Christian inhabitants of this land, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except you are born again. The mere water of baptism can no more convey the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, than the mere wine at the Lord's supper can communicate the atoning power of the blood of Christ. Do not err, my beloved children, every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Many are now teaching that God gives his Spirit to infants at their baptism, and calls them to be his children, yet at last they may die in their sins: but thus it is written, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance;" therefore, that sinful course of life, which is falsely said to lead to the withdrawal of those good gifts, simply proves they have never been received. At the last day it will be worse than useless to have borne the thrice blessed name of God, if you are found strangers to the Father's love, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost.

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APPENDIX.

IN continuation of the system of "artificial memory," already recommended, I give my young readers the following sentences, whereby they may remember the principal dates of this period.

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