of his neighbour's fame, the prodigal or the miser, the intemperate, and, lastly, on all who had not done good, as well as avoided evil; and then, suppose him looking to the other side, and beholding, in holy transport, the righteous and those who had turned many to righteousness ascending with their Redeemer, to "shine as the stars for ever." Now all these things ought to be the objects of a believer's faith on earth. But suppose yet farther, if the imagination be not too weak for such a spectacle, that the same mortal could see the realities which followed quickly upon the everlasting curse and the everlasting blessing; that he could descend alive into the bottomless pit, and view the spirits of perdition rolling in the fiery gulph; that he could hear the wailing, and behold the undying worm and the unquenchable fire!

When he returned from this thrilling scene, how, think ye, would the terrible fears, thus aroused, act upon his future conduct? Would he not fly from the drunkard as from a dispenser of poison? Would he not shun the adulterer, as the den of a cockatrice? Would not the "wailing and gnashing of " teeth" be for ever ringing in his ears? But since the conviction of his own frailty would force his conscience, every day, to plead guilty before God, and thus, perchance, might drive him to despair ; suppose once more that the Almighty, in pity, allowed him to wing his flight to the mansions of the blessed; to be caught up (like St. Paul) into

the seventh heaven; to feel unspeakable joys; to behold the Lamb of God upon his throne; to see and to hear the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs, and the whole Church," the bride "of the Lamb," adoring, in immortal strains, the one great incomprehensible, almighty, everlasting Trinity! On his return from this glorious spectacle, with what sensations would he think of the pomp of earthly vanities and the pride of human life? "How is the gold become dim, how is the most fine

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gold changed!" How discordant would be the sounds of revel or the murmurings of discontent to ears which had just been listening to the harps of the seraphic choir? Would he not strive with holy zeal to point the way to heaven, and to turn many to righteousness, but, first of all, to purify his own soul from every carnal thought, and to put on the marriage-garment, that he might be ready to sit down at the table of his Lord*?

the strength

faith in Pro

So strong, then, or at least proportionately, so To illustrate strong ought to be the hopes and fears of the true of a believer believer in Prophecy. Yet the moral actions sup- phecy. posed, according to the above description, to be performed by this imaginary character, on the

* The same train of thought, descriptive of an imaginary character supposed to have been an eye-witness of future worlds, is drawn in a very energetic and masterly Sermon by the Rev. Charles Wolfe.

strength of his visible evidence, would not be acceptable to God, because directly contrary to the ordained mode of bringing men to salvation. His hopes and fears would be the effects of sight rather than the fruits of faith. His conscience would be forced, and his will fettered, as long as the terrors of hell continued to alarm him, and the hopes of heaven to kindle his desire after holiness. But even such a miracle as this, were it vouchsafed to any one, would not be sufficient of itself to secure either constant obedience, or his best efforts to obtain salvation. "If they believe "not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they "believe though one rose from the dead." It may seem strange indeed, and almost contradictory to our senses, that the man, who had seen the realities of futurity, could ever afterwards desire the things of this world, or, at least, enjoy its transitory pleasures as if they were unfading. Yet those who have recovered from a bed of sickness, or have suddenly escaped, as it were, from the jaws of death, will bear witness to the inconceivable deceit of the human heart; those, for instance, who have felt for a time, that to imbibe any future taste for perishable treasures would be a moral impossibility, and yet, when temptation has stepped in, and death has seemed to linger behind, have given themselves again to the world, and to oblivion with respect to futurity. But Jesus Christ has pointed out one path of faith to heaven. "Blessed are they who have not seen

"and yet have believed." Now the true believer in Prophecy is this "blessed" character. For the peculiar structure of the prophetic volume is so framed by Divine Wisdom, as to leave room for doubt on gross and carnal minds, and not to force conviction against the tide of prejudice and passion; since even those predictions, which have received the most clear and palpable proofs of accomplishment, strike home to the minds only of the docile, the humble, and the pure in heart. To such, and such alone, they are, indeed, prophetic miracles wrought, as it were, before their eyes. Faith therefore,—“ faith working by love," (as the Apostle energetically expresses it,) is the True faith wonderful instrument by which Christ has chosen love. to draw us unto Himself. It implies, of necessity, the work of divine Grace in the heart. For " no "man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." The blessed Spirit not only gives the soul a single impression, but continually renews it after the image of God, arrays it with the Christian armour to fight manfully against the "Prince of the power of the air,” and lays it at length triumphantly at the feet of the Redeemer.

worketh by

The elements of hope and fear do not equally affect the mind of the true believer. Fear will And excites hope moi e indeed have been a preparative to his faith, and than fear. he will continue to work out his salvation with filial fear and trembling. Nay, sometimes, even the terrors of hell may rush across his soul: but as he grows in grace, and

prays more fervently, his

Christian view of Prophecy.

thoughts will gradually dwell upon reward rather than punishment:-the agony will be over, the wailings will die upon his ear, and his imagination will rather be listening in holy rapture to the eternal Hallelujahs of sainted spirits.-" Perfect love casteth out fear."

The real Christian also embraces the sacred volume as a complete body of evidence. He believes in Moses and the Prophets, and therefore requires not a witness to arise from the dead. He contemplates Prophecy, above all, as a more complicated and stupendous wonder than any single miracle performed in past ages; and as holy men of old believed, from the evidence of miracles, that every tittle of Prophecy would be accomplished, so he believes in the reality of former miracles, from the evidence of a prophetic miracle wrought every day before his eyes. For he views the spirit of Prophecy extending from the beginning of time till time shall be no more; having the salvation of a world for its end, dwelling on faith as the means, and pointing to the crucified Messiah as the cause. He reads of the Jew, as the "natural Olive-tree,” and of the care taken of it by the heavenly Husbandman, who, foreknowing that some of its branches would become corrupt and fall away, was pleased to foretel of the Gentile-the "wild Olive-tree" that should be engrafted on the Parent-stock, and lastly of the "natural branches," which will be "graffed "in again" when "the fulness of the Gentiles be "come in."