The narrator informs us in this passage, that "he could not but be astonished at such a declaration" as that which Dr. Johnson made. But in reality, where was the real ground for astonishment? Is it astonishing that an inheritor of a fallen and corrupt nature, who is about to quit the world, and to be "judged according to the deeds done in the body," should be alarmed at the anticipation of the event, and be anxious to understand fully the only mode of pardon and acceptance? Rather is it not astonishing that every other intelligent man does not feel at his last hour the same anxieties which Dr. Johnson experienced? unless, indeed, they have been previously removed by the hopes revealed in that glorious dispensation which alone undertakes to point out in what way the Almighty sees fit to pardon a rebellious world. No man would or could have been astonished who knew his own heart; for, as Dr. Johnson truly remarked, every Christian, how fair soever his character in the estimation of others, ought to look upon himself as "the greatest sinner that he knows of;" a remark, be it observed, which shews how deeply Dr. Johnson had begun to drink into the spirit of that great Apostle, who, amidst all his excellencies, confessed and felt himself" the chief of sinners."

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What a contrast does the advice of Hawkins, as stated by himself in the preceding passage, form to the scriptural exhortations of our own church! Instead of advising his friend seriously to examine himself "whether he repented him truly of his former sins, stedfastly purposing (should he survive) to lead a new life, having a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death, and being in charity with all men," he bids him look back to his past goodness, and is astonished that the survey is not attended with the hope and satisfaction which he had anti

cipated. But the truth was, that on the subject of religion, as on every other, Dr. Johnson entertained far more correct ideas than the friends around him; and though he had not hitherto found peace with his Creator, through the blood of Jesus Christ, yet he could not be satisfied with the ordinary consolations of an uninformed or pharisaic mind.

The sun did not, however, set in this long continued cloud; for Johnson at length obtained comfort, where alone true comfort could be obtained, in the sacrifice and mediation of Jesus Christ,-a circumstance to which Sir John Hawkins transiently alludes, but the particulars of which must be supplied from the narrative of Boswell, whose words are as follows :--

"Dr. Brocklesby, who will not be suspected of fanaticism, obliged me with the following account : 'For some time before his death, all his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith, and his trust in the merits and propitiation of Jesus Christ. He talked often to me about the necessity of faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, as necessary, beyond all good works whatever, for the salvation of mankind.'"

Even allowing for the brevity of this statement, and for the somewhat chilling circumstance of its coming from the pen of a man who "will not be suspected of fanaticism," what a triumph was here for the plain unsophisticated doctrines of the Gospel, especially that of free justification by faith in Jesus Christ! After every other means had been tried, and tried in vain, a simple penitential reliance upon the sacrifice of the Redeemer, produced in the heart of this devout man a peace and satisfaction which no reflections upon hunan merit could bestow. He seems to have acquired a completely new idea of Christian theology, and could doubtless henceforth practically adopt the animating language of his own church, in her Eleventh Article: "That we are jus

tified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort."

(To be concluded.)

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

In replying to the queries of D. D. in your Number for July, it will be come necessary to embrace a wide field of scriptural research.

this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." (Rev. xi. 15.) In other words, the advent of Messiah described by Daniel takes place at the destruction of the fourth monarchy, and before the Millennium.

Passing on now to the New Testament, we learn from St. Paul's prophecy of the Man of Sin, in 2 Thess. ii. 8, that the Lord shall consume that power with the spirit of his mouth, and karapyneel тn eπidavela ne rapovoias avrov, "shall destroy (him) with the brightness of his com

I feel no hesitation in aknowledging, that wherever a future advent, or presence (rapovata), of our Lord is foretold in Scripture, we, who being." Believing, with the whole of lieve in his personal advent and reign, do understand one and the same advent to be uniformly in tended; and that we ground this conclusion upon the careful comparison of Scripture with Scripture, according to the rule so clearly laid down and illustrated by Bishop Horsley, in his sermons upon the words of Peter, "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation." (2 Pet. i. 20, 21.).

The first text in the chronolo, gical prophecies, wherein we find the second advent clearly predicted, is Dan. vii. 13, 14. After beholding, in the preceding context, the judgment executed by the Ancient of Days on the body of the fourth beast, or empire, the prophet adds: 'I saw in the night visions, and, be hold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,, nations, and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

If it be asked to what period in the chronology of the prophecy this vision belongs, the answer must be, that it is clearly and indisputably to be referred to that season when, the seventh Apocalyptic trumpet having sounded, great voices are heard in heaven, that "the kingdoms of

the Protestant churches, that this man of sin is an ecclesiastical power, which was to arise in the professing church of Christ within the limits of the Western. empire, we discern in the prophetic description an exact delineation of the Papal power; and we thus identify St. Paul's Man of Sin with Daniel's Little Horn of the fourth beast. Now, since it is generally agreed, by all Protestant commentators of note, that the Papal power is destroyed just before the Millennium, we are led to conclude that the brightness of the Lord's coming, whereby that destruction is to be effected, immediately precedes the Millennium; and, therefore, that it is the self-same coming of the Lord predicted by Daniel in his 7th chapter. It must also be the same coming of the Lord as that announced in Rev. xix. 11-21, whereby the Beast and False Prophet, or the powers secular and spiritual of the Roman empire, are finally destroyed; which events are immediately succeeded by the period of Millennial blessedness.

The coming of the Lord with the clouds of heaven, announced in Matt. xxiv. 30, Mark xiii. 26, and Luke xxi. 27, is also proved to be the same advent as that predicted in the former passages, from its being connected in time, by the Evangelist Luke, with the fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles and the re-establishment of the Jewish nation; which events are, by all the best inter

preters of prophecy, placed synchro nically with the end of the Roman monarchy and the commencement of the Millennium. Thus Mede, the father of prophetic interpretation, reasoned. "When (says he) St. Luke's times of the Gentiles are finished, then shall be signs in the sun and moon: the Son of Man comes also in the clouds of heaven (ver. 27); the redemption of Israel (ver. 28); and the kingdom of God is at hand (ver. 31.)"Works, Book IV. Epistle viii.

In Rev. xiv. 14, one like the Son of Man is seen sitting on a white cloud. Upon similar grounds we identify this appearance with the advent already so often mentioned; because it corresponds in time with the harvest, or gathering of the elect; and with the vintage, or treading of the wine-press of wrath; which scene of vengeance is, in Rev. xix. 15, placed at the advent of our Lord, before the Millennium; as it is in Isaiah lxiii. 1-9 connected in time with the national redemption of Israel, which equally takes place before the Millennium.

Once more: when, on referring to the Greek versions of the Old Testament, on Zech. xii. 10-12, I find in the Septuagint (according to the reading of Justin Martyr and Ignatius), and in the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotian, the following words, Ka εmblepovτai mρos μɛ eiç ov ežerevτησαν και κόψονται επι κόπετον, &c. και κοψεται ἡ γη κατα puras pulas-and when, on open

αυτόν

All the English editions of the Seventy being from the Vatican, for o xa read are' w xarwexnoavro, which, as Horne observes, is unintelligble. "But Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and the Pachonian MS. read #zivna." See Ewing's Lexicon on the word Kaтogy coμa-This remark of Mr. Ewing I have verified, so far as respects Justin Martyr; who, in his first Apol. and his Dialogue with Trypho, has the reading governo. I learn from the notes in my own copy of the Septuagint (Frankfort, 1597), that Aquila, Symmachus,

and Theodotian have the same words, but I have not been able to consult their versions.

ing the book of Revelation at chap. i. 7, I read the words kai oferaι Avtov πας οφθαλμος και οἵτινες αυτον εξεκέντησαν και κοψονται επ' αυτον Tara à puλa rns yns-it is impossible for me not to conclude, that the Holy Spirit, in guiding his servants in these passages to use such identity of phraseology, intended to point out to us that one and the same event is predicted in both. But the prophecy of Zechariah, whereof the above words form a part, evidently relates to the restoration and conversion of the Jews, which confessedly take place before the Millennium; and thus we are led to the conclusion, that our Lord's advent with the clouds, in Rev. i. 7, also precedes the Millennium, and is to be identified with the advent in Dan. vii. 13.

To the foregoing passages may be added Matt. xxvi. 64, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man. sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven,' and the corresponding text of Mark xiv. 62; and though there are no chronological marks in these passages to indicate the precise period to which they refer, yet, as the advent of Christ is described in language so nearly similar to that of the prophet Daniel, I may well adopt. the words of Mede, to express my unalterable conviction that our Lord, in using the expressions in Matt. xxvi. 64, intended to direct the attention of the Jewish rulers to that

passage. "I shall never believe" (says Mede) "but that all those places of the Son of Man's coming, and appearing in the clouds of heaven, mentioned in the Gospels, and in the Apocalypse i. 7, are the same with the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds prophesied by Daniel, at the extinction of the fourth Beast (chap. vii.); and that the Holy Ghost in the New Testament hath reference thither, both for words and meaning."-Works, Book IV. Epistle x.

I now proceed to remark, that in the New Testament there are three