to the end of time, yet he works incessantly to its last hour. Our day is measured by a few brief years, half of which is spent in infancy and sleep, whilst the whole may at any moment end in death; yet we fritter away our time and energies and opportunities as if no necessities were upon us, or as if we had no salvation to secure, no hell to escape, no God to serve, no heaven to win. Alas, alas, for such indifference! Brethren, look at the untiring energy of Hell for destruction, and learn wisdom for eternal life.

4. Finally, note the pressing need there is to keep ourselves awake and in readiness for the coming of our Lord. Over and over we are told that He shall come as a thief in the night-when men think not-when many of His own servants are saying and believing that it is not possible that He should come in their day-when the great multitude is counting on nothing but peace and safety. The day and the hour knoweth no man. And if that day should come upon us unawares, and find us unprepared, even though we should not be finally lost, these presentations show that terrible experiences await us. No wonder that the beneficent and loving Jesus should make it one of his most constant and most urgent admonitions, to watch and pray that we come not into these dreadful tribulations. As we value our peace, let us not then be indifferent to things so solemu.

LECTURE THIRTY-FIRST.

THE BEAST FROM THE SEA-THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE ANTICHRIST-THIS VISION A SYMBOL OF TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY IN ITS FINAL CONSUMMATION-AN INDIVIDUAL ADMINISTRATION EMBODIED IN ONE PARTICULAR MAN-A SUPERNATURAL PERSONAGE HIS ATTRACTIVENESS AND GREATNESS -- ТПЕ CONSUMMATE ANTAGONIST AND SUPPLANTER OF EVERYTHING DIVINE-HIS BLASPHEMY TOWARDS THEM THAT TABERNACLE IN THE HEAVEN-THE DEEP AND SOLEMN IMPORTANCE OF THESE FORESHOWINGS.

REV. 13: 1-10. (Revised Text.) And I [some MSS. he, the Dragon] stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast [or wild beast] coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy.

And the beast which I saw was like to a leopard [or panther], and his feet as of a bear, and his mouth, as the mouth of a lion. And the Dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority. And (I saw) one of his heads as having been slain to death [killed], and the stroke of his death was healed; and all the earth wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the Dragon because he gave the authority to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like to the beast! And who is able to war with him!

And a mouth was given him speaking great and blasphemous things; and authority was given him to act for forty-two months.

And he opened his mouth for blasphemies towards God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, they which tabernacle in the heaven. And it was given him to make war on the saints, and to overcome them; and authority was given him over evory tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation. And all that dwell upon the earth shall (will) worship him,-[every one] whose name hath not been written, from the foundation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been

slain.

( 387 )

If any one hath an ear, let him hear, If any one [is] for captivity, into captivity he goeth; if any one will kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed.

Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

THE

HE Apostle John, writing to no particular Church, but in a general Epistle to a wide circle of churches, makes this remarkable statement: "Little children, ye have heard that Antichrist shall come." (1 John 2: 18.) Where and how had the Christians of his time thus heard about "the Antichrist," and become familiar with the fact of his coming? The answer is, that this was a part of the common instruction given to God's people, both under the Old Testament and the New. It was distinct and prominent in the writings of the ancient prophets, and it was among the teachings of Christ, and those sent to preach and teach in His name. Even the light of the first promise of a coming Deliverer, had with it the dark adumbration of an antagonizing power to bruise His heel, and of a serpent brood to mass its strength against the mother's seed. And through all the ages of our world, there has been a Cain for every Abel, a Jannes and Jambres for every Moses and Aaron, a Babylon for every Jerusalem, a Herod for every John the Baptist, and a Nero for every going forth of God's consecrated apostles,-all the types and precursors of the ultimate heading up of all evil. in one final foe, which is the Antichrist. Nor has it been possible for the teachers of God in any age to give full instruction touching the history of human salvation, without embracing in it the doc

trine concerning this foul personage. It is part of the background of all Revelation, promise, and hope, given for the admonition and stregthening of God's people. And it is this Serpent seed, in its ultimate development, even THE MANIFESTED ANTICHRIST, Whose portrait is given us in the chapter on which we now enter. May God help us to handle it with wisdom and soberness!

In the preceding chapter we were called to contemplate the great Dragon, the Old Serpent, his influence over our world, his perpetual malignity toward the saints, his casting out from the heavyenly spaces at the glorification of the Church of the first-born, his great rage at being cast down into the earth, and his consequent determination to destroy all the people of God yet to be found among mortals. But Satan is a spirit, and cannot operate in the affairs of our world except through the minds, passions, and activities of men. He needs to embody himself in earthly agents, and to put himself forth in earthly organisms, in order to accomplish his murderous will. And through the inspired seer, God here makes known to us what that organism is, and how the agency and domination of the enraged Dragon will be exerted in acting out his blasphemies, deceits, and bloody spite. The subject is not a pleasant one, but it is an important one. It also has features so startling and extraordinary that many may be repelled, and led to treat it as a wild and foolish dream. Nevertheless, we all need to look at it, and to understand it. No one is safe in refusing

to entertain it. And whether we are able to grasp it fully in all its particulars or not, it is here set forth for our learning, that we may know just how things will eventually turn out.

John "in the spirit," finds himself stationed on the sands of the sea,-that same great sea upon which Daniel beheld the winds striving in their fury. He beholds a monstrous Beast rising out of the troubled elements. He sees horns emerging, and the number of them is ten, and on each horn a diadem. He sees the heads which bear the horns, and these heads are seven, and on the heads are names of blasphemy. Presently the whole figure of the monster is before him. Its appearance is like a leopard or panther, but its feet are as the feet of a bear, and its mouth as the mouth of a lion. He saw also that the Beast had a throne, and power, and great authority. One of his heads showed marks of having been fatally wounded and slain, but the deathstroke was healed. He saw also the whole earth wondering after the Beast, amazed at its majesty and power, exclaiming at the impossibility of withstanding it, and celebrating its superiority to everything. He beheld, and the Beast was speaking great and blasphemous things against God, blaspheming His name, His tabernacle, even them that tabernacle in the heaven, assailing and overcoming the saints on earth, and wielding authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation. He saw also that all the dwellers upon earth, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain,