come, "the wise should understand." So also at the very commencement of the Book of the Revelation; that book of wonders, intended, as it is, to unfold the solemn events of the last days, which must accompany the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ; we read (Rev. i. 3), "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep -i.e., attentively observe, and treasure up-those things which are written therein: for the time is nigh." Yes, the time was nigh-for then John wrote and sent unto the churches, "the things which he had seen," viz., the vision of Christ as the High Priest walking in the midst of his churches; "the things that are," viz., the letters to the churches; which are indicative of Christian life and action until the Lord doth come; "and the things which shall be hereafter," for then began the historic or typical fulfilment in years of those things which must be developed literally in the last days. Why this declaration ? that whosoever readeth, heareth, and attentively observes the startling sayings of this book is blessed, if it be not well and wise to make ourselves acquainted with it-if it may not be understood-and if it may not tell us approximately of the time of his advent? for its very title is the revealing or unveiling of Jesus Christ. There are also the following passages which the reader will do well to examine: Matt. xxiv. 42, 43; 1 Thess. v. 4; 2 Thess. ii. 1, 2; Rev. iii. 3.

There are passages of Scripture showing that God will reveal to his servants things which are hidden to the world generally, and which things his people should seek to understand; such, for instance, as Pro. xxviii. 5, compared with Psa. xcii. 6; from which we learn that "The brutish" (i.e., the heedless and unthinking), understand not judgment, but that they that seek the Lord understand all things." So, Hos. xiv. 9, “The wise and prudent shall know the ways of the Lord;" Dan. xii. 10, "The wise shall understand;" Amos iii. 7, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth (i.e., without revealing) his secret unto his servants the prophets." And the Lord Jesus said (Mark xiii. 23), "Take ye heed, behold I have foretold you all things." Note attentively 1 Cor. ii. 10-12, which teaches that they who possess the Spirit of God, shall understand the deep things of God.

The Lord Jesus also bids us "watch and pray that we may be accounted worthy to escape," which certainly implies that there are some things to be watched, and that the result of watching shall be the deliverance from evil. Moreover, the language of the apostle (1 Thess. v. 1-4) plainly shows that it is the privilege of the Christian to be on the alert, and to be in such a watchful state at the Lord's coming, that through a knowledge of the times and seasons, the Lord's coming will not be to him as the coming of a thief, bringing sudden alarm and destruction. Do not these Scriptures decidedly teach that it is possible for us to know approximately the time of the second advent? and that it is our privilege to know?" for," as the apostle writes in the ninth verse, "God hath not appointed us (the children of the light) to wrath, but to obtain deliverance by our Lord Jesus Christ." Not salvation-this they, as the children of light, had already obtained-but deliverance from the great tribulation, which should come upon all them who should remain upon the earth, after the resurrection of the firstfruits, and the great change to which the apostle refers in the previous chapter. (1 Thess. iv.

16, 17.) Well may he add, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words.'

From the first two or three chapters of Matthew and Luke's Gospels we gather that some few at least knew the time of the Saviour's first advent; among whom were Anna and Simeon. That all should have known is proved by the very fact that Christ rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees because they could discern the face of the sky, but did not, discern the signs of the times.

Mark xiii. 32 is a passage often quoted to show that the general period of the Lord's Second Advent could never be known, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, not even the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Such however could not be its import, for it was only spoken in the present tense with reference to the then existing time, before the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the day of Pentecost, from which time the Lord said his disciples should "receive power from on high," and be guided into all truth by him who should "show them things to come." Neither was at that time the seal removed from the testimony of the prophet Daniel-nor the book of the revealing of Jesus Christ, given to the Church. We submit, moreover, that the exact day and hour of our Lord's return cannot be made known; but that the time, will come, and is even now at hand, when the Church may be permitted to know something like the very year of his approach, we firmly believe.. According to the testimony of Dan. ix. 27, a covenant or league of seven years is to be made between the antichrist and many of the Jews, for their re-settlement in their own land; and this covenant is said to be effected just seven years "before the consummation; and that determined shall be poured upon the desolator." When this shall take place, it is hardly possible to avoid knowing the time when the Lord shall return with all his saints.

From Dan. viii. 13, 14, it would also appear that the whole career of the Antichrist, or desolator, shall be for 2,400 days (for such is the. number of days given in the older manuscripts), and this would be six years and eight months; which probably will be the exact time of his reign. The text more literally translated is as follows: "Then I heard one saint speaking, and the numberer of secrets said unto Palmoni who spake, How long the vision, the daily? (probably how long will be the vision of days; the whole time); and (how long?) the transgression which maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days (or 2,400); then shall the sanctuary be justified."

The whole of this is in round numbers seven years, during which time many Jews will have returned to Palestine and have resumed their sacrifices; but as they return in unbelief, with their hearts still hardened against their true Messiah, their sacrifices will be unjustified and unacceptable until Christ comes in his manifested glory, and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and believe. When, therefore, these events take place, the end may be easily known by those who watch. Are we to suppose that the Son does not now know? May we imagine that even the angels do not now know? those wise and watchful ones; who are said into these very things attentively to gaze? (1 Pet. i. 12.) It may be that the great change upon the living, watch

ful Christians, and the resurrection of the first fruits will take place just a little before the commencement of these events to which we have just referred, or just prior to the three years and a half, the last half of the above period. There are certain reasons which seem to favour either of these times for the date of the departure of the watchful church this may still be an undecided point, but the question arises whether we are not very closely nearing certain circumstances and events which Scripture teaches are to immediately precede the manifestation of the lawless one? Are there not certain prophetic signs which are indicative of the nearness of our Lord's advent? We think so; as, for instance, the convergence to the present time of so many Scriptural dates; the preaching of the Gospel among the nations, prior to the end, in accordance with the prophecy of Christ (Matt. xxiv. 14); the wasting of the Turco-Mohammedan Empire; the preparation of the way for the Jews to return to Palestine; the gathering of the nations to war, &c. A consideration of these and others demands special attention.

"Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." (Rev. xvi. 15.)

"Take ye heed: behold I have foretold you all things." (Mark xiii. 23.)

There are certain dates in Scripture which appear convergently to end between the years 1866 and 1882, which also seems to be the opinion of many expositors of prophetic truth.

Many deem it very wrong to inquire into, much more to rest upon, anything like chronological data; but then the question naturally arises, wherefore are these dates given in Scripture ? If by the Great Master we are bidden to "search the Scriptures," surely we are to give heed to the numbers which are noted in the sacred text. We are quite aware that many prophets and learned men, and even angels have searched into these things, and failed to discover what times the Spirit did signify when they prophesied beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow;" but we also know that these things were sealed to their vision, though accompanied by the affirmation that at the time of the end "knowledge should be increased, and the wise should understand.” There are a few dates given by the Prophet Daniel which apparently for their fulfilment point to the present time. For instance, those of the twelfth chapter: the 1260, 1290, and the 1335; also the "time, times, and the dividing of a time," of Dan. vii. 27; coincident with the above 1260 days. In Dan. viii. 18, 14, we read, "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto Palmoni,' that certain one who spake, How long the vision of the daily, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? and he said unto me, unto two thousand and four hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed (our version gives 2,300, but the older MSS. give 2,400 days); now 2,400 days are just six years and eight months. Probably the exact number of days, during which the "wilful king" will be in power; and noted in Dan. ix. 27 as the last week of years, during the last half of which the Antichrist is to rule and make desolate. These 2,400 literal days embrace the whole of the

vision of the daily (whatever that may mean), and the time of the desolating tribulation constituting the 1260 days.

There surely can be no doubt that the duration of the last action of the Antichrist is here given. But recognising as we do that there is also an historical or typical fulfilment in years of the visions of the Antichrist as given in Daniel and the Book of the Revelation, we have little hesitancy in considering this number as giving 2,400 years from the date of Daniel's vision. The prophet received his vision nearly, if not exactly in the year 534 B.C., which if deducted from the number 2,400, we are brought down to the year 1866, a year long anticipated as that which was likely to witness the end of the present dispensation; but one which did really witness the beginning of the last days, and which began a time of increasing trouble, speedily to culminate into the time of the great tribulation. We all recollect how full this year was of disasters; and from that time to the present each year has borne witness to great calamities, catastrophes, and crimes, both at home and abroad, such as our forefathers knew not. We believe there have been 2,400 years, through which the four wild beasts (or kingdoms) of Daniel's prophecy have been in historical fulfilment; and that there will be 2,400 literal days of the antichrist's power; that the former ended on or about 1866. What length of time may elapse between the termination of the years and the commencement of the days, we cannot say. It is a season which we are inclined to term that of night, in which fell the dynasty of the fourth kingdom in historic detail, the disappearance from the scene of action of the embryo Antichrist, the conclusion of the 6000th year of the world, the re-adjustment of the kingdoms preparative to the manifestation of the lawless one, and the beginning of sorrows which will terminate in the tribulation the great.

There is the period of 2,520 years, "the seven times," noted in Daniel iv. 16, and Lev. xxvi. 18, during which the Jews were to have the pride of their power broken, and be chastised for their unfaithfulness, and have their kingly power transferred to the four Gentile monarchies. We have above referred to the "time, times, and a half." (Dan. vii. 27.) Our readers will probably have understood that a "time" means a year of 360 days, which, in its typical or historic meaning, signifies a day for a year, according to Num. xiv. 34, and Ezek. iv. 6, represents 360 years. These, commencing at the time of the captivity, terminate about 186970, a period synchronising with very remarkable events, bearing especially upon the historical termination of the Gentile monarchies. The numbers, 1,260, 1,290, and 1,335 are of peculiar moment, both as they refer to the historical in years, and the literal in days. In their typical aspect they have had a common commencement about the year 534, when the Pope (whom we recognise as the type of the coming lawless one) first received temporal power by Justinian's code. They end respectively in 1794, when the temporal power of the Pope was broken by the French revolution; in 1824, when the Turkish power (Mohammedan Antichrist) began to wane; and in 1869-70 when, through the fall of Sedan and of Paris, the Pope lost all that was left of his temporal power. Of course we deem it impossible to fix with certainty the exact year; that may be ultimately permitted, but sufficient clearness is evinced to prove that we are closely approximating to the time of the end.

(To be concluded.)

THE DAY OF THE PARADISE.

1. "Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day."-Gen. xli. 9.

2. "All the commandments which I command thee this day."-Deut. viii. 1; xi. 13; xiii. 18, 28; xxvii. 4.

3. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.”— Deut. xxx. 15.

4. "Even to-day do I declare," etc.-Zech. ix. 12.

5. "Verily I say unto thee to-day [semeron] shalt thou be with me in Paradise." -Luke xxiii. 43.

THE

HE reader's attention is called to the foregoing passages; the last one quoted being popularly supposed to teach that on that exact Jewish day, at some time between twelve at noon and sunset, the spirit or soul of our Lord, and the spirit or soul (nobody seems to know which) of the penitent thief, were to be together in what was vulgarly called Paradise, i.e., the elysian portion of hades, the under-world. It is claimed by critics and theologians that the comma must of necessity be placed after "thee," instead of after "to-day," and that the words of Christ will admit of no other interpretation than that the spirits (or souls) of the two were to be in a disembodied, conscious condition as soon as they died. The adverb "to-day," it is said, cannot by any means qualify 'I say," but must of stern necessity, to make both grammar and sense, qualify "thou shalt be;" hence during that twenty-four hours, Paradise, already in existence, already come for mortals, should by both the dying men be entered and occupied.

"I doubt," as said Adam Clarke on another occasion. I question if any saint has yet entered "The Paradise." There is only one-that is God's. The hadean abode is right down in our earth, and I am sure there is no such Paradise there. Strange that Christians should imagine there is! Now touching this passage, and the others quoted, I observe: 1. In the words of Noah Webster, "the ancients were unacquainted with punctuation; they wrote without any distinction of members, periods, or words." So neither Christ nor Luke put the commas in Luke's written words.

2. Appleton's Cyclopedia informs us that the modern points, such as the comma, semicolon, colon, and period, "came into use very gradually after the invention of printing," which was in 1423.

3. The punctuation of a speaker's words and sentences is to be made in accordance with his natural pauses, and in agreement with the sense of the same; the punctuation not so much determining the sense, as does the sense determine the punctuation. The point is, what does our Lord mean? not, what shall we compel him to mean.

4. If we had heard our Lord utter the words recorded in Luke, and distinctly observed a natural pause after "thee," and an emphasis on "to-day," then might we yield the argument to our opponents. But no man this side the cross listened to the sacred promise to the thief. Luke, and he only-not another-recorded the dying words of the bleeding King. It is written-and the whole Bible must interpret it, aided by

common sense.

5. Explained by the usus loquendi, or general usages of the word in Scripture, we know that Paradise, in the only passage that locates it at