244 PROPHECIES FULFILLING IN THE PRESENT DAY.

the advantages of civilisation are beginning to extend. The translation of the Scriptures into all languages, is rapidly advancing, and the light of the Gospel is breaking forth on the right hand and the left. The Lord reigneth; of the increase of his government there shall be no end. His purposes shall stand, and will all be accomplished by him in the best manner, and at the most proper season. "I the Lord will hasten it in his

* The year in which Jesus Christ was born, according to the computation most generally received, was the 4000th from the creation, which corresponds precisely with the time which an old tradition of the Jews fixes as the beginning of the days of the Messiah. They confess that this is the very period pointed out by the prophecies of the Old Testament for his coming; but they affirm that the fulfilling of them has been delayed on account of their sins. According to this tradition which is said to be of great antiquity, and is still retained by the Jews as one of the most authentic-there were to be 2000 years before the law, 2000 years under the law, and 2000 years under the Messiah. And thus the time of the millennium, or the 1000 years during which Satan shall be bound, and of the accomplishment of the predictions concerning the complete triumph of the Gospel, and the introduction of universal purity and peace, will be the 7000th year of the world, corresponding to the original seventh day of rest.

CHAPTER XII.

EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM CHRONOLOGICAL HARMONIES, AND REMARKABLE COINCIDENCES FOUND IN SCRIPTURE.

VARIOUS circumstances and occurrences in harmony with each other, are recorded in the Bible of such a nature, so numerous, and so distant from each other, that they cannot be attributed to chance, and so far beyond the power of human agency, that they can only be referred to the express interposition of the great disposer of all events. Over such occurrences, the Sacred Writers had evidently no control, nor do they appear to have had, in general, any knowledge of the purpose which the recording of them was intended to serve. They are everywhere interspersed throughout the Scriptures, and bear the indubitable mark of premeditated design and Almighty operation. They prove that from the beginning of time, to the close of the sacred canon, including a period of more than 4000 years, a settled plan was acted on, and that those Scriptures in which such striking coincidences are recorded, are the production of Him to whom alone are known all his works from the foundation of the world, and who only has the power to regulate them. A few examples of these shall now be given. If our attention is called to them both in the Old Testament and in the New; as in Exodus xii. 41, and Matthew i. 17;

and if we observe certain numbers particularly distinguished throughout the Scriptures, are not these intimations from God himself, that such harmonies and coincidences, as are contained in his book, ought not to pass unnoticed?

That the import of these coincidences is not fanciful, but that it is the intention of the spirit of inspiration, whose wisdom is unfolded not only in the matter, but also in the manner of revelation, that they should be attended to, is evident from their nature. A few coincidences, associated by no connecting principle, would not indicate design. But the harmonies of times, and coincidence of events, which shall now be pointed out, and a multitude of others that might be referred to, are of such a description, as by their number and their nature, place it beyond all doubt that they have been regulated by a superintending power. As it is impossible that they could have been forged, so they cannot be authentic without proving the Scriptures, in which they are found, to be the work of God. He only could produce them whose Providence is continually employed in giving effect to his eternal counsels. The importance of the coincidence exhibited at the opening of the New Testament, arises solely from the coincidence itself as being a thing remarkable. Had the spirit of prophecy divided the generations into three equal parts, it might have been observed as a fulfilment of prophecy. But the only point of view in which the Spirit of Inspiration holds it forth as worthy of attention, is the remarkable circumstance of such a coincidence. It is possible that, in the following instances, some inaccuracies may be discovered, but, on the whole, it is believed they will be found to be correct. Assuredly they are very astonishing, and exhibit a species

of evidence to the divine original of the Scriptures, of a most singular description, but which appears to have been too generally overlooked.

Human life has two different terminations; some die by a violent, others by a natural death; but those who shall be alive at the last day, will not pass through either the one or the other of those ways, but by a third, which shall be a sudden transformation of their body, by which they will become incorruptible, (1 Cor. xv. 51,52.) Thus there are three different modes ordained for inan's departure from this world. These three modes are distinctly indicated in the three first men whose departures are recorded in Scripture. The departure of the first, Abel, was violent, that of the second, Adam, was natural, that of the third, Enoch, was supernatural and miraculous. These three departed in the above order, immediately following each other, as will be seen by calculating the years of Enoch's life. The departure from this world of every one of the human race, must take place in one of the three ways thus pointed out in these three persons. And as they who shall be changed without seeing death shall be the last to leave this world, so Enoch, who represented them, was the last of the three. God, who dictated the Scriptures, hath thus at their opening given in abridgement, a view of what he intended to develope respecting the exit of men from the beginning of the world, even to the end.

As many years as Enoch had lived in the world, so many days the world remained under the waters of the flood. This patriarch sojourned 365 years upon the earth, and then was translated to heaven. The duration of the flood was twelve lunar months and ten days, which make a solar year, namely, 365 days, which

correspond with the 365 years of the life of Enoch. The miraculous translation of Enoch, which took place when men acted as if they had forgotten that there is another life after the present, tended to remind them of this great truth by a striking example. But the world having for a long time despised this miracle, God condemned them to be overwhelmed with a flood. Thus, as men did not consider the translation of Enoch, nor elevate their thoughts to heaven, God appointed that they should be buried under the flood as many days as Enoch had lived years upon the earth, 365 days, for 365 years. There are several examples in Scripture which show that the justice of God has settled a period of years for as many days. Numbers xiv. 34; Ezekiel iv. 5, 6.

The number, 7, which, as the creation of the heavens and the earth was finished in six days, and God rested from his work on the seventh, is reckoned the number of perfection, holds a very conspicuous place throughout the whole of the Scriptures.

It seems to have become proverbial, even from the beginning of the world, to amplify a matter, in placing a followed by 70 times 7. "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." And our Lord commands us to forgive not only 7 times, but 70 times 7. A similar multiplication may be remarked in many of the works of God, especially in the dispensation of times.

Methuselah lived 7 years longer than any other man. The 7th and last year which God gave him, was also the last of the old world. As Lamech in giving a name to his son Noah, predicted rest, so his age was altogether composed of septenaries, the number of rest. Enoch, who was translated bodily to heaven, was the 7th man after Adam. Lamech was the 7th who