throughout the whole world. Hence the prediction of the Psalmist, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning; let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." But the law is now gone forth out of Zion; and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; therefore we must look for Jerusalem, for the city of the great King, elsewhere. Coming to God the judge of all under his teaching, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant by faith, and to the saints in heartfelt love and affection, is coming to the heavenly Jerusalem; for all believers are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.

To let Jerusalem come into your mind, in the language of the New Testament, is to love one another, to let the children of God have a place in our hearts and affections. And now to interweave their case with ours, the principal seat of the church of God, in this day, is Great Britain; for I believe there is but very little of the power of godliness elsewhere; nor is there much of it here. I have heard much of the wonderful success of the gospel in America; but I have but little faith in these good tidings. I have had let ters from various parts of that country, and from many other countries also, and from the East and West Indies; and they all complain to me of famine, and I believe it. Gospel Jerusalem is now with us, and Zion is God's resting-place for ever: "Here," saith he, "will I dwell, for I have

peace

desired it:" therefore seek we the peace of the city, and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the thereof shall we have peace. "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces; for my friends and companions sake will I now say, Peace be within thee; because of the house of the Lord my God I will seek thy good." Blessed are those servants whom, when their Lord cometh, he shall find so doing; for they yet rule with God, and are faithful with the saints.

Some dream of a universal republic, as some former kings in France did of universal empire; but we are as secure from that as the word of the immutable God can make us. At the division of the Roman empire into kingdoms, according to the prophecy of Daniel, ten kings rose up in it about one and the same time; hence the empire is called a beast, and the ten kings the ten horns of the beast, which have more or less, in times past, pushed and fought in defence of the beast, and in defence of popery: and though this exact number. ten hath not always been the same, but sometimes more and sometimes less, yet that was the number at the first division, and I believe it will be the same when God judges Babylon the great.

Some few years ago, if I conjecture right, there were eleven kings in the empire: the king of Britain, of Denmark, of Sweden, of Poland, of Bohemia, of Prussia, of Naples, of Sardinia, of France, of Spain, and of Portugal; and although

France and Poland are now without kings, yet there remain nine still. Whether there be any other princes that are crowned heads in the empire I know not; but those above mentioned have borne the title of kings; this is well known among us. The pope is not included in this list, for he is the little horn before whom three horns fell, and ever since the popes have worn a have worn a triple crown. For so it is written: "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld, even till the beast was slain, and his body

destroyed, and given to the burning flame. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, 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," Dan. vii. Daniel, in this vision, sees the Chaldean empire rolled round to Rome; the Babylonian, the Median and Persian, and the Grecian, were, in vision, passed away.

He calls this beast diverse from all the rest, because of the ecclesiastical and civil power being interwoven together in the pope, the head of the beast, and because it had destroyed all the others. He sees the division of the empire into ten kingdoms; hence he says the beast had ten horns. Then he sees a little horn spring up among the ten: this is the pope, before whom three horns were plucked up: this alludes to the three countries conquered by Pepin and Charlemain, kings of France, who promoted the pope, and gave him these three countries for his patrimony, and on which account the popes of Rome have worn a triple crown ever since. The great words. which this horn spake, allude to the doctrine of devils, which the New Testament applies to him. At the head of this ten-horned beast he sits, and will till the Ancient of days comes, who is de

scribed in verse 9th. This coming of Christ is not to judge the quick and dead, but to take to himself his great power, and to reign universally in a spiritual way. The fiery stream attending him, will, according to the New Testament, burn the great whore with fire. The thousands that minister unto him, are those that embrace his truth; and those who stand before him to be judged are such as have killed his saints, and is therefore called judging the great whore, avenging the blood of his saints, and giving the murderers blood to drink. The books being opened, is intended to shew that he will proceed according to men's deserts, and execute the vengeance threatened, that his judgments may appear to be both righteous and true, which is what the living saints will applaud. His coming with the clouds of heaven, I understand of the invisible attendance of the ministering angels, together with the cloud of witnesses upon earth which will attend him. Read, "And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them," Rev. xi. 12. Daniel looks till the body of the beast was slain and given to the burning flame; this is Paul's man of sin, the wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume, with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy by the brightness of his coming. And when this is done Babylon falls, and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God, and of his Christ; and so