have reason to bless his name, if, by any means, he purge you from your corruptions, and assimilate you to his divine image ? This, then, I say to you: If God send you any affliction, whether personal or domestic, " hear the rod, and Him that hath ap- pointed it^\" Entreat of God to shew you what sin it is that he would correct, or what grace it is that he would confirm and perfect within you. In a word, desire not deliverance from affliction, but a sanctified improvement of it to your soul. Thus shall all the purposes of his grace be accomplished ; and when the end shall come, it shall be no grief to you, that " through much tribulation you entered into tlie kingdom of your God."]
1' Mic. vi. 9.
Isai. ii. 5. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk m the
light of the Lord.
MANY prophecies there are which are not yet accomplished, especially among those which are to be fulhlled " in the last days." The last days were understood even by the Jews themselves as relating to the days of the Messiah ; and they comprehend all the time from his first advent in the flesh to the period when his kingdom shall be fully established upon earth. Hence the prophecies relating to that period must have different degrees of accomplish- ment ; being partly fulfilled in the first triumphs of the Gospel, but having a further and more entire accomplishment when all the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus it is that we are to understand the prophecy contained in the preceding context. " The mountain of the Lord's House," that is, the Gospel Church, was established on the top of the mountains in the apostolic age, when it triumphed over heathen idolatry and Jewish superstition ; and myriads of converts encouraged one another to serve and glorify their God : but we have not yet seen the time when " swords have been beaten into plough- shares, and spears into pruning-hooks, and nations have ceased to learn and practise the art of war." That time however will come : and we should Ions,