as in his temple of old : be ye altogether a people unto him, and let him be your God and portion for ever. These bless- ings will characterize the Millennial age, and be vouchsafed in a more abundant measure to his people that shall hereafter return unto him: yet are they to be enjoyed at this present hour by all who truly believe in Christ. Why then should so much as one of you remain destitute of these blessings? May God of his infinite mercy make you all like-minded in relation to them! and may the time quickly arrive, when God's ancient people shall experience them in their souls, and " all flesh shall see the salvation of God ! "]
Dan. ii. 44. In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never he destroyed : and the kingdom shall not he left to other people, hut it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
THE various revolutions of kingdoms, how casual and contingent soever they may appear, all are fore- ordained in the inscrutable counsels of the Deity, and made subservient to the accomplishment of his eternal purpose ; indeed they seem to be marked in Scripture solely in reference to the Church of God ; as though the rise and fall of empires were scarcely worth a men- tion, except as they accelerate or retard the progress of true religion. In the time of the Babylonish cap- tivity God gave to Nebuchadnezzar a very remarkable dream, and interpreted it to him by the Prophet Daniel. There appeared to him an image, whose head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, the feet of iron and clay ; on the feet of which a stone fell, that utterly demolished the whole. This foretold the succession of four great monarchies, and the erec- tion of the Messiah's kingdom upon the ruins of them all.
For the elucidation of this subject, it will be proper to consider,
I. The prophecy itself —
In which we notice,