men keep not thy law\" But it will not be always thus. There is a time coming, and, we hope, now near at hand, when the whole world shall be con- verted to the faith of Christ, and " the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea." Of this period the Apostle speaks in my text. Respecting the sounding of the seven angels I forbear to speak, because of the obscurity in which the subject is involved. But of the universal esta- blishment of the Redeemer's empire, and of the joy expressed amongst the heavenly hosts at the pro- spect of it, I may speak with certainty; because it is a subject so fully opened in the Sacred Writings, that we can entertain no doubt respecting it. Let me then call your attention to,
L The approaching reign of Christ on earth —
The kingdoms of this world have hitherto been almost entirely under the dominion of the prince of darkness —
[Satan is called " the god of this world," because he has reduced the world to a state of entire subjection to himself. That wicked fiend beguiled our First Parents in Paradise, and brought under his own tyrannic sway the whole of the human race. The effect produced by him on his vassals may be seen in the first-born child of man; who was a murderer, and slew his own brother solely from an envious hatred of his superior piety. Some few, a little remnant, God has in every age de- livered from his dominion; but, from the fall of Adam to the present hour, he has kept in bondage the great mass of man- kind, and is therefore justly called " the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in all the children of disobedience." Not that he has power to make men act con- trary to their will. They are possessed of a corrupt nature ; and he knows how to take advantage of their evil propen- sities, and to ensnare them with temptations suited to their corrupt appetites. His wiles -and devices are inconceivably subtle : the spirits also that are confederate with him are in- numerable: and men are but too willing to comply Avith his solicitations: so that he takes them in his snares, and "leads them captive at his will." He does not indeed impel every one to the same crimes. Some he instigates to fulfil the de- sires of the flesh ; others to tread more nearly in his own steps, by gratifying tlie desires of the mind in the indulgence
of ' Ps. cxix. 136.