shall correspond to such an outward relation, earth will be heaven embodied-the manifested kingdom of God among menwhich is the Great Objective of all prophecy.

CONCLUSION TO CHAPTERS IV AND V.

And when this shall be even partially realized here in America (where plainly the first victories must be won) whether in the way which socialists expect, or in some other way; when selfishness has given place to fraternity; when a state (and government) thoroughly Christian, which is thoroughly just and beneficent, shall have been established; when ignorance and superstition shall have yielded to knowledge, error to truth, and all corrupt forms of belief to a religion that is "pure and undefiled"; then must the whole world share in the benefit.

What hope will dawn for Africa when fifteen or twenty millions of blacks in this country, converted, educated, and possessed of ample means, shall pour a stream of missionaries, teachers, and consecrated workers, into the dark continent!

What hope for Ireland shall arise when the myriads of her sons in America, themselves disenthralled and inspired by a faith in which the many noble traits of their race shall unfold to a superlative manhood, shall turn toward her with overflowing affection and fly to her rescue!

How swiftly will the clouds of unbelief that darken the land of Luther be broken and scattered, when the mighty host of his countrymen in America, filled once more with the spirit of the Reformation, shall again unfurl the gospel banner and shout final victory for the truth on all the old battle-fields of Europe!

What hope shall blossom for the world when, from America,

the Swede shall go as God's messenger of salvation to Sweden, the Dane to Denmark, the Italian to Italy, the Chinaman to China, and not a nation can be found upon the planet but shall see her own children coming back from hence with the message of deliverance!

Plainly our country is already the school of missionaries and reformers for the world, and is to be the great center from which the light that is to lighten the nations is to radiate forth; for what else is God gathering all peoples upon our shores?

When a city is to be supplied with water, springs are hunted out in the hills around, and sometimes through aqueducts the converging streams are made to pour themselves into one central reservoir elevated above the roofs of the buildings, and then from this one lofty point of storage the whole city is fully supplied.

Just such a reservoir is God preparing in America. Elevated far above all other peoples in knowledge, in wealth, in resources, and finally in spiritual purity and power, He is gathering to her an elect seed out of every nation under heaven; and when the reservoir is full, and the purifying process is complete (can we doubt it?), He will open the sluice-ways, and the whole world shall swiftly share in the waters of life.

And not far off but comparatively nigh, is the great day of His power. Dr. Dorchester has shown, by figures that cannot lie, that Christianity has made more progress in the present century than in all the eighteen that went before. What then may not the next hundred years behold of change and of progress!

On every hand we hear the whir of the approaching chariot wheels. We hear it in the click of the telegraph, in the roar of the locomotive, in the whistle of the ocean steamer. We hear it

in the Sabbath bell, in the patter of children's feet on their way to the school, and in the tramp of gathering millions as they flee from old-world darkness and despotism to this land of freedom and light. All things tend to one result; the world is rushing toward a crisis. And our country is plainly to be the central theater of the great onward movement. Surely the poet's sentiments are just when he writes:

"We are living, we are dwelling
In a grand and awful time;
In an age on ages telling;-
To be living is sublime.

Hark! the waking up of nations,
Gog and Magog to the fray,
List! what soundeth? "Tis creation
Groaning for its latter day.

"Will ye play, then, will ye dally,

With your music and your wine?
Up! it is Jehovah's rally;

God's own arm hath need of thine.
Hark! the onset; will ye fold your
Faith-clad arms in lazy lock?
Up, O up, thou drowsy soldier;
Worlds are charging to the shock.

"Worlds are charging, Heaven beholding,
Thou hast but an hour to fight;
Now the blazoned cross unfolding,
On, right onward, for the right.
On! let all the soul within you
For the truth's sake go abroad;
Strike! let every nerve and sinew
Tell on ages,-tell for God."

油

THE

CHAPTER VI.

FOREGLEAMS OF THE KINGDOM.

IE teachings of Christ in regard to his kingdom are made luminous by the facts of his life. It is by the latter even more than by the former that he "brought life and immortality to light." A full review of these facts is impossible here. But fortunately it is not necessary. For there are two great events in his life by which all the essential features of the great subject are brought clearly into view, and these alone will be sufficient for the present purpose. These crowning events are his Transfiguration and his Resurrection.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and his ascension into heaven (for the two are really one) constitute the most prodigious of al miracles and probably the greatest event that has yet taken place upon our planet.

The circumstances were worthy of such an event. The sudden tremor and shaking of the earth; the descent from heaven of the strong angel who rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and before whose flashing eyes the Roman guard fled in quaking terror; the empty tomb, the grave clothes laid by in orderly fashion, and the vision of angels, seen by the women, one at the head and another at the foot of the place where the Lord

had lain; the opening of the graves and the appearance of departed saints flitting by as if in haste to view the marvelous scene; and finally the appearances of the Lord himself able to move about in a wonderful way and to instruct and comfort his disciples, and all with a body rent by the Roman whips and nails, and open in the side by a gaping wound even to the heart's deep center;--all these stupendous and unparalleled facts proclaim that the crown of God's mighty works is indeed before us here. They bear the unmistakable impress of supernatural power, and are full of divinest meanings.

But after his Resurrection the next greatest event in Christ's life is probably the Transfiguration. And the singular thing about it is that it seems to have been enacted for the very purpose of giving instruction in regard to his kingdom. Matthew, Mark and Luke each record Christ's singular saying that some of his disciples should not die until they had seen the Son of man clothed with power in his kingdom; and each in the very next verse proceeds to describe the Transfiguration. The conviction is irresistible that they understood that this was the fulfillment of his prediction, as we shall speedily see that it surely was.

The story is briefly told. Jesus and the three Intimates (Peter, James and John) are together upon a lonely hill-top. He becomes absorbed in earnest prayer. They are soon conscious of a powerful influence drawing them strongly toward the trance state. Suddenly their quickened vision beholds a wonderful sight. They see their Master's form become radiant as by an inner refulgence, his garments white as light, and his countenance dazzling like the noonday sun. And beside him stand Moses and Elias appearing in a like but fainter glory. They hear words,