nations. But they are wild beasts, and they run rapidly down from the lion to the bear, from the bear to the

leopard, and from the leopard to the hybrid monstrosity. All is on the descending scale, all is seen to be

growing worse and worse. Those who look for the world to improve and progress till it developes into the

Millenial kingdom, must account for this. We all agree that these things are figures, but they are figures of a

reality, and that which is represented as an ever increasing descent, cannot possibly be the figure for a

gradual ascent. At any rate it was not so interpreted to Daniel by the Holy Ghost. He said to

Nebuchadnezzar, "Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom INFERIOR to thee"

(Dan. ii. 38, 39).

Yet with all this manifest deterioration there is a seeming advance, in apparent greatness; but it is in reality

only weakness. The first Empire, Babylon, is seen as one; the second, Medo-Persia, is seen as two; the

third, Greece, becomes four (Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt); and the fourth, Rome, becomes ten. So

that there is less and less of that unity which is strength, and more and more of that division and separation

which is weakness.

And as the image thus declines in all that is great, noble and precious, so the beasts become more wild and

ferocious. Government runs down, down! The first (Babylon), was an autocracy "whom he would he slew;

and whom he would he kept alive," &c. (Dan. v. 19). The second was a Parliament of Princes, and the Law of

the Persian Kingdom was stronger than the Persian King (Dan. vi. 1, 14, &c.). The third (Greece), was a

government of oligarchies; while in the fourth (Rome) we see the mingling of the princely iron with the

communistic clay, until in our day we see more and more of the clay and less and less of the iron, till good

government is the one great want of the age all over the world. Man has been tried and found wanting. He

cannot govern himself as an individual, apart from God. How then can he do it nationally. No! the descent is

from God to the Devil, from Christ to the Anti-christ.

And this moral descent is not affected by an apparent ascending of civilisation. Crime may be less revolting

and more refined. Sin may be less gross and more polite. Robbery may become less violent but more subtle:

instead of being done on the highway it may be done securely in the office, and in the way of business. But

the refined sinner and the vulgar sinner are equally far from the Kingdom of God. The flesh is bad. It is the

same evil and corrupt nature in the saint as in the sinner, and the more you get of it the worse it is. Did you

ever notice the opening words of the sixth chapter of the History of the Church? Gen. vi., which tells of the

corruption which ended in the flood, begins "And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face

of the earth," &c., (Prov. xxix. 16); and Acts vi. begins "And in those days when the number of the disciples

was multiplied, there arose a murmuring," &c. God says, "that which is born of the flesh, is flesh" (John iii.

6), and however refined, and cultured, and trained "the flesh" may be, it can never be changed into, or

become "Spirit."

Even with men as individuals there has been deterioration. In the early ages of the world, men were largely

given to study the heavens, and they loved to trace their descent from the Gods. But in our days they study

the earth, and are content to trace their evolution from the mud! And so it will be to the end. Down, down,

till "the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," filled to the full, and then, evil will come to a head. All the evil will

then culminate in one man who is called the Anti-christ.

The Scriptures reveal him by many names; but every q uality, every attribute, every character, every name

and act and sign, marks him as an individual. He is called "the King of fierce countenance" (Dan. viii. 23);

"the little horn" (Dan. vii. 8, &c.): "the Prince that shall come" (Dan. ix. 26), etc.

There are three great prophecies concerning him, given through Daniel, (Dan. vii. 7-11, viii. 19-26, xi. and xii.):

St. Paul (2 Thess. ii. 3-10); and St. John (Rev. xiii., xvii. and xix. &c.).

The early Christians were not ignorant of these things. Their teachers (unlike the teachers of our day) were

not dumb concerning them. "Remember ye not (says St. Paul) that while I was with you, I told you these