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first grand battle. It appears, therefore, that Gog assists in the overthrow of the papacy, and attempts to conquer the Jews in Palestine, where he and all his forces are completely cut off. Precisely the same actions, however, and at precisely the same period, are ascribed by Daniel to the king of the north; whence we are almost compelled to suppose the identity of the king of the north, and Gog the great northern prince of Mesech and Jubal. If this be the case, which I think to be nearly indisputable, I could wish some of your learned correspondents to consider how far we have a right to conclude that arch-apostate Bonaparte to be the prince of the north mentioned by Daniel, Ezekiel, and St. John. Some of his actions certainly correspond very minutely with those of Daniel's king of the north. Thus, considered with respect to Italy, he is a northern power; he hath come against the papal territory like a whirlwind; he hath entered into many countries, hath overflowed, and passed over; he hath attacked Palestine; but, by the singular intrepidity of Sir Sydney Smith, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, were delivered out of his hand; nevertheless the land of Egypt hath not escaped him, and the Copts and the Arabs have attended his steps.

Should this prophecy then relate to Bonaparte, hitherto it hath been accomplished, and in God's own good time will be completely so; but if it do not relate to him, the events are yet future. Gog and Magog are generally thought to be the northern and southern Scythians; it is almost superfluous to observe, that most of the modern Europeans are of Scythic or Tartar origin; but whether we may, with propriety, apply the titles of Gog, Mesech, and Tubal to the Franks at present, inasmuch as they have long since quitted the wilds of Tartary and occupied a more southern situation, I will not venture to determine. A writer in the Antijacobin Review of July last has, I think, too rashly applied the prophecy of the king of the north to Bonaparte. Before that can be posi tively done, it ought to be shown, that the character of the northern prince of Mesech and Tubal is the character of the Corsican despot.

Bishop Horsley, in his admirable elucidation of the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, thinks that the restoration of the Jews will be effected by the then prevailing maritime power. Opposed as Great Britain is to the inordinate ambition of France, if Bonaparte be the northern king destined to attack the Jews in Palestine, and consequently to be their mortal enemy, England may possibly be the nation destined to espouse their cause, and to effect their restoration.

Should you think these observations worthy of a place in your valuable miscellany, they are much at your service.

Ch. Ob.

MATTHEW vi. 23.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.

OUR dear Redeemer, constantly aiming at the grand design of his incarnation, always directed the minds of his followers to that kingdom, which is not of this world, and to those joys which are lasting as himself. In the chapter, from which these words are selected, he had been informing the ignorant minds of the multitude around him. So constantly was he employed in this gracious work, that he scarcely allowed himself time, for necessary refreshment. Here, then, is a divine exhortation by the blessed Saviour, to seek those things which make for our everlasting peace: how important is it for us to attend to his kind invitations, mingled with his tears and prayers of love for us! Jesus came down from glory, arrayed himself in mortal flesh, bore the infirmities and sins of men, that whoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life. He hath said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." It should therefore, be our first concern to make our title clear to heaven. It should engross our chief and first care to seek his righteousness and grace, to live a life of faith and holiness, as introductory to the joys of heaven.

Our Lord proceeds: "All other things shall be added unto you." Here then is an easy choice. If we chuse everlasting happiness in the world to come, God hath promised all other things shall be added unto us here; all things necessary, either for life or death. Happy then, is the christian; his divine master hath promised, even in this state of trial, which cannot be of long duration, that not any good thing shall be withholden from him. But, as to the unconverted and impenitent, evil in this life, sorrow, vexation, disappointment, often are their portion; and in the world to come, everlasting misery. Why then, do men love sin, which is so dangerous, and why not love holiness, which is so advantageous? Why? because the natural man loveth not the things which are spiritual; because the carnal mind is enmity against things divine. Think then, fellow sinner, upon the glories promised to those, who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and chuse those things, which make for your everlasting peace.

T. B.

QUERY.

Is there not an obscurity in the reading of the following text which might be removed?

1 Samuel xvii. 39. "And David girded his sword upon his armour, and assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them," &c. It would seem as though the reason why he assayed or attempted to go, is that on account of which he refused going; "for he had not proved" the armour.

O.

ANECDOTES.

WE are assured of the truth of the following communication by a correspondent, on whose authority we place the most unreserved reliance. Ch. Ob. CONCEIVING it to be one important use of your publication to guard your readers against the seductions of fashionable error, and especially when clothed with the sanction of popular names, the following authentic anecdote may not, perhaps, with this view, be deemed unworthy of a place in your valuable Magazine.

It was my lot, some years ago, occasionally to meet a disciple of the late Dr. Darwin. Mr. had drunk so deeply into the system and spirit of his master, that he considered him the very first poet and philosopher of the age. I have heard him expatiate with enthusiasm on the writings and character of that deist, and in the same conversation, revile the Holy Scriptures, with all the rant of vulgar blasphemy.

Of all the examples, of a mind emancipated from religious and moral restraint, I ever met with, this unhappy man was the most offensive. His conversation, though abundantly larded with the cant and slang of the new philosophy, was lewd, profane, and jacobinical; and when infuriated by zeal for his principles, (which happened as often as they were opposed,) every rule of decorum was trampled under foot: he appeared, on such occasions, neither to "fear God, nor to regard man!"

I was

A few months after my last interview with Mr. informed that he was no more! Struck with the event, I was solicitous to know how such a man would die! The amount of my information was, that, as death approached, the confidence he had before expressed in his deistical opinions forsook him, and in its place a deep horror seized his mind! A short time before his

departure, supposing himself quite alone, he was overheard, by an unobserved attendant, giving vent to the agonies of a tortured conscience! With furious despair he expostulated with the man (Dr. D.) whom he now reproached as his deceiver; and, after loading his name with execrations which I dare not put upon paper, he closed the horrid remonstrance in some such terms as the following: "Monster! wretch! is this the end of your boasted philosophy! Have you brought me to this?"

Reader! though such examples are seldom brought forward, you are not hastily to infer, that they rarely happen, or that the principles of modern infidelity do not lead to such melancholy issues. The tenderness of survivors may often conceal the dismal story; and even when such men leave the world with composure, we should remember there are such judgments denounced against the obstinate opposers of revelation, as a "seared conscience," and a "reprobate mind!" How different the end of those, who "sleep in Jesus!"

MR. EDITOR,

THE truth of the following account may be depended upon. About thirty years ago, a gentleman, who lived in a considerable town in the north of England, was in the last stage of a consumption before he became aware of his danger; finding, however, his strength rapidly declining, he expressed, for the first time, to the physician who attended him, an apprehension of his real state. The physician too abruptly replied, Sir, you cannot survive many hours. This had such an effect upon the poor patient, who was little prepared either for such a denunciation, or for the awful event which was soon to follow, that he suddenly rose upon his feet in the bed, and sunk down again as suddenly, exhausted by the effort. The physician, on observing his face, thought that he perceived an appearance on the forehead very different from common prespiration, and upon applying a napkin, to his astonishment, found it stained with blood which had been forced from the extremities of the vessels, and even through the skin, by the agony and exertion of the unhappy sufferer.

Perhaps this is the only instance that has ever occurred of such a phenomenon, excepting one, which will instantly occur to the christian reader: and it is recorded in this place in order to prove, for the benefit of unbelievers, that extreme agitation and distress, operating upon a sickly or delicate frame, may, without a miracle, produce this affecting and dreadful appearance.

The evidence for the fact needs not to be doubted: your correspondent, at the time when this circumstance happened, lived within a few doors of the person, visited his family, heard his story every where related, without doubt of its truth or variation in its circumstances; and, within three or four days from the time when it happened, saw him laid in his grave. Ch. Ob.

ONE day the renowned Cardinal de Retz seeing a carbine levelled at him, by some one he did not know, had the presence of mind to cry out, "If your father, Sir, were now seeing what you are about!" This speech immediately disarmed the fury of the assassin.

Remember, O believer, a Father's eye is upon thee. May the testimony ever be thine, that thou pleasest him!

THE University of Louvain complained to the princess Margaret (sister to Charles V.) that Luther, by his writings, was subverting christianity. "Who is this Luther?" said she. "A poor illiterate monk," was the reply. "Is he so?" said Margaret: "then do you, who are so very learned, and so very numerous, write against this ignorant monk. The world will pay more regard to so many scholars than to one blockhead."

THE intrepidity for which Luther was so much distinguished, and which so well becomes every good man possessing a bosom conscious to itself of rectitude, was, in the life of that reformer, perhaps, on no occasion, more manifest than at the time when, by Charles V. and by the papal legates in Germany, he was cited to appear before the diet at Worms. His friends, whom the fate of Huss, under similar circumstances, filled with anxiety, urged him not to rush wantonly into the midst of danger. Luther, superior to such terrors, silenced them with this reply, "I am lawfully called to appear in that city; and thither will I go, in the name of the Lord, though as many devils, as there are tiles on the houses, were there combined against me." O.

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