Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/285

 however, be also regarded as symptoms of its necessity and premonitions of its occurrence.

That about a century ago, the principles of true religion and the sentiments of genuine morality had not simply come to a standstill, but were in a state of disruption in all ranks of society, is a fact which no one acquainted with the history of the times will venture to deny. That, as we have said, we consider to have been the time, and that disruption, to have been the occasion, for executing that last judgment which is predicted in the Gospels and represented in the Revelation. But before going farther into these explanations, it may be useful to refer to other judgments which have taken place under the Christian dispensation, prior to that which is designated the last: and these, no doubt, contributed to postpone the accomplishment of this final catastrophe: they checked the progress of events, which were accelerating the end, and, like the circumstance represented by the shadow going back on the sun-dial of Ahaz, deferred the time of consummation.

The state of the Lord's Church, with men is the test of the world's morality. The Church is the channel for the