preliminary of the final day of wrath, and therefore cannot be susceptible of mitigation, it would, nevertheless, be an act of great presumption and impiety to prescribe limits to the Great Dispenser of all judgments. We feel, however, that we are perfectly justified in appropriating the warning to ourselves, and suggesting it for the consideration of others, if we are to learn any-. thing from the symbol selected by God to instruct His Church as to the reality itself, that we are thereby forbidden to indulge the expectation that there will be any mitigation in the infliction of those judgments, which are now so generally acknowledged to have proceeded directly from God. The first drop out of a vial trembles long ere it parts from the lip; but, when it has once separated from the main body, others flow in comparatively easy and quick succession: and we suspect little breathing time will be allowed between each successive stroke of judgment, ere that shout is raised in the heavens-"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." Nor can we resist the conviction that is forced upon our minds, that it was to the first drop of this last Vial of wrath our Lord especially referred when He spoke those memorable words to His disciples, but intended for the use of those of His Church who should be living in the last days, that "when these things BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." It was as much as to say that the first drop of that Vial, whilst it will become the sign to you of your immediate redemption, because you shall be delivered from the succeeding troubles, yet it is the sure precursor of the instant pouring out of the whole of its contents, It is more than probable, that the pro

mise recorded in Job (chap. v. 19), alludes to the final act of wrath in the pouring out of the last seven Vials, where it is said that God "shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee," and that it implies, though the formal yet true Church may be protected from the effects of the first six Vials .of wrath, that the truly spiritual shall also be preserved during the last and dreadful trouble of the seventh.

Now, the first duty of a nation, as well as of an individual under the infliction of any judgment from God, is to mark the locality from whence, and the circumstances under which, it comes that is, if there be any desire, in either case, to profit by the dispensation.

It is not our province to supply any political remedies for the evils which are so apparent; but only to point to their existence, and to suggest the reflection, that if Christ, though He be King of kings and Lord of lords, is also the Father of His people, and would have His kingly representatives upon the earth govern His people for God, and not for themselves, that the present judgments are intended to point to Ireland as exhibiting the most flagrant departure from all right principles of rule.

Nor should it create any surprise, if these high and noble principles of all government are forgotten by the heads of the nation, that the highest form of political principle has degenerated into a low and sordid league for the conservation of individual rights and property. The fact is too plain to be denied, viewing Ireland upon the true maxim that, as a nation, she has been entrusted to England's governing care, she is a blot upon her escutcheon-a stain upon her honour, and a continual witness before God against her.

This is the true reason wherefore Ireland has become

such a perpetual burden to every successive order of British statesmen; and the cry which is now proceeding from her bosom, whilst it calls for, and has nobly received, the sympathies of the nation as men, yet demands a still higher attention than any that can be bestowed upon merely human wo; for that cry sternly points to the dishonor cast upon the King of kings, in whose name the governing nation has professedly ruled.

The various complications and difficulties in which God involves the governors of a nation, is for the express purpose of reminding them by whose authority "kings reign and princes decree justice." God would thereby teach them the insufficiency of their own wisdom to govern without his aid, and thus keep them in continual remembrance that they hold their power only as the delegates of Him who is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. God has only partially blasted the fruits of the earth, and behold, the distress and perplexity which is created! Men have tried hard to forget God, but His active operations in the affairs of men are not regulated by man's discernment of His hand; and we suspect that the national exigencies will shortly be of that character which will wring from them the acknowledgment that He Himself is present in very deed and in truth. The truth is written in Scripture as with a pen of iron, and is engraven on its pages as lead in the rock, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Governor among the nations, can alone provide an adequate remedy for the inextricable confusion into which the wickedness and selfishness of man has involved the world; nor will the various ills which afflict humanity be ever removed until He comes whose right it is to reign, and to whom alone belongeth the power and glory of the kingdom,

It may have proved an easy matter, in times which are past, for our governors and the nation at large to evade the investigation of such an unwelcome subject as that of God's dealing with us as a nation, and thus become willingly blind to the discoveries such an enquiry would disclose and the obligations it would involve; but, if we are not greatly mistaken, the Master of the house is Himself now at hand, who will require a strict account of our stewardship. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters— the God of glory thundereth-it is powerful and full of majesty, and shall yet break down the cedars of Lebanon, and be heard with awe, in the palaces of kings. Listen now to the voice of that thunder, which, though in the distance, yet reaches our unwilling ears across the Irish channel, and tremble; for it shall shortly quail stouter hearts than ours..........PROUD NATION! HARK! IT IS THE TOLLING KNELL OF ENGLAND'S DEPARTING GLORY!

END OF VOLUME II.