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PROPHECIES BY CHRIST HIMSELF.

No. CCXXXIV to CCXXXVI.

Sect. 8.-As to the Extent and Duration of Christ's Kingdom.

No. 234. The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Matt. xiii. 31, 32. Mark iv. 30-32. Luke xiii. 18, 19.

No. 235. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Matt. xiii. 33; (so Luke xiii. 20, 21.)

No. 236. "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I (i. e. Jesus) will build my Church, and the Gates of "Hell shall not prevail against it." Matt. xvi. 18.

"Not prevail." The continuance of Christianity, notwithstanding the restraints it imposes, and the opposition it meets with, is one of the strong proofs of its divine origin: The gates or councils of hell have made it the object of its bitter attack, but Christianity still prevails, (as Christ foretold it should,) and the attacks upon it only serve to make men search the Scriptures to see how these things are, and to keep alive a full recollection of the evidence by which it is supported, of the foundations upon which it stands.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

VIRGIL'S FOURTH ECLOGUE.

SICELIDES Musæ, paulo majora canamus.
Non omnes arbusta juvant, humiles que myricæ.
Si canimus sylvas: sylvæ sint Consule dignæ.
Ultima Cumæi venit jam carminis ætas:
Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo.
Jam redit & virgo: redeunt Saturnia Regna.
Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto.
Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum
Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo,
Casta fave Lucina: tuus jam regnat Apollo.
Teque adeo decus hoc ævi, te Consule, inibit,
Pollio & incipient magni procedere menses.
Te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri
Irrita perpetuâ solvent formidine terras.
Ille Deum vitam accipiet, Divisque videbit
Permistos heroas, & ipse videbitur illis,
Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem.
At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu
Errantes hederas passim cum baccare tellus
Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho!
Ipsæ lacte domum referent distenta capella
Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones.
Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores.
Occidet & serpens, & fallax herba veneni

Occidet Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum.
At simul heroum laudes, & facta parentis

Jam legere, & quæ sit poteris cognoscere virtus ;
Molli paulatim flavescet campus aristâ,
Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva,
Et duræ quercus sudabunt roscida mella.
Pauca tamen suberunt priscæ vestigia fraudis,
Quæ tentare Thetim ratibus, quæ cingere muris
Oppida, quæ jubeant telluri infindere sulcos.
Alter erit tum Tiphys, & altera quæ vehat Argo
Delectos heroas: erunt etiam altera bella :
Atque iterum ad Trojam magnus mittetur Achilles.
Hinc, ubi jam firmata virum te fecerit ætas,
Cedet et ipse mari vector: nec nautica pinus
Mutabit merces: omnis feret omnia tellus.
Non rastros patietur humus, non vinea falcem.
Robustus quoque jam tauris juga solvet arator,
Nec varios discet mentiri lana colores.
Ipse sed in pratis aries jam suave rubenti
Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto.
Sponte suâ sandyx pascentes vestiet agnos.
Talia sæcla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis
Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcæ.
Aggredere O magnos (aderit jam tempus) honores
Cara Deûm soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum.
Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum
Terrasque, tractusque maris, cœlumque profundum
Aspice, venturo lætentur ut omnia sæclo.
O mihi tam longæ maneat pars ultima vitæ !
Spiritus et, quantum sat erit tua dicere facta.

Non me carminibus vincet nec Thracius Orpheus,
Nec Linus: huic mater quamvis, atque huic pater adsit.
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo.

Pan etiam, Arcadiâ mecum si judice certet,
Pan etiam Arcadiâ dicat se judice victum.
Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem,
Matri longa decem tulerunt fastidia menses.
Incipe, parve puer, cui non risere parentes
Nec deus hunc mensâ, Dea nec dignata cubili est.

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