Note 35 — Chapter IV · CYCLICAL CHARACTER OF THE MUNDANE TIMES.

We have much satisfaction in giving the following abridgement of the remarks of Mr. Birks, on this interesting subject; pp. 371, 372. Thus, he says, “A fresh light is thrown upon the words of the Psalmist, He appointed the moon for seasons. A divine ladder of time is set before us, and, as we rise successively from step to step, days are replaced by years, and years by millenia; and these, perhaps, hereafter, in their turn, by some higher unit, from which the soul of man may measure out cycles still more vast, and obtain a wider view of the immeasurable grandeur of eternity. Human science has strained its utmost efforts in calculating the actual motions of the Moon and the Earth; but the determining causes which fixed at first the proportion of their monthly and yearly revolutions have altogether eluded its research. Yet these elements of the natural universe are linked in, by these sacred times and celestial cycles, with the deepest wonders of Providence, and the whole range of Divine prophecy. How glorious, then, must be the inner shrine, lit up with the Shechinah of the Divine Presence, when the approaches themselves reveal such a secret and hidden wisdom!”