There are, therefore, four points clearly predicted in the character of those persons who, according to prophecy, must be expected in the “latter days.” They will scoff; they will walk after their own will; they will call in question the Lord’s coming; and they will be willingly ignorant of His inspired truth. What then should be the effect on our own minds when we see the fulfilment of this prophecy? Should it shake our faith, or strengthen it? Should it lead us to doubt our Bibles, or to rest in them as the truth of God? When we found that Noah’s great prophecy respecting Shem, Ham, and Japheth was fulfilled, what was the effect? It assured us that the Pentateuch was true, and the Bible inspired. When we found a whole series of prophecies respecting the Jews and Palestine were literally fulfilled, what again was the effect? It assured us that the Bible was true, and those prophets inspired. So now, if we see with our own eyes the clear fulfilment of St. Peter’s prophecy, what again must be our conclusion? What but that the Bible is true, and that the apostle Peter was inspired? Thus it is that the scoffer against the truth becomes a witness for the truth, and the man who would insult our God by what he calls “profane jokes” is unconsciously and unintentionally bearing testimony to the God whom he insults. If there were no such scoffers in these latter days, then indeed we might begin to doubt the inspiration of the prophetic Word. If the Jews had remained settled in their own country, and had never been dispersed among the nations, then we might have doubted the inspiration of the prophets respecting them; and so, if there were no infidels and no scoffers, then we might call in question the inspiration of the Scriptures that predicted them. But now, as the Jews are witnesses to one class of prophecy, so are the scoffers to another; and while we grieve for the poor men, and most heartily desire to see them saved with the great salvation, we may be at the same time thankful for their evidence, and may accept their scoffing is an unanswerable testimony to the prophetic truth of the inspired Scripture.