death for the redemption of a lost and guilty world, and the glorious display which was thus made of the divine perfections. If Jewish infidelity, with respect to the humiliation of Christ, has been visited by a punishment so severe, Christians would do well to consider whether there be not an approximation to Jewish glosses in our usual explanations, (if such they can be called,) of predictions concerning the glory that should follow. May not we be as guilty as the Jews, who rejected Him who came to redeem them from the power and consequences of sin, should we be found among those who say in their hearts, " We will not have this Man to reign over us," in the manner and at the time He has been pleased to appoint ?" Be not high minded, but fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee." Romans xi. 21. Israel is not finally cast off by God. A remnant is still preserved, to whom His grace shall be manifested, and by whom His power is yet to be signally displayed. But the day of their restoration will be one of awful destruction to their enemies—the enemies of God, and the enemies of men.

SECTION XXVI.

DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS.

Contemplating the period when Judah, now dispensed into every land, by all oppressed, shall be visited by the day-spring from on high; and when Israel, long left to wander in the vain imaginations of their own hearts, outcast from the favour of God and concealed from the observation of men, shall be cleansed from their iniquity and brought into the land of their fathers, which is promised them for an everlasting possession,—anticipating with delight the glories of that blissful day, the Christian will exclaim with the Psalmist, " Oh ! that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Ja-^ob

shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad." Ps. xiv. 7. But, before this glorious consummation, that people have much to do and much to endure. At the time when Michael the prince shall stand up for the children of Daniel's people, " there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time;" (Dan. xii. 1.) "For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but, for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." Matt. xxiv. 21, 22. While men delude themselves with the idea of a peaceful introduction to the Millennium, the Scriptures represent it as being immediately preceded by one of the most awful catastrophes with which the earth has yet been visited. "For as in the days that were beiore the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Matt. xxiv. 38, 39. "Likewise, also, as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." Luke xvii. 28—30. This period of tribulation, on which we seem now to have just entered, is therefore to be of universal extent. But the specifications are much more minute of the sufferings to be endured by Israel after returning to their own land, while yet in an unregenerate state, and the instrumentality by which the Lord's wrath will be effected,—instrumentality to be afterwards visited with divine retribution for their sins. Therefore thus saith the Lord, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess; a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as "the irning spread upon the mountains; a great people

and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it even to the years of many

generations Before their face the people shall be

much pained; all faces shall gather blackness... .The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining; and the Lord shall utter His voice before his army; for His camp is very great; for He is strong that executeth His word; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?' JoeTii. 1—11. "The Great Day of the Lord is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly; that day is a day of wrath and day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and.gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord ; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their

Eold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the ord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy; for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." Zeph. i. 14—18. "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against His enemies... .1 will destroy and devour at once," Is. xlii. 13, 14. To the penitent among the children of Israel, He saith, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the'Lord be glorified; but He shallappear to your joy and they shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the Temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to His enemies... .And the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies. For behold! The Lord Will Come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Is. Ixvi. 5—16. To this last prediction, the apostle Paul evidently alludes, when, addressing the church at Thessalonica, he says of the coming of Christ, "It [is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels, in faming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." 2 Thes. i. 6—10. Behold the Name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with His anger, and the burden thereof is heavy; His lips are full of indignation and His tongue as a devouring fire... .And the Lord shall cause His glorious 'voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm with the indignation of His anger and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and tempest and hailstones." Is. xxx. 27—30. "Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my d .-termination is to "gather the [nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger ; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." Zeph. iii. 8. "For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn, them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mai. iv. 1. "And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down every one by the sword of his brother." Hag. ii. 22. "For behold, in those days and in that time when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. . . . Behold I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head. . . .Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plough-shares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be awakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there Will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their

wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. Joel iii. 1— 10. «' God Came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. And His brightness was as the light; He had horns [the symbol of authority and power] coming out of his hand; and there was hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning co'ils went forth at his feet. He stood and measured the enrth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow.... The sun and moon stoo.l ^t 11 in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows th ;y went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. T/inu didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thrash the heathen in an