within the reach of their knowledge, were overturned again and again. All lands were in their turns subdued, captivated, and as it were emptied, and turned upside down, and that most of them repeatedly, in this period; agreeably to that prophecy, Isa. xxiv. I. “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty; he maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."

This emptying, and turning upside down, began with God's visible church, in their captivity by the king of Babylon. And then the cup from them went round to all other nations, agree, ably to what God revealed to the prophet Jeremiah, xxv. 15 -27. Here special respect seems to be had to the great revolutions that there were on the face of the earth in the times of the Babylonish empire. But after that there were three general overturnings of the world before Christ came, in the succession of the three great monarchies of the world that were after the Babylonish empire. The king of Babylon is represented in scripture as overturning the world: But after that the Baby lonish empire was overthrown by Cyrus; who founded the Persian empire in the room of it; which was of much great er extent than the Babylonish empire in its greatest glory. Thus the world was overturned the second time. And then, after that, the Persian empire was overthrown by Alexander, and the Grecian empire was set up upon the ruins of it; which was still of much greater extent than the Persian empire: And thus there was a general overturning of the world a third time. And then, after that, the Grecian empire was overthrown by the Romans, and the Roman empire was established; which vastly exceeded all the foregoing empires in power and extent of dominion. And so the world was overturned the fourth time.

These several monarchies, and the great revolutions of the world under them, are abundantly spoken of in the prophecies of Daniel. They are represented in Nebuchadnezzar's image of gold, silver, brass, and iron; and Daniel's interpretation of it, in the second chapter of Daniel; and then in Daniel's vision of the four beasts, and the angel's interpretation of it in the seventh chapter of Daniel. And the succession of the Per

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sian and Grecian monarchies is more particularly represented in the 8th chapter in Daniel's vision of the ram and the he goat, and again in the 11th chapter of Daniel.

And beside these four general overturnings of the world, the world was kept in a constant tumult between whiles: And indeed the world was as it were in a continual convulsion through this whole period till Christ came. Before this period, the face of the earth was comparatively in quietness? Though there were many great wars among the nations, yet we read of no such mighty and universal convulsions and overturnings as there were in this period. The nations of the world, most of them, had long remained on their lees as it were, without being emptied from vessel to vessel, as is said of Moab, Jer. xlviii. 11. Now these great overturnings were because the time of the great Messiah drew nigh. That they were to prepare the way for Christ's coming, is evident by scripture, particularly by Ezek. xxi. 27. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him." The prophet, by repeating the word overturn three times, has respect to three overturnings, as in the Revelation, viii. 13. The repetition of the word wo three times, signifies three distinct woes; as appears by what follows, ix. 12. "One wo is past;" and xi. 14. “The second wo is past, and behold the third wo cometh quickly."

It must be noted, that the prophet Ezekiel prophesied in the time of the Babylonish captivity; and therefore there were three great and general overturnings of the world to come after this prophecy, before Christ came; the first by the Persians, the second by the Grecians, the third by the Romans; and then after that, Christ, whose right it was to take the diadem, and reign, should come. Here these great overturnings are evidently spoken of, as preparatory to the coming and kingdom of Christ. But to understand the words aright, we must note the particular expression, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it." i. e. the diadem and crown of Israel, or the supreme temporal dominion over God's visible people. This God said should be no more, i, e. the crown should be

taken off, and the diadem removed, as it is said in the forego ing verse. The supreme power over Israel should be no more in the royal line of David, to which it properly belonged, but should be removed away, and given to others, and overturned from one to another: First the supreme power over Israel should be in the hands of the Persians; and then it should be overturned again; and then it should be in the hands of the Grecians; and then it should be overturned again, and come into the hands of the Romans, and should be no more in the line of David, till that very person should come, that was the son of David, whose proper right it was, and then God would give it to him.

That those great shakings and revolutions of the nations of the world were all to prepare the way for Christ's coming and setting up his kingdom in the world, is further manifest by Haggai, ii. 6, 7. "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land: And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." And again, ver, 21, 22 and 23. It is evident by this, that these great revolu tions and shakings of the nations, whereby the thrones of kingdoms, and armies were overthrown, and every one came down by the sword of his brother, were to prepare the way for the coming of him who is the desire of all nations.

The great changes and troubles that have sometimes been in the visible church of Christ, are in Rev. xii, 2, compared to the church's being in travail to bring forth Christ; so these great troubles and mighty revolutions that were in the world before Christ was born, were, as it were, the world's being in travail to bring forth the Son of God. The apostle, in the 8th of Romans, represents the whole creation as groaning and travailing in pain together until now, to bring forth the liber erty and manifestation of the children of God. So the world as it were travailed in pain, and was in continual convulsions for several hundred years together, to bring forth the first born child, and the only begotten Son of God. And those mighty revolutions were as so many pangs and throes in order

to it. The world being so long a time kept in a state of war and bloodshed, prepared the way for the coming of the Prince of Peace, as it showed the great need the world stood in of such a prince to deliver the world from its miseries.

It pleased God to order it in his providence, that earthly power and dominion should be raised to its greatest height, and appear in its utmost glory, in those four great monarchies that succeeded one another, and that every one should be greater and more glorious than the preceding, before he set up the kingdom of his Son. By this it appeared how much more glorious his spiritual kingdom was than the most glorious temporal kingdom. The strength and glory of Satan's kingdom in these four mighty monarchies, appeared in its greatest height: For those monarchies were the monarchies of the Heathen world, and so the strength of them was the strength of Satan's kingdom. God suffered Satan's kingdom to rise to so great a height of power and magnificence before his Son came to overthrow it, to prepare the way for the more glorious triumph of his Son. Goliath must have on all his splendid armor when the stripling David comes against him with a sling and a stone, for the greater glory of David's victory. God suffered one of those great monarchies to subdue another, and erect itself on the other's ruins, appearing still in greater strength, and the last to be the strongest and mightiest of all: That so Christ, in overthrowing that, might as it were overthrow them all at once; as the stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, is represented as destroying the whole image, the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay; so that all became as the chaff of the summer threshing floor.

These mighty empires were suffered thus to overthrow the world, and destroy one another: And though their power was so great, yet they could not uphold themselves, but fell one after another, and came to nothing, even the last of them, that was the strongest, and had swallowed up the earth. It pleased God thus to show in them the instability and vanity of all earthly power and greatness; which served as a foil to set forth the glory of the kingdom of his Son, which never shall be destroyed, as appears by Dan. ii. 44. “ In the days of these VOL. II.

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kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." So greatly does this kingdom differ from all those kingdoms; they vanish away, and are left to other people ; but this shall not be left to other people, but shall stand for ever. God suffered the devil to do his utmost, and to establish his interest, by setting up. the greatest, strongest, and most glorious kingdoms in the world that he could, before the despised Jesus overthrew him and his empire. Christ came into the world to bring down the high things of Satan's kingdom, that the hand of the Lord. might be on every one that is proud and lofty, and every high tower, and every lofty mountain; as the Prophet Isaiah says, chap. ii. 12, &c. And therefore these things were suffered to rise very high, that Christ might appear so much the more glorious in being above them.

Thus wonderfully did the great and wise Governor of the world prepare the way for the erecting of the glorious kingdom of his beloved Son Jesus.

3. Another thing for which this last period or space of time before Christ was particularly remarkable, was the wonderful preservation of the church through all those overturnings. The preservation of the church was on some accounts more remarkable through this period, than through any of the foregoing. It was very wonderful that the church, which in this period was so weak, and in so low a state, and mostly subject to the dominion of Heathen monarchies, should be preserved. for five or six hundred years together, while the world was so : often overturned, and the earth was rent in pieces, and made so often empty and waste, and the inhabitants of it came down so often every one by the sword of his brother. I say it was. wonderful that the church, in its weak and low state, being but a little handful of men, should be preserved in all these great convulsions; especially considering that the land of Judea, the chief place of the church's residence, lay in the midst of them, as it were in the middle between the contending parties, and was very much the seat of war amongst them, and