to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." Such a war of extermination God has declared; and he will accomplish it. There will be no refuge then left. It is the day described in Proverbs i. 24-33, when the wicked shall call, but God will not answer, but will laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh; when their fear cometh as a desolation, and their de struction as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon them. The Lord have mercy on the impenitent now, and save them before the terrible day overtake them!

The same great battle is described in the 38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel. Gog and Magog are all the devil's armies, whether before or after the second or final resurrection. After the Lord has taken his people out from the earth, all who are left constitute Gog and Magog.

The 37th chapter describes the first resurrec tion, the gathering of the whole house of Israel from their graves, bringing flesh and sinews upon them, covering them with skin, putting his spirit within them, as the vital principle, and bringing them into the land of Israel. Then David, or Christ, the heir of David's throne, is to be king over

them forever. They shall never more be dispersed or plucked up out of the land of the saints.

Then follows, after thus harvesting the wheat by Christ in the resurrection of the just, the vintage, when the wicked are to be destroyed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we be changed. See 1 Cor. xv. All these will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. See 1 Thess. iv. They are to stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire; having the harps of God, and sing the song of victory and deliverance, as did the Israel of God, when they stood on the eastern bank of the Red Sea, and their enemies were forever left behind, overwhelmed in ruin. It was not until they had passed the sea that the tribes were marshalled according to their tribes, and their government organized under Moses. So now our prophet, like Moses, will bring his people from their enemies' land, to a place of safety; then organize his kingdom on the sea of glass. This kingdom, thus organized, will smite the image of Dan. ii., on his feet, and grind the whole to powder. First it is said the stone will do it; then that the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall do it. The stone and kingdom then are identical. The kingdom of Christ, thus organized, will come down according to the prediction of Enoch, the seventh from Adam. Jude's Epistle: "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, and hard speeches," &c.

Then, too, the second Psalm will be fulfilled, where it is promised Christ that he "shall break" the kings of the earth, the rulers, the Gentiles, or heathen, together with the unbelieving people of the Jews who rejected him, "with a rod of iron, and shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

He will then, also, as he has promised in Rev. ii., give to them that overcome, power over the nations to rule and break them with a rod of iron, as he has received of his Father. The saints are to be joined in judging the world, with Christ. "This honor have ALL his saints." They will not sit to try and pass sentence on the world; this is not their prerogative, but the Lord's; but to execute the judgment written, is the prerogative of the saints. Ps. cxlix. 5-9: " Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon thei beds. Let the high praises of God be in their -mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written : this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord."

The Lord, and all his saints with him, is to come down on the Mount of Olives to fight the battle and drive out all the wicked from Jerusalem, and take possession of the place and fight the battle spoken of by Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix. The scenes of the last day will not be filled up instan- : taneously, as we have been accustomed to think The old Israelites were seven years, after enter ing the land, in subduing their enemies, before

So

they enjoyed their sabbath, or year of rest. Ezekiel tells us, that the whole house of Israel will be seven years (literal years) in burning up the weapons of their enemies; and seven months after the battle in burying the dead bodies of the wicked, on which both beasts and fowls have feasted at the supper of the great God; and then men of continual employment will be appointed to cleanse the land of dead bodies and bones.

But, says an objector, you do not suppose the glorified saints will be set at work to bury the wicked? That is too absurd and humiliating a thought! Indeed! why so? If God has thought that "it shall be to them a RENOWN," as he has declared it shall be, (Ezek. xxxix. 13,) why shall we be displeased? We can know nothing of the future, except what is revealed; and if God has revealed that Israel, when brought back from their graves to eternal life, shall bury the dead bodies of the wicked, it will be so. That it is revealed, cannot be denied, until we deny the word of God.

If the saints are to remain on the earth until the judgments are all executed, it is more reason. able that they should bury the dead, than that they should be left upon the earth to pollute it a long time.

The same great battle is described in Rev. xix. 11-21. The two scenes, as described by Ezekiel and John, are so nearly alike, that we cannot fail to perceive that they refer to one and the

same event.

A SYNOPSIS OF EZEKIEL THIRTY-SEVENTH, THIRTYEIGHTH AND THIRTY-NINTH CHAPTERS.

1. The 37th chapter, from the 1st to the 10th verse, presents Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. 2. The 11th to the 14th verse is an explanation, in literal terms, of the import of the emblems of the vision, showing it to be the resurrection of the bodies of the whole house of Israel :-not of all the Jews; nor yet of all the believing Jews alone. For they are not "all Israel," that is, do not constitute "all Israel," who are descended from Israel, or "are of Israel." But the children of the promise are accounted for the seed." "If ye be Christ's, ye are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to promise." They will be raised up and brought into the land of promise.

66

3. From verse 15th, through the chapter, follows a view of the unity of all the saints in the house of David, under Messiah's reign, forevermore; also the perfection and immutability of their holiness, and the glory and happiness which shall forever attend them.

4. Then follows, chapter xxxviii. 1-7, an enumeration of the company of Gog and Magog.

5. From verse 8-13, the time of the gathering of Gog, and the motive by which he will be induced to go up against the land of Israel.

FIRST, the time. "In the latter years.” "When the mountains of Israel are brought back from the sword." When those who are brought back from out of the nations, all dwell safely-all of them dwelling without wall and gates or bars.

Under these circumstances, the army of Gog will come like a storm to cover the land.