deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.... And I will execute vengeance in anger, and fury upon the heathen, such as they have never heard." Micah v. 8, 9, 15. "Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people around about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness; and I will smite every horse of the people with blindness.... In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own plaee, even in Jerusalem....In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusasalem." Zech. xii. 2-9. "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.... And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neigh

bour. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together gold and silver, and apparel in great abundance." Zech. xiv. 2, 3, 12, 13, 14. "And it shall come to pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face..... Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are on the face of the earth shall SHAKE AT MY PRESEnce. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God; every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and 1 will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone." Ezek. xxxviii. 18-22. "The nations shall see, and be confounded at all their might they shall lay their hands upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth; they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee." Mic. vii. 16, 17.

Let the unbeliever tremble when he reads the denunciations of God's wrath, speedily to be inflicted on guilty nations! The contemplation of such calamities being just about to overtake and overwhelm a secure though guilty world, is enough to melt the hardest heart into compassion. Truly "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Heb. x. 31. Why will the wicked refuse to forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts? It is still "the accepted time and day of salvation." Let him therefore "return to the Lord and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Is. lv. 7. Oh why should he delay in applying to the blood of sprinkling until compelled in the bitterness of unavailing re

morse to exclaim, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. viii. 20. Let him betake, then, to Him who alone shall be a covert from the storm and a hiding-place from the tempest.

Let Christians also attend to the injunction of the apostle, and "despise not prophesyings." 1 Thess. v. 20. But while they rejoice in the prospect of a speedy meeting, in glorified humanity, with their Lord and Saviour, ("for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed,") they ought to "rejoice with trembling." The state of the church demands their persevering prayers; the opposition made to truth by their friends and brethren in Christ may occasion deep sorrow; and the objects of impending judgments call for their commiseration. There is, too, in the dangers to which they are themselves exposed, ground of fear and humility. These are indeed perilous times in which our lot is cast. Seducing spirits are abroad, of whose wiles we ought to take heed. The present aspects of society are ominous. Infidelity and indifference to spiritual things is obtaining ground in the professing christian church. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we be on our guard against unbelief, "the sin which doth so easily beset us.' Alas! for the present prevalence of a false liberality, which is ever willing to sacrifice Revelation at the shrine of Human Reason. We boast of this liberality, regarding it as an attainment; although in many cases it is only another name for licentiousness. Unbelief may be displayed in various forms, and still retain its essential character of opposition to the revealed will of God. We characterize the age as "enlightened," but is there displayed a greater relish or desire for the illuminations of the Holy Spirit? Intellectuality has usurped the seat of faith. The power of Christianity is little felt. and many of its precious truths are lightly prized. This nation has been eminently favoured with religious privileges; but what is the improvement we now make of them? Every characteristic of the last days as given by the apostle Paul, (1 Tim. iii. iv.) seems fully applicable to the present times. And the worst feature of our case is, the great

99

Y

ignorance of our real character which prevails, and the indifference manifested to our state of danger. There is, on the part of some of the leading men in the management of our religious institutions, an anxiety displayed to conceal the Scripture predictions of premillennial judgments. But will this ward off a single blow, or lighten the wrath of divine indignation? Whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear, against these lands the vengeance of God is denounced, and will assuredly be executed. Britain forms one of the kingdoms symbolized by "the ten horns" of the fourth beast, or Roman empire, seen in the visions of Daniel, (vii. 7, 24.) This beast, including all these horns, is to be "slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." ver. 11. It forms one also of the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's great image, which was "broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer thrashing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them." Dan. ii. 35. "And in the days of these [ten] 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." ver. 44. When John, in apocalyptic vision, saw this beast carrying the Mother of Harlots, these ten kingdoms were shown unto him; "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet, [the Roman empire not having been then divided]....These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them." Rev. xvii. 7, 12 14. And again, he "saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him.... These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Rev. xix. 19, 20. Thus is Britain included in the awful destruction which shall overtake the nations of the ungodly,

66

This, we apprehend, is also foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, in a prediction declaring the relative order of a series of God's desolating judgments, from before the time of the publication of the prophecy till the final destruction of Antichrist. This is represented under the figure of a wine-cup being presented by the prophet to the different nations in regular succession: For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, Take the wine-cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. And they shall drink and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took 1 the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink unto whom the Lord had sent me; to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day: Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea; Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, [or, “All cut off into corners," marg.] and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desart, and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, [Persia,] and all the kings of the Medes, and all the kings of the north far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Drink ye and be drunken, and spue, and fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they shall refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink. For lo! I begin to bring evil on [Jerusalem,] the city