He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.

Psalm xxI. 8-12.

Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. a Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy string against the face of them.

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Isaiah LIX. 18, 19. According to their ẞ deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit

of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

Psalm XLVI. 8-10. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Here it is proclaimed that the Lord "will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth;" and whatever circle we may consider these predicted ravages to embrace, the dreadful prospect is calculated to awaken our utmost energies to save some portion of the deluded, perishing race of Adam.

Long have we complained of burdens which press heavily on society in various kingdoms and states;-burdens, which have, in some instances, nearly severed the social compact,

d Ps. xxxvII. 28; Mal. Iv. 1. e Matt. XXI. 38; Ps. x. 2; Rev. xvII. 14. 8 Heb. "recompences."

and almost banished hospitality from the Christian domicile! But, ah! what are they, compared to the extensive calamities which sin must yet produce? What are all our past sufferings compared with the pressure of such times as are hastening on apace, when " the evil shall go forth from nation to nation," when the multitude of the slain shall be too great to be either “lamented, gathered, or buried?” The improvements which continue to be made in the art of destruction, remove every doubt as to the mode by which these desolations shall be accomplished, so soon as the elementary principles of destruction become sufficiently matured.

After the return of Israel to their own land, further assaults await them; so further judgments become necessary to repel these; and to whatever period we may imagine those predicted in the 76th Psalm to relate, whether to those of Armageddon, or the discomfiture of Gog, (and these, as some imagine, pourtray the same event,) it is the time when God will "arise to save all the meek of the earth;" the period in which it is expressly proclaimed that the wrath of man shall praise Him; the time in which His judgments shall have effected an influence incalculably beneficial throughout the world, by which many shall" hear and fear;" the period from whence "the remainder of wrath shall be restrained," and "the spirit of princes become" finally "cut off."

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Yet this remainder of man's wrath shall endure but for

short season; for the Lord's "hand shall find out all his enemies;"" the fire of his wrath shall devour them," and "their seed shall be cut off," so that neither root nor branch shall remain. They have long "made war with the Lamb" and with his followers, but "the Lamb shall over

come them." This tremendous execution of Almighty wrath, though it will produce universal consternation among the nations of the earth, yet will it not effect the universal conversion of sinners; so that when "the enemy" shall make his last effort against truth and holiness, when he shall "come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." Now if the fulfilment of these prophecies cannot long precede, or rather will terminate with the Second Advent of the Redeemer, the general repression of sin must doubtless commence by the total destruction of the wicked; and this we must consistently suppose, as war and all its calamitous results shall for ever cease.

Let us "turn to the important prophecy of our Lord in Matt. xxiv., and its parallel in Luke xxI. At verse 21 of Matthew's account of it, we are informed of a great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be.' The parallel place in Luke's account (verses 23, 24) shows that this tribulation began with the siege of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian, and continues through the whole time of Gentile domination, or, in other words, during the times of the Gentiles.' For, speaking of Jerusalem being compassed with armies, he says, 'These be the days of vengeance, that all things, which are written may be fulfilled, &c. For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people; and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden

В "This all the Rabbins refer to the coming of the Messiah. If, say they, ye see a generation which endures much tribulation, then expect Him according to what is written, When the enemy shall come in like a flood, &c.'"-Bagster's Compr. Bible.

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down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." That which however is chiefly important to observe, is, that the passing away of this tribulation shall likewise prove its acme to the Jews, (as will appear from Dan. XII. 1,) and likewise a time of unheard-of tribulation to the Gentiles, whose times are then run out. Matthew speaks of it as immediately after the tribulation of those days, (ver. 29,) and Mark has it, "But in those days, after that tribulation." The character of it is thus described by the Evangelists. St. Luke says; "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars." Matthew and Mark inform us what those signs are:"The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." To this, St. Luke adds, "That there shall be upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." Then all three conclude, "For the powers of heaven shall be shaken.". The sun is, in prophetical language, a symbol of the regal power; the moon, of ecclesiastical; and the stars, of the aristocracy or nobles, both in church and state; and the heavens, the combination of them all: likewise that the sea and the waves are symbols which signify the multitude of the people, even as the "waters," on which the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. We have therefore set forth in this prophecy of our Lord, the darkening (i. e. the diminishing or actual putting out) of the regal and ecclesiastical powers, and the fall of the aristocracy; and this is to be effected apparently by the insurrection of the people against their rulers," the sea and the waves roaring;" that is, the populace being in a state of

commotion and wrath, and thus shaking the political hea

vens.

"This is likewise borne out by the Psalms: as for example in Psalm XLVI, we have 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble: therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains' (i. e. established and settled governments) 'be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.' (Ver. 1—3.) This, in the sixth verse, is thus explained: The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered his voice, the earth melted.' In Psalm LXV. 7, it is also said of God, that he 'stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and' (or rather 'even') ' the tumult of the people.' Isaiah (v. 26, 30,) foretells that the Lord will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, &c. And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow,' (on earth distress with perplexity,) ' and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.'"* See also, Isai. XVII. 12-14; and Rev. XI. 17-19.

*Brooks's Elements.

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