แ

(Psalm lxxv.8.) Then, as declared by Hosea, (iv. 3,) "shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven; and the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away." Then, according to Joel, "shall there be a noise of chariots; on the tops of the mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness." (Joel ii. 5, 6.) Then, as predicted by Amos, the Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither." Then will he "send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad; a fire upon the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof; a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof; a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah; a fire upon the wall of Rabbah, which shall devour the palaces thereof; a fire upon Moab, that shall devour the palaces of Kirioth; and a fire upon Judah, that shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem." Then, according to Obadiah, "shall the house of Jacob be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for

the Lord hath spoken it." Then, also, will the word of the Lord, by Micah, be fulfilled --“ For behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and he will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place."

Then, as foretold by Nahum, shall "the mountains quake at him and the hills melt, and the earth be burnt at his presence, yea the world, and all that dwell therein." Then, also, according to the vision of Habakkuk, will "God come from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran, and will behold and drive asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains be scattered, and the perpetual hills bow, and the tents of Cushan be in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian tremble." Then, also, the words of Zephaniah will be realized: "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked. Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination 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 in the fire of my

jealousy." Then, also, shall come to pass the words of the Lord by Haggai: "I will shake the heavens and the earth; 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." Then, as by Zechariah foretold, "This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem, (i. e., all who have persisted in their opposition to Christ,) their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouths." That will be the day, foretold by Malachi, "that shall burn as an oven, and the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

Thus I have found in every one of the prophets except Jonah, an express declaration respecting the destruction of the wicked from off the earth. Nearly all the prophets speak of fire as the agent of that destruction.

My object has been to cite a single passage only from each writer of sacred prophecy. Those who will search the prophets, will find their declarations on this fearful subject ex

ceedingly numerous. Moses, and the writers of the Psalms, speak of the same dreadful day. Thus God speaks by Moses in Deut. xxxii. : "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction." The same destruction is several times repeated in the same chapter. So also in Psalm xxiv. 16: "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." Ps. 1. 22: "Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver." Ps. xcvii. 3: "A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about." A single passage from Job xxi. 30: "The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." This also is the time foretold by Christ, in his interpretation of the parable of the tares of the field. Matt. xiii. 40, 41, 42, 43: "As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire;

there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear let him hear." This, let it be remembered, is not a parable, but the interpretation of a parable; and, therefore, will be literally fulfilled. At that time, as Paul declared to the Thessalonians, "will the Lord Jesus be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming 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.' This is the overthrow of Babylon, set forth in the Revelation of John. Thus will be fulfilled what is written in Isaiah xiii. 9: "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it."

Thus, my brother, I believe that when Christ shall come, he will raise the righteous dead, and change the righteous living from corruption to incorruption, and that then all the righteous will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and be evermore with the Lord. I believe that when Christ has gathered his elect from the four corners of the earth, all the wicked will be destroyed by fire, as the wicked of old by a flood; and thus, according to Ps. xxxvii.