be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and to be shut up in prison, and there kept "many days." Many days only. Not for ever. For a day will come when they must "be visited" and brought before

the throne of judgment, to receive, with all the world besides, an everlasting sentence, in accordance with their deeds.

JOEL speaks very plainly on the subject. In the third chapter-to which reference has been made1 with regard to the gathering of all nations against Jerusalem, we read—“Behold, in those days, when I bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there. . . . . Let the heathen come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about..... Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision; for the DAY OF THE LORD is near, in the Valley of Decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining." Surely, so far as this passage affords information, "he may run that readeth" what God will do when He shall appear on the behalf of Israel. He will "plead with "-He will "judge❞— the nations. The valley of Jehoshaphat will be the place of judgment; there He will sit and execute the fierceness 1 Chap. iv.

of His anger, while the sun and the moon shall become dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Now this act of judgment will be preparatory to the establishment of Israel in the full possession of their land; for we are told—immediately after this declaration of judgment and terror is made-that "the Lord also shall roar out of ZION, and utter His voice from JERUSALEM; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain : then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and ... Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion." How evident it is, then, that the great act of judgment upon the nations shall precede and immediately introduce the happy reign of Israel's peace!

Let us hear another prophet. By ZEPHANIAH, in the third chapter, we find the Lord speaking thus: "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 by the fire of My jealousy." And now let us mark what follows-"Then will I return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent. The remnant of Israel shall do no iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed, and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. . . . . The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more." Here, then, again the same lesson is

advanced.

And so likewise does the Prophet ZECHARIAH speak. The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth chapters speak of ISRAEL first RESTORED IN UNBELIEF under the auspices of THE IDOL SHEPHERD;" then BESIEGED BY ALL NATIONS; and at last DRIVEN TO A BITTER MOURNING FOR THEIR SINS, AND A TRUE-HEARTED RETURN TO GOD IN CHRIST. The fourteenth chapter retraces a little, and gives valuable explanation. It says "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." This will be the sign of the immediate Advent, for it

is added, "THEN SHALL THE LORD GO FORTH, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, towards the east and towards the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountain; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah: AND THE LORD MY GOD SHALL COME, AND ALL THE SAINTS WITH THEE, . . . and the Lord shall be King over all the earth, . . . . and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited."

...

So, then, we are left without a doubt, that when the Lord shall come again upon our earth, it will be to perform at once an act of FEARFUL JUDGMENT ON THE NATIONS. And we are prepared to understand the declaration in the nineteenth chapter of the REVELATION, where the descent of Him who bears the title "King of kings and Lord of lords" is spoken of—" And I saw an angel standing in the sun: and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of

heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God: that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great."

But while we speak of the Lord's judgment of the wicked nations, we must not omit to notice the peculiar stress which is laid, both in the OLD and NEW Testaments, upon the heavy stroke of judgment which shall fall on HIM who shall have been THE LEADER, first of ISRAEL to the re-possession of their land, and then of ALL THE NATIONS of the earth, in siege against their tribes.

In the tenth chapter of ISAIAH we read of "THE ASSYRIAN :"-probably the ancient dynasty of Assyrian monarchs and their works of power, as God's instrument for the punishment of Israel. But in the twelfth verse we find the following prediction:-"It shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed His WHOLE WORK upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish THE FRUIT of the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand have I done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put