the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant!" "Therefore," (it is added) "hath the curse devoured the earth, .... fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon its inhabitants," it shall "be moved exceedingly,"-reel to and fro like a drunkard, and be removed, like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it.' So again in speaking of the judgments which shall accompany the introduction of that day, when the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock," and when "they shall not hurt nor destroy;" he says, "Behold the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire; for by fire, and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many... For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against ME: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."†

...

So far for a glance only at the testimony of ISAIAH. Let me now refer you to the Prophet DANIEL. In the seventh chapter we have the four great Kingdoms of the world's history brought before us; the fourth enduring till the day when the judgment shall sit, and the Saints of the Most High shall take the reins of government. Now, although through wickedness,

*Isaiah xxiv. 6-22.

† Isaiah lxvi. 15—24.

each of these Kingdoms was to meet with its destruction, the iniquity of the fourth only is dwelt upon, and the sinfulness of this Kingdom it is declared, shall not abate until "the judgment shall be set, and the books opened."* Of the last form of this Kingdom's government, it is declared, "He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given unto His hand, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time.' And then it is added, "But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume, and to destroy it unto the end." But let me ask you carefully to study the seventh, eighth, ninth, and eleventh chapters of this Prophecy; and you will, I think, see clearly that as the time of the Millennial reign approaches, we are to expect wickedness to abound, and practise, and prosper, with a mighty hand.

The glorious rest, therefore, which this world shall enjoy, wai not be gradually developed: it will not be brought about by education, nor by the preaching of the Gospel; nor by the mutual consent of nations, nor by any instrumentality whatsoever which mankind will bring to bear on its direction. "The whole world lieth in wickedness.' It has so lain since Adam fell:-It will so lie until the day of its regeneration. And as we near that day, the Word will be heard with an increasing power, which says, "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great † Daniel vii. 23-26.

*Daniel vii. 10.

wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."*

But farther.

There shall be a PERIOD OF TRIBULATION such as has not been "since the beginning of the world."

Our Saviour foretold "famines, pestilences, and earthquakes," "war and rumors of wars "-nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.† These were to be "the beginning of sorrows," the precursors of "THE GREAT TRIBULATION."

I know not how to choose from a mass of Scripture passages which speak of the tremendous trials of the last days; the fit accompaniments of the increasing wickedness. The Lord, as ISAIAH prophesied, "will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity." "I will cause (said God) the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore, I will shake the heavens; and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger." "Come near ye nations to hear; and hearken ye people; let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies: He hath utterly destroyed them, He hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And * Rev. xii. 12. † Matt. xxiv. 6—8. Isaiah xiii. 11–13.

all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as the falling fig from the fig-tree."* Thus does the Lord speak of a time yet to come, a time fearful with exceeding terror for all nations of the earth, betokening the approach of the great day of God.

But let us refer to JEREMIAH. The words of his prophecy are no less terrible in that remarkable twenty-fifth chapter wherein he dwells so strongly upon the judgments of the latter day, when "the Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation," and when He shall "plead with all flesh," and "give them that are wicked to the sword, 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 as dung upon the ground."†

Or, let us hear the testimony of the prophet JOEL, when he also foretells important details of the "last days." "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to Jeremiah xxv. 32, 33.

*Isaiah xxxiv. 1-4.

come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come get you down: for the press is full, the vats overflow: for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision." And this shall come to pass as that foretold time approaches, when "The sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining," and "The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens shall shake; and the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel," and men shall know that the Lord dwelleth in Zion, and Jerusalem shall be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more, but Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.*

And so might we quote from Prophet after Prophet. But we have enough to show us, beyond doubt, that when the Lord shall come again upon this earth it will be in the midst of dreadful carnage: the heathen raging: the people imagining a vain thing: the kings of the earth setting themselves together against the Lord and against His anointed.† There will be indeed, "a voice of lamentation, and of bitter weeping:" the antitype of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they are not for the wine-press of the wrath of God shall be trodden, and blood will come out thereof

*Joel iii.

† Psalm ii. 1-2.

Jer. xxxi. 15.