from the eleventh chapter of Daniel, that the immediate cause which urges the apostate power to overthrow, with his armies, the countries and the Holy Land, is an attack from a great potentate of the north: "And at the time of the end, shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, or "after the manner of a storm or tempest, with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships."* This, therefore, we may with great probability conclude, is, what is symbolized by this great hailstorm. It produces, as a judgment, however, no reformation; but blaspheming against God and leads to those courses which commit the great apostate, in an expedition with his armies, involving him at length, in a personal contest with the deliverer and avenger of Israel himself.

But, though I think the hailstorm is a symbol of invasion from the north, I cannot but conclude, also, that on this occasion, this real meteorological instrument of destruction, is also prognosticated as being employed. Else, I cannot conceive why the weight of the hailstones is so particularly given. We know, on one remarkable occasion, God aided the sword of the invader by this same artillery of the heavens: "The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them "-" there were more that died by the hailstones, than they whom the children of Israel slew by the sword." + Besides, there is something particular spoken, in other scriptures,

* Second Advent, Vol. 1. p. 79.

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↑ Joshua x. 21.

respecting this instrument of vengeance, as if it were to be used on more than one great occasion. "Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?"* Hail, too, is often mentioned in the infliction of these last judgments by the ancient prophets. Compare Isaiah xxxii. 19, xxx. 30; Ezek. xxxviii. 22, &c.

It might, indeed, be supposed, that all who have read the scriptures, when they see these remarkable signs and judgments, must necessarily be convinced. But no, when God's "judgments are abroad the people of the earth will not learn righteousness !” † That it should, however, provoke blasphemy, bespeaks an astonishing pitch of wickedness in the scoffers of the last days. And we know that the leaven of the Sadducee, and of the Pharisee, and of Herod too, must still work in the apostate empire, and what is symbolized as proceeding severally from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, must, as we have seen, go forth "to gather the kings of the earth and of the whole world" to "the battle of the great day of Almighty God." In Armageddon they must be gathered. To this great plain of Armageddon, and to the mountains and vallies of Israel, and to an invasion of the land when the people have been restored, every prophecy directs us to look for one great scene of the final catastrophe. How luminous is

*Job xxxviii. 22.

+ Compare Second Advent, vol. i. p. 223. Second Advent, vol. ii. 444.

F

the prophetic beam, which, by the prophet Joel, the Spirit of God casts upon this scene! (iii. 1.)

"For, behold, in those days and at that time

When I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

I will also assemble all the nations,

And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

And I will enter into judgment with them there respecting my people Israel and my inheritance,

Whom they scattered among the nations, and divided my land.

among the nations;

Sanctify war, rouse the valiant;

Let all the warlike men draw near and come.

Beat your plough shares into swords,

And your pruning hooks into spears;

Let the weak say, I am strong.

*

Assemble yourselves and come, all ye nations around,

*

Ah, collect yourselves there, where Jehovah is about to lay low thy mighty one.*

Let the nations be roused and come up

Unto the valley of Jehoshaphat;

For there will I sit to judge

The whole of the nations around.

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.

Come, get ye down, for the press is full,

The vats overflow; surely their wickedness was great!

Multitudes! multitudes! in the valley of the executed-justice,† Surely the day of the Lord is near, in the valley of executedjustice!

The sun and moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shining.

And Jehovah shall roar from Zion,
And utter his voice from Jerusalem;

And the heavens and the earth shall shake;
But Jehovah will be a refuge for his people,
And a strong hold for the sons of Israel.

And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, your Elohim,
Dwelling in Zion, the hill of my sanctuary.

And Jerusalem shall be holy,

And strangers shall pass through her no more," &c.

The order of events seems to be clearly discoverable from this passage alone. The general assembly of the nations for judgment in the holy land, after Judah's restoration. The harvest, which ever symbolizes the gathering of the elect, preceded, we know, by the resurrection of the blessed. Then follows the treading of the wine press, accompanied with the shaking of the nations, symbolized by, and as it will be seen, accompanied with great changes in the heavenly bodies and on the surface of the earth. Should, therefore, the taking up of the saints not take place, as is the sanguine expectation of some, before the armies are gathered at Armageddon, yet surely, "when these things begin to come to pass," or corresponding military movements are seen among the nations of the earth, leading to this position of things, the Church cannot then but know that "the judge is even at the door."

SECTION THE SIXTH.

THE SECOND EXODUS OF ISRAEL.

Before the Redeemer "comes to Zion," and "treads the wine press" at

Armageddon; we have intimation, also, that he will have conducted certain portions of his people through the deserts to the east of Palestine These, the subject first of sore judgment, as well as the remnant in the city-"The relics from the sword" at length find favour-Ephraim found in a state of idolatry-Converted and united with the "tents of Judah," they enter the Holy Land in a warlike attitude-The first manifestation of the Saviour made to these-At length to the remnant in Jerusalem-They look on him whom they have pierced, and are delivered from their blood guiltiness."

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WE have seen in the last section, that before "the Redeemer cometh to Zion," or "cometh forth at Zion," in order that he may bring his saints with him, as it is asserted he will, he must have raised his dead, and taken up from the earth the living who believe in his name. So, also, we have intimation in other Scriptures, that before Jehovah Sabaoth goes forth to the great conflict, his presence -manifested, perhaps, by his cloud of glory, as at the first Exodus-proceeding from the east, will have conducted certain portions of Israel through the desert, to the scene of this great warfare.