with glory.' One is almost afraid to speak of "glory;" for, as a term, we cannot define it; as a thing, we cannot describe it. It is all a mystery-ineffable, boundless, overpowering. But when, "through grace, we take the kingdom," and worship in the Temple that Ezekiel saw, we shall then know what glory" means; for now will the Ark be in the Holiest, and the Shekinah will flame above the Mercy-seat; the Son of man will descend from heaven, and the presence of Him who once was the crucified, but who now is Prince, will be more radiant than the light of the morning.

"The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts." The unbelieving heart is always timid, and it too often throws its fears across the road of its hopes. But God is cognisant of all our doubts; and to obviate those He saw about to spring up in the minds of "the remnant" who were ready to desist from their work at the Temple, He tells them, through Haggai, verse 8, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah Sabaoth." It is Nebuchadnezzar's Image, whereby each of "the all nations" was represented by a distinctive metal, that is still in the prophet's eye; and when God affirms, in terms that signify control as well as ownership, “the silver is mine, even as was the gold,” it is as if He had said,— "Be not perplexed or downcast, though mighty kings and universal kingdoms stand in the path of my designs; for even as Babylon'the head of gold-was in my hand of old, so now is Persia'the heart of silver."" But if Jehovah thus asserts His supremacy over "the gold and the silver" of the historic image, that stood up before the great king, He would surely have us to draw the obvious inference that the whole image, through all its metals, was amenable to Him; and that in the day of His appointment, each successive dynasty would crumble into dust, and leave a smooth highway for the wheels of His decrees.

It is held by some that every let was taken out of Messiah's road long ago, and that He has already done in our world all that was predicted. But at the time Paul wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus had come in our flesh; and yet, in that Epistle, xii. 26-28, Paul plainly intimates that the kingdoms which are to be shaken had not all been shaken; and that "the unshaken kingdom" was still future in his day. If, however, that part of Haggai's prophecy which referred to "the king

"The fancy of the modern Jews, in calling this Temple-which was really the third of their temples--the second, seems to be without foundation. And if Christians have followed the Jews in this, it is because they expound Hag. ii. 6-9 as referring to the coming of Messiah to Zerubbabel's Temple-of which Herod's, they alleged, was only a continuation. But I think that Haggai alluded to the fourth, and last Temple--as it was predicted and described by Ezekiel." Whiston's Josephus-Antiquities of the Jews, b. xv., chap. xi., sec. 1, note.

doms" was not accomplished in the time of the apostle, neither was that part of the prophecy which related to the temple; and so the promised glory must yet be waiting on "the threshold."

Nevertheless, that glory will dawn, and shine, and culminate, and never drop below the horizon, let the powers of earth and the principalities of hell conspire as they may. It may break up many a kingdom. And are the kingdoms of earth not breaking swiftly up? as witness Denmark, and Poland, and America. It may undermine many thrones. And are not the thrones of Europe-as witness France, and Italy, and Romenow quivering in the wind? Nothing, however, shall retard or frustrate the kingdom" where that temple shall stand which Jesus is to "fill with His glory." Jehovah touched "the gold" of the colossal image, and it was ground to powder. He breathed on "the silver," and it was melted. He smote "the brass," and it was shaken to pieces. He trampled down "the iron," and it became as chaff. And what is "the clay," that it can resist Him who vanquished "the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold?"

"For our God is a consuming fire." As if in view of the judgments which shall usher in, and accompany, the dissolution of existing governments and states, Paul leaves this solemn hint in Hebrews xii. 29-" for our God is a consuming fire." And from these words we may rest certain that, when He rises up to execute His vengeance upon them who have wrought all evil in the seats of power, He will not restrain His fury. Is not "the fire" already kindled; and is it not stealing its hidden way among "the feet and toes" of the great image? But the flames shall spread and rise until all Christendom is one burst of angry conflagration; and the prediction of Haggai ii. 22 is brought to pass, "I will overturn the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the power of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overturn the chariot, and the riders in it; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother." The day of wrath is "no fable cunningly devised;" but instead of tranquillity, which the world's prophets tell us is coming up like a tide, there is distraction, and anarchy takes place of rule, and all concord flees away before the sword of violence. "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom," is the portentous announcement of Christ himself; and then "men's hearts shall fail for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." Strange words are these to hear from the mouth of any messenger of peace. But are they not the warning, solemn and stern, of the great Peacemaker himself?

"The latter glory of the house shall be greater than the former." Through manifold upturnings and fiery judgments, "the kingdom of the saints" emerges into light, and takes possession of the whole earth. The temple is rebuilt in surpassing grandeur, and far ampler are its dimensions. But we are further told at ver. 9, "That the latter glory of the house shall be greater than the former." And for THIS reason shall the glory" of Ezekiel's sanctuary exceed "the glory" of Solomon's, inasmuch as it is filled with the radiance of its Royal Priest dwelling in the midst. Jesus is now visible as well as present, enthroned as well as reigning, and more luminous than the sun; He stretches His sceptre from Jerusalem over a redeemed and renovated earth. Deeper shame never wrapt round a man than what clung to the Son of God when formerly here. But in the end He shall put on all "His glory," and His saints shall be with Him. Their eyes shall see His beauty; their lips shall extol His love; and their hands shall wave palms of triumph to the King of all the earth.

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And in this place will I give peace. Jehovah closes all the solemn and blest assurances He has given to us by Haggai with this other, in ver. 9, "And in this place will I give peace." Since the Fall our world cannot be said to have known "peace;" nor can it, so long as Jesus tarries within the Holiest, and Satan makes the Outer court his thoroughfare. Mankind are like a sheaf unbound, and there is neither concord nor coherence through all its tribes. Long has "peace" been talked of, and sighed for. Enthusiastic associations have schemed for it, and warm-hearted philanthropists have descried it on the wing. Rulers would rather have "peace" than contention; and the multitude would be glad if the sound of battle were heard no more. Still there is no "peace." In past ages there has been none; and in our day what have we but the whole earth awaking its energies for strife, and division, and tyranny, and carnage? "God made of one blood all the nations of men," and they should have dwelt together as children of one Father. But where is Love? Freedom? Brotherhood? Humanity?

Nevertheless there "shall be peace," and "the peace" of earth shall go forth from Jerusalem, when the Son of man shines in His glory on Mount Zion. In that day Satan is driven into darkness, and the gates of the pit are shut around him. God is witnessed to with a loud voice, and all knees worship at His feet. Righteousness is flowing like a stream, and the saints walk abroad in robes of beauty and truth and love. The Peacemaker has come, and it is "peace." The noise of battle is a tale that was told; no groans of suffering now pierce the air.

The discord of variance is swallowed up in boundless charity; and the river of "peace," having its fountain-head at Jerusalem, shining in the lustre of glory, and leaving holiness on every bank it washes, passes through all lands, gladdens every heart, and fills the wide earth with the symphonies of heaven.

"He hath promised." Believing followers of Christ should realise such scenes as these vividly, and be more in communion with them as a wellspring of joy and power. No doubt it is "through fire and water" that we shall reach our wealthy place in a regained and sanctified earth. But in Heb. xii. 26, with emphatic reference to all the convulsion and derangement and tumult which will shatter into ruin the present Economy, as well as to all the change and overthrow that are needed to introduce a better, the apostle sweetly reminds us, "He hath promised." It is not menace, it is not denunciation, it is not warning: it is "promise." "God has promised," and what "He hath promised," not only must we rest upon as certain, but long for as blessed.

ART. V.-THE ADVENT AND ITS RESULTS.

GROUNDED ON ZECHARIAH XIV.

THIS chapter, with its wonderful predictions, stands in close connexion with the two foregoing chapters; for whatever partial fulfilment some parts of them may have had in days past, their chief burden is yet future. We may ask, When has Jerusalem been "a cup of trembling unto all people round about, and a burdensome stone to all people?" And when "have governors of Judah been like an hearth of fire among the wood?" and when "have they devoured the people round about?" Again, when "has the feeble among them been as the house of David? and the house of David as God, as the angel of the Lord before them?" And when have we witnessed "the spirit of grace and supplications poured out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem ?" and when "have they looked upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourned for Him, as one mourneth for his only son?" &c., &c.

Further, though chap. xiii. 1 was fulfilled, in regard to the remnant, in the days of our Lord's first coming; in reference to the nation, (evidently represented by the general mourning

recorded in chap. xii. 10-14,) it is yet future. Likewise, chap. xiii. 9, is yet unfulfilled. This verse evidently records the last great trial of the spared third part, occasioned by the great tribulation of the beast of Revelation, (chap. xiii.,) or the antichrist of 1 John ii. 18, 22, "who will deny the Father and the Son." For the reign of terror of the antichrist, so graphically described by Zechariah, (xiv. 1, 2,) will cause "the Lord to go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle." And in the height of their tribulation, the Lord says, (xiii. 9,) "they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." (Comp. Matt. xxiii. 39.)

The whole of chap. xiv. is unquestionably yet future. At the personal, premillennial advent of Christ, however, these and similar prophecies will be literally accomplished; therefore, at the end of this present dispensation, and before the ushering in of the Sabbatism, or the so-called millennium. Then the Jews will be nationally restored, settled in the land of their fathers, and become the heralds of salvation (Isa. lxvi. 19) to the yet remaining Gentile nations. Then the Jews will nationally become what the apostles and the believing remnant were in the primitive Church; and they will answer in the end God's design with them. The apostle Paul implies this when he says, (Rom. xi. 15,) "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?"

A sainted writer said, in reference to this event, "Blessed be the Lord, who has such glorious purposes in store for sinners, such as we are! May He vouchsafe us grace and His Holy Spirit, to understand and appreciate all His prophetic declarations, and thus be fortified against all the delusions of the dangerous times in which our lot is cast." And then, regarding the approaching fulfilment of these predictions, he adds, "We must look to the movements of God's ancient people; for if anything new takes place with them, then we must expect a change in the history of the kingdom of God.

This wonderful people, regarding the future history of which the prophets have spoken so much, is just now in a remarkable state of expectation. The "broken-off branches of the olivetree" begin to shew some life. The Lord has yet glorious objects with them, whereby He designs our own happiness, and the salvation of all people. But all has to pass from "darkness to light, and from death to life."

This view is in accordance with this prophecy. Satan will not give up his usurped dominion without a desperate struggle,