tations in support of this argument, we will refer only to two-the first is recorded in the twentyfourth chapter of Isaiah, verses 21 to 23:"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously."

Now, the notification of the seventh Vial being poured out into the air, links that last act of judgment with the events contained in these three verses of Isaiah. There can be no question that "the host of the high ones that are on high," means Satan and his angels, in distinction from "the kings of the earth upon the earth;" and it is obvious that this passage in Isaiah includes the final catastrophe, because it concludes with the announcement of an era similar to that which the prophet Daniel calls "Blessed," when the "moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously."

The only other passage we shall refer to is that contained in the twelfth chapter of the Revelation, verses 7 to 13, where it is said, "There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child."

In this passage the contest and the victory occur in what is termed "heaven,"-a locality ex

plained in the first chapter of Genesis, verses 6-8 -in contradistinction to "the earth and the sea;" and there is such a correspondence between the several designations of " the air," "on high," and 'heaven," that they may reasonably be regarded as identical. There is also an equally striking correspondence in the character of the phenomena spoken of in the three prophecies; for, the effects of the pouring out of the seventh Vial are “voices and thunderings and lightnings," which are indicative of strife and powerful agencies moving in the air; and "a great earthquake," which in Scripture language betokens a state of commotion, trouble, and distress upon the earth. So that in each prophecy we have the actings and exercise of power amongst living beings "in the air," "on high," or "in the heavens," attended with wo and calamity amongst the dwellers the "earth."

upon

We consider, therefore, that the transaction foreshown in the last two passages we have quoted synchronize with the commencement of the pouring out of the seventh Vial;-the key to such synchronism being the likeness of character, and the identity of place.

Now we cannot dissever these transactions from the appearing of Christ, which is the first act of the drama of the second coming of the Lord; but

we understand them to be its immediate effects. He casts out Satan and his hosts from the place of his dominion as "prince of the power of the air," to make way for the occupation of the heavens by Himself and the risen saints, and those to be translated from amongst the living; and the result is, "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

Now, it is from such a state of things as this indicates that the saints are promised deliverance:it is when such things as these "begin to come to pass" that our Lord bids His disciples to look up and lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh:-it is after predicting" upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken"-apparently a fuller statement of the same events as are pointed out in the passages under consideration that He adds, no less in the spirit of promise than of exhortation, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man:"-these prophecies sug

gest to us specifically that "hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth," from which there is a promise of being kept by the Lord for such as have kept the word of his patience; followed instantly by the declaration "Behold, I come quickly:"-and we conclude that this first deliverance stands intimately and inseparably connected with the appearing of the Lord, from the fact that both the one and the other are set forth in Scripture as the first object of the hope and expectation of the Church-the direct and immediate termination of her mortal career.

Again, the phenomena described in these pas sages imply a condition of men, and of the world, which embraces all the elements needful for filling up the measure of that final apostacy signified under various symbols in Scripture, through which the dragon, (in his wrath against the woman that brought forth the man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and who was, as soon as born, caught up unto God, and to his throne) shall "make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ;" and which apostacy shall be ultimately headed up in the infidel Antichrist—some human being indwelt of the Devil himself-that " man of sin," "that