the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. xxxix. 21-29.)

So is it said with respect to the judgment upon the beast and his co-allies, when they fall at the siege of Jerusalem, as recorded in the prophecy of Zechariah :

"It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; all men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." (Zech. xii. and xiv.)

Thus it appears, that after the overthrow of Gog and the destruction of the beast, Israel is again brought to know the Lord spiritually, and to acknowledge Him whom their fathers crucified and slew; and that God will not hide His face any more from them, nor will there be any more destruction, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited in safety. By which we gather that the events recorded by the prophets Ezekiel and Zechariah will occur simultaneously; and we are further confirmed in this view, by what is said respecting the similarity of the judgment inflicted by God upon these two enemies of Israel. Thus it is said

In EZEKIEL respecting Gog's overthrow.

"Thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God." (Chap. xxxix. 17-20.)

"And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord

In REVELATION of the Beast's destruction.

"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 unto 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." (Chap. xix. 17, 10.)

"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of

God, that my fury shall come up in my face. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that all the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord" (Chap. xxxviii. 18-23.)

heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

"And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." (Chap. xvi. 17, 18, 20, 21.)

From comparison of these two passages, it appears conclusive for considering the attack of Gog and his band, and that of the beast and his allied kings and their armies, to be a simultaneous one, especially as the pouring out of the seventh vial (as including the judgment upon "Babylon the Great," as it is said, she then "came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath," and also upon the beast and his allies) follows immediately upon the events connected with the termination of the sixth vial, which refers to the drying up of "the great river Euphrates," and concludes with this declaration" And he gathered them together into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, ARMAGEDDON."

We pause for a moment to notice the different meanings which have been attached to this word, ARMAGEDDON. During the late war with Russia, a singular attempt was made to connect it with Sebastopol, the great Russian fortress in the Crimea; the origin of which being clearly from σeßaστos, august," and Toms, "a city," it was vainly thought by some, that as the Hebrew word signified "a city," and "august," the Armageddon of Scripture and Sebastopol of the Crimea might be one and the same. But the issue of that war completely set aside such an interpretation. It was the same in

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the great revolutionary war, when the prophets of the day, as Dr Adam Clarke notices, variously described it as having been fulfilled, at one time, by the battle of "Austerlitz," at another, "Moscow," at another, "Leipsic," and now, "Waterloo." Grotius and Vitringa derive the word from 7, "a mountain," and 77, "to destroy" or "to collect." Mede applies it to the popedom, deriving it from D, "cutting off," and 7, "anathema." Others, again, have derived it from 77,"mountain," and 1, "Megiddon"-"Mount Megiddo," the valley of which was remarkable for two great slaughters-one of the Israelites, 2 Kings xxiii. 29, the other of the Canaanites, Judges v. 19. In the Hebrew New Testament, of the Elzevir edition of 1627, the word is written and might possibly be derived from DN," Syria," (Isa. vii. 1, 2, &c.,) and 77, “assault" or "attack," as of an army, Ps. xciv. 21. Whatever be the correct etymology of the word Armageddon, we think, of all the controversies as regards its proper meaning, the remark of the learned Joseph Mede is the best, and the most suitable for our adoption, that "it is one of the secrets of God, and not to be defined by us till the event shall make it known.” (See Mede's Works, p. 215.)

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The battle of ARMAGEDDON, then, which is termed "the battle of that great day of God Almighty," will witness, as we believe from the prophecies of Ezekiel and Revelation, the fall of Gog and his bands "upon the mountains of Israel," and the destruction of the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, together with the false prophet, before the walls of Jerusalem, when, upon their temporary success at the siege of that city, "the Lord goes forth and fights against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle." (Zech. xiv. 3.) These two events may not be inaptly compared to the battle of Waterloo and the fall of Paris in 1815, which occurred in consequence of fresh fighting under the walls several days after the great victory, gained by the English and Prussians over the French, which is usually spoken of as having put an end to the war. This we may anticipate, speaking with due caution and humility on a subject so full of awe and destruction to such a large number of the human race, will be the conclusion of the war, which terminates both with the overthrow of "Gog" and the destruction of the "beast."

There is reason to believe that the events connected with the attack of "Gog" upon Israel are the subject of prophecy in the closing portion of the eleventh chapter of Daniel. Various as have been the interpretations of that great power spoken-of in ver. 36, as," the king who shall do according to his will"

some applying it to the Papacy-others, like Habershon, to Napoleon I., which opinion, if report speaks truly, was said to have satisfied the inquiring mind of "the great duke," who has lately passed away-others, again, seem to imagine that it is yet to be fulfilled in the person of the present emperor, Louis Napoleon, as the last or revived seventh head of the "beast" of the Apocalypse, whose destruction we have already considered; yet all these interpreters appear alike forgetful of the chief clue to guide us in our search after the true interpretation of the prophecy. This may be summarily expressed as follows:-The allies of "the wilful king" are recorded in ver. 43; it is said—“The Libyans and Ethiopians shall be at his steps." The same countries are specified in Ezek. xxxviii. 5, as assisting Gog in his attack upon Israel. In ver. 44, we see that tidings from "the north" cause him trouble, which points evidently to the direction of his origin, the same as that from which "Gog" springs; and when it is said in ver. 45, that he shall succeed in planting "the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain," (i.e., the land of Canaan, situated between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea,) previous to "coming to his end," we are naturally reminded of the description of Joel, which has already been noticed, respecting God's judgment upon "the northern army " between the two seas, as well as what is so fully set forth in Ezekiel concerning the destruction of "Gog and all his bands upon the mountains of Israel.”

There is, however, one thing more connected with this subject, which we must not omit to notice. It does not appear that Gog's entire destruction takes place at that time, for we read in the prophecy which speaks of his overthrow-" Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: and I will turn thee back and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel." This remnant of the sixth part of Gog's bands, we understand as the nucleus of that formidable nation, which is represented as existing after the millennium, whereas it is evident that the destruction of the beast and the false prophet at the battle of Armageddon, and the overthrow of Gog on the mountains of Israel, occur before the millennium. For it is said "When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the

breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the beloved city (Jerusalem): and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for (Rev. xx. 7-10.)

ever and ever."

ART. III.-GENESIS-CHAPTER XIII.

Ver. 1, 2.-"And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold."

ABRAM now leaves Egypt, probably before the famine in Canaan was at an end. For it does not appear that he intended leaving Egypt, had not his deceit been discovered, and circumstances occurred which rendered his stay impracticable, or at least undesirable.* Probably he had begun to be content with Egypt, and contrasting it favourably with Canaan as a land of plenty, he had desired to dwell in it. For, to sense and sight, the world looks fairer than the kingdom, and more desirable for a home. It is faith that looks not only beyond the present famine and tribulation which are connected with our title to the kingdom; but beyond the goodliness and the plenty of this "present evil world," and realises the glory to be revealed. And how often, when unbelief was drawing disparaging contrasts between the lot of the saint, and the lot of the world's gay children; and when sloth was for attempting a compromise, and endeavouring to "make the best of both worlds," has God stepped in and aroused us, shewing us the necessity of separation from the vanities around us, and the exceeding danger of this "ease in Zion.”

* It is not needful that we should have express authority in the passage for thus condemning Abram's conduct. Here, as in most other places, the Spirit of God does not give us, if we may so speak, His opinion on the case, but leaves our consciences to give their own verdict in accordance with the principles of right and wrong, elsewhere laid down. See the case of Noah. His drunkenness is not explicitly condemned; yet was he not sinning? Look at Lot, in his conduct with his daughters. Look at Rebekah, in her deceits. Look at Jacob, in his crooked ways. Look at Rachel, in her untruth. Look at David, when he feigned himself mad, and "scrabbled on the wall." The truth is that, almost universally, the Spirit of God throws us upon our own conscience as enlightened by the Word of God to pronounce upon the action. This is God's way, both in the Old and New Testaments.