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SECONDLY, the motive. "Things shall come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought." The evil thought is to go up and take a spoil and prey and riches, gold, silver, cattle and goods. Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, will be inspired with such a thought to join the company, together with all the young lions thereof.

6. Then, from verse 14th, to the 20th verse of the 39th chapter, follow a description of the great battle, and the means by which they shall be destroyed, together with the time to be occupied by Israel in destroying their enemies, burning up their instruments of war, not for culinary purposes, but to destroy them; and also the supper of the great God, prepared for the beasts and fowls.

7. From verse 21 to 29, we have the effect which this battle and its accompanying scene will have on both the saints and the heathen.

FIRST, the heathen shall see God's glory, and know why the house of Israel went into captivity; that it was for the abuse of peace and independence when they enjoyed it, that God hid his face from them and gave them into the hand of their

enemies.

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SECONDLY, Israel is to learn by it that the Lord is their God, from that time forward. All God's mercies, hitherto have been insufficient to convince the church effectually that God is their helper and deliverer. The Jewish church went after idols, even amidst the thunders of Sinai; and while the meat God gave them, was in their mouth, they murmured. The disciples rose from the feast of the loaves and fishes while the Sa

viour was with them, and were troubled because they had taken no bread. convinced, and never more MIGHTY GOD is theirs.

But they will now be forget, that the ALThey shall know too,

that their God has gathered them from among the heathen into their own land and has poured out his spirit upon the whole house of Israel, and constituted them glorious and immortal.

THE CLOSE OF THE PLAGUES.

The conflagration of the heavens and the earth, will close the dreadful scenes of judgment. The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat; the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. But is the conflagration the conclusion of the plagues? Certainly. "For in them is filled up the wrath of God." But "the earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." "The earth is utterly broken down; the earth is clean dissolved; the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and be removed like a cottage; and the transgression shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again.' Isa. xxiv. Until the earth falls, therefore, the wrath of God is not filled up."

Then we look for a new heaven and a new earth; and for Jerusalem a rejoicing. When the

new earth appears, and not before, the new Jerusalem will come down from God out of heaven, and the saints enter into it. But we are taught, in Rev. xv., that no man will be able to enter the temple until the seven plagues are fulfilled. When they are fulfilled, then the paradisical earth will come, and the bride appear, the guests enter her gates, and the marriage feast be celebrated for a thousand years.

In view of these dreadful plagues, well might the prophet Daniel say, "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation to that same time." God is in earnest in these declarations of wrath; and they are made in mercy to a perishing world. But if men will not believe and be moved to seek a refuge from the stormy blast and the windy tempest that will sweep over the earth, they must suffer the consequences. No doubt, to many, the writer of this will seem as one that mocks! So, also, seemed Lot to his friends in Sodom, in the day of their ruin; but their unbelief did not disannul the word of Jehovah, nor will it now. God's judg ments will surely come, perishing mortal, wheth er you believe or not. O come to Christ, and seek a refuge without delay. Can you still determine to resist God's proffered grace until his day of vengeance comes, and his wrath is poured out without mixture? Think of that scene of anguish which has been but feebly portrayed in these pages. My heart yearns over you, dear reader. If you are still resisting God's grace, casting off fear, and restraining prayer, I tremble for your fate! O, forsake your sins, that your soul may live. Like the wise man, build on the rock,

CHAPTER VII.

THE NEW JERUSALEM.

OLD "Jerusalem, which now is, is in bondage with her children."-" But Jerusalem which is above, is free, and is the mother of us all." Galatians, fourth chapter.

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It has already been remarked (Chap. I.) that Jerusalem is the great metropolis of the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the house of David. That kingdom, for its abuse of privileges, was sent into captivity, was scattered to the winds, and Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Then the sanctuary, the hill of Zion, is to be justified; Jerusalem's warfare will end, because her iniquity is pardoned. But although Zion has been long desolate, yet, says the Psalmist, (Ps. cii. 13, 14,) "Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time to favor her, the set time, is come; for thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof." Verse 16: "When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." Until then, it must be desolate, and her children be in bondage. Both the Old and New Jerusalem are personified and addressed as being the mother of their inhabitants. Thus Christ addressed the

city: "How oft would I have gathered thy chil dren." Matt. xxii.

So,

Here the city, Jerusalem, is addressed as the mother, and the inhabitants as her children. in Galatians, as quoted at the head of this article, both the Old and New Jerusalem are thus personified, and their inhabitants are called their children. The Old Jerusalem is the mother of the Jews; the New Jerusalem, the mother of the glorified saints, The Old Jerusalem is in the old earth, under the curse; the New Jerusalem is in the new earth, when there will be no more curse. Isa. lxv. 17, 18; Rev. xxi. 1, 2.

The Old Jerusalem was built by human power; but the builder and maker of the New Jerusalem is God. It is the city for which the patriarchs looked as the fulfilment of the promises of God to them. Heb. xi. 8-10, 16: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city," God is to build that city. So Isaiah, (lxv. 18,) "I create Jerusalem." Christ also, (John xiv. 2, 3.) "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,

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