the breastplate, and the coat of mail, to defend the body from injury. Strongholds and fortresses and walled cities were built. Battering-rams and powerful engines of destruction were used. It is enough to make the heart sick to go through an armory, and see the improvements, as they are called, in warlike weapons. The sharp arrow was not fatal enough, it must be poisoned! The edged blade was not deadly enough, it must be formed so as to give an incurable wound! The dagger, the two-handed sword, the iron mace, the battle-axe, the pike, and the halberd were but a part of the weapons that were used. But deadly as these were, they could not keep pace with the desire for human destruction. Some swifter, some more wholesale destroyer was required, and gunpowder was invented. The matchlock, the gun, the culverin, the cannon, and the mortar followed each other; and thousands and tens of thousands were added to the slain. When war once became a trade, no wonder that it should increase in the earth. Nations rivalled each other in their armies and navies. Infantry and cavalry, engineers and artillerymen, soldiers and sailors, generals and admirals became abundant. Oh, what blood has been shed, and what unnumbered millions of money have been spent, scattered, wasted, worse than wasted, in ungodly warfare ! "When I read of forts and castles, with their parallels and parapets, their outworks, their bastions, their angles, their ramparts, and their citadels; when I read of bomb-boats, and fire-ships, and rockets, and red-hot shot, I am amazed that any thing like this world possesses can be thought so desirable as to be purchased at so dear, so dreadful a price as that of war. Even gunpowder, wide wasting as it is, has not satisfied the insatiable desires of war. A still more devastating power has been invented. By the use of steam, a complete stream of bullets and of cannon-balls can be poured forth on errands of destruction." How significant is the language which foretells the humiliation and punishment of worldly potentates, and of the high, lofty, and arrogant of every description! They are compared, for their grandeur and prosperity, to "the cedars of Lebanon;" or, for their established strength and power, to "the oaks of Bashan;" and as states and governments, to "mountains and hills;" but they shall "be brought low," and their fortresses and defences shall not avail. Idolatry, also, will be wholly exterminated by fearful judgments, such as shall force its deluded votaries to acknowledge the sovereign majesty and glory of " Him who rideth upon the heavens," who "alone shall be exalted in that day." Every serious reader must be affected by the terrible comprehensiveness of these prophecies; for "the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations," none are exempt; devoting themselves to the destruction incident to war, they cannot merit exemption; and in the figurative sense of the passage, "The mountains," the ruling powers, must finally "melt" away, for the "blood" of "all their armies" shall be poured out. "The heavens" themselves, the highest and loftiest governments on earth, "shall be rolled together as a scroll;" their laws and mandates, mingled with error, injustice, and oppression, can no longer be sustained; in fine, they shall "fall down" from the height of their power and dignity "as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree." Thus, though" the Lord will be jealous for Zion with a great jealousy, which shall devour the adversaries," yet we perceive how mercifully he invites "the world" to "hear" the warning threats of his "indignation, and of his fury which shall be upon all their armies." This proves it to be his will that we should bestow all possible attention on what the Holy Spirit has revealed respecting these direful periods; and which, as the terminating scenes of the Christian dispensation, are replete with interest. Thus, amid the revelation of his judgments his saints are encouraged to expect final deliverance; and he guards them against supineness, commanding them "not to be slothful, but followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises;" to be "always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord." In short, to excite us to a due and watchful diligence for the advancement of his kingdom, the Saviour declares, that "he who gathereth not with him, scattereth abroad," while, by his prophet, he assures us that "they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." But the language of Almighty vengeance is still more remarkable in the following quotations, which seem to allude to-First, The overthrow of the papacy,-Second, The decisive conflict with the adherents of this destructive apostacy at the battle of Armageddon,-Third, The overthrow of Gog and Magog, or the northern powers, &c., during their invasion of Palestine,-and Fourth, The destruction of the wicked at the Second Advent. The first passage is in combination with a prophecy denounced against ancient Babylon, and appears to be couched in language too strong to be confined to that period: Isaiah XIII. 9-12. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate and a he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. The application of this portion of the prophecy to modern Babylon will appear just, by observing that "sinners" are to be "destroyed out of it," which can only relate to a still future period. Besides, the destructive nature of this dreadful concussion of physical power, cannot, with any propriety, be applied to the fall of the ancient Babylonian empire. Mr. Bickersteth justly remarks: "There are but few predictions of Scripture that have received their full accomplishment. When God foretells things, he takes that large view which comprehends the whole of his dispensations, and frequently passes rapidly from a commencing to a completing accomplishment." Although the grand theatre of war may principally rage in portions of the ten European kingdoms, which have given their power and strength unto the beast," Rev. XVII. 13, yet we may justly conceive that the extraordinary effects resulting from this dreadful disorganization of mankind, this “distress of nations with perplexity," and even of those the most civilized, must extend their fearful influences to the remotest colonies, and other regions of the earth. Of this we have a recent instance in the remarkable power which the French revolutionists exercised over their colonies, the massacres in which were probably b Isai. IV. 1; xxiv. 6. a Prov. II. 22. more numerous, for extent of territory, than those of the mother country. But the following portions of Scripture will prove what reason we have to suppose that a most violent collision of principles throughout the other kingdoms of the world will have taken place, from the present increasing facilities of communication; and that much greater scenes of horror and bloodshed will be the result. But by whatever instrumentality these effects may be produced, the Scriptures are too explicit on the subject to be misunderstood. Jeremiah xxv. 29-33. I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for a the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be as dung upon the ground.* Psalm LXXVI. 5—10, 12. The stout-hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep and none of the men of might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. Thou, even thou, art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry ? Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to judgment to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. a Isai. xxxiv. 8. b Matt. 11. 13-16; xxiv. 22. |