Judah and Israel after their long national extinction, their coalition into one people under one king the Messiah, and their unexampled prosperity and happiness in the land of their fathers while living in covenant with God and beholding his sanctuary in the midst of them: we have seen, in short, the commencement of that season of blessedness, which is usually denominated the Millennium. The prophet now directs our attention to a new enemy of the Church, whom he styles Gog and Magog. That this new enemy cannot be the same as Edom or the Roman confederacy, is plain, both from the time when he makes his appearance, namely at some indefinite period after the commencement of the Millennium; from the countries whence he draws his forces, which are without the limits of the papal Roman empire; and from various circumstances in his prophetic history, which do not accord with the prophetic history of the Roman Antichristian confederacy as elsewhere detailed: to all which may be added the improbability, that Ezekiel, after he has described the downfall of that confederacy under the mystic name of Edom exactly at the era where other predictions had taught us to look for it, the era of the restoration of Judah; should now afresh describe its downfall under a different mystical name not used by any one of the ancient prophets, and that too at an era where no other predictions had taught us to look for it, au era posterior to the restoration of the house

house of Israel and the commencement of the Millennium. Ezekiel only teaches us, that the expedition of Gog and Magog should be undertaken, when the united Jews and Israelites were dwelling in careless security under David their king in their own land, when they had spread themselves through all the unwalled villages, when they had become rich in cattle and goods, and when living under the immediate protection of heaven they little expected any assault from man; in other words, that it should be undertaken at some indefinite period after the commencement of the Millennium: but St. John is more explicit; he fixes this period to a thousand years, either natural or prophetic, after the season of great blessedness has commenced. The confederacy however of Gog and Magog will be even less successful than that of Antichrist. While these apostates surround the beloved city, fire from heaven will descend upon them; God will rain upon them an overflowing rain, a rain of hailstones, fire, and brimstone; and, agitated with the madness of terror, those, who escape the devastating tempest, will turn every man his sword against his brother. Yet even of these incorrigible offenders will God mercifully spare the sixth part*,

as

I have already stated the uncertain meaning of the word Ry; and have observed, that, however it be translated, the present argument will not be at all affected. Whether Gog and Magog be totally destroyed, or whether a sixth part be left,

there

as he had already spared the third part of the Antichristian confederacy. Thus magnifying his great name, will the Lord shew to all nations, that, as he scattered the children of Israel for their sins, so, after he has restored them at once to their own land and to the privileges of his covenant, he will cause them to dwell in confident security, and will suffer none to make them afraid.

On the whole it appears, that Ezekiel arranges events which are to take place subsequent to the close of the 1260 days, in the following order: 1. The restoration of Judah partly in a converted and partly in an unconverted state, and the contemporary war between the two parties supported by their several allies the maritime nation and Antichrist; 2. The destruction of Antichrist and his Roman colleagues under the general mystic name of Edom, and the Lord's vindication of himself for restoring so stubborn a race as that of the Jews; 3. The national resurrection of Judah and Israel to which the overgrown power of Antichrist was the only impediment, and their everlasting union under the mystic David their prince; 4. The commencement of the Millennian season of blessedness and tranquillity; 5. The destruction of Gog and Magog.

there will be no correspondence between their fate and that of the Antichristian confederacy; of which Isaiah teaches us that a considerable number shall be spared, while Zechariah more definitely limits that number to a third part of the whole. See Isaiah lxvi. 19. and Zechar, xiii, 8.

Precisely

Precisely the same order is observed by St, John, with this only difference, that, treating of the Church at large, he does not particularly notice the restoration of Israel, but contents himself with only obscurely intimating that the exhaustion of the symbolical Euphrates, or the overthrow of the Ottoman empire, should prepare a way for the kings from the east: 1. The gathering together of the Antichristian confederacy to Megiddo in the land of Palestine, the country which extends 1600 furlongs, the region between the two seas; 2. Its overthrow in that country by the miraculous intervention of the personal Word of God; 3. The first resurrection, either literal or symbolical, of the saints, and their reign with Christ during the period of the Millennium; 4. The expedition and destruction of Gog and Magog.

It is impossible to avoid being struck with the exact correspondence between Ezekiel and St. John, in the order of their respective details. If then the arguments, which I have already adduced, be well-founded; and if this correspondence be allowed to exist: we must come to the conclusion, that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel are the same as the Gog and Magog of St. John; and consequently that their expedition will take place, not before the commencement, but at the end of the Millennium.

No matter of any consequence seems to occur between the destruction of Gog and Magog, and the end of the world; but it does not certainly ap

pear,

pear, how long a space of time will intervene between those two great events. St. John, so far as his narrative is concerned, passes immediately from the one to the other, without specifying the length of the intervening period *. But Ezekiel, though neither does he specify its length, gives us reason to believe, that the end of the world will not be directly consecutive to the overthrow of the Magogian confederacy. After this overthrow is accomplished, it is said, The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward; an expression, which leads us to suppose, that they will continue in the land of their fathers some indefinite time after the destruction of their enemies, ere the end of all things shall arrive. And this supposition is confirmed by Ezekiel's mention of two periods; seven years, and seven months ‡. But, whether we are to understand by them prophetic years and months or natural years and months, and whether the burning of the arms and the burying of the carcases connected with these two periods is to be understood figuratively or literally, I venture not to determine §. The whole

passage is peculiarly

* Rev. xx. 9, 10, 11. † Ezek. xxxix. 22. Ezek. xxxix. 9, 12, 14.

"No remarkable event occurs," says Mr. Fraser, "during "the period that elapses between the destruction of Gog and "the last day; only it would appear, that the Jewish church

continues faithful until Christ's appearance. Their endea