a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."* There is reference to this prediction and promise in the following words of Christ: "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father."t "The followers of Christ are said to do what he does for them in destroying their enemies, as they are engaged in the same cause, and are with him in these works of vengeance."

come."

:

Therefore, there is again reference to those words in the second Psalm, when Christ is represented as riding forth to the battle there described, followed by the armies in heaven, comprehending all who shall then have over"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." "This is certainly the same with the battle of that great day of Almighty God, mentioned in the sixteenth chapter;" and is predicted in the words quoted from the second Psalm.

"The twenty-first Psalm contains a prediction of Christ, and foretells the destruction of the wicked, as introducing his reign on earth, and the prosperity and joy of the church." "Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of

* Psal. ii. 8, 9. † Rev. ii. 26, 27. Rev. xix. 14, 15

thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them, Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings, against the face of them. Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power."*

66

That the wicked shall be cut off and destroyed from the earth, that the saints may inherit it, is foretold throughout the thirty-seventh Psalm." 66 Evil-doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the earth when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord," &c.

The same thing is brought into view in the seventy-fifth Psalm. "The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved." "God is the Judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture,

*Ver. 8-13.

and he poureth out of the same; but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them." Then follows, in the next Psalm, a view of the millennium. "In Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwellingplace in Zion. Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.'

In the prophecy of Isaiah, the battle of that great day to precede the millennium is often brought into view. In the second chapter it is described: "Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”*

In the thirteenth chapter is a prediction of the slaughter of the wicked of the earth, which shall make way for the millennium: "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity."t

God will now make inquisition for blood, as appears from Isaiah xxvi. "Come, my people,

*Verses 10, 11, 18, 19.

† Verses 6-11.

enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”* This must be a great and dreadful day of battle, punishment and vengeance, when all the blood which has been and shall be shed, from the beginning of the world to that day, shall be required at the hands of the wicked inhabitants of the earth. The words which follow, are, "In that day the Lord, with his sore and great and strong sword, shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." The same event is here predicted, of which there is a prophecy in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation, viz., of the dragon that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, being laid hold of, and bound, and cast into the bottomless pit. And the same consequence of this with respect to the church is here foretold, as is described there," viz., its triumph and glory: "In that day sing ye unto her."

"The thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth chapters of Isaiah contain a prophecy of the millennium and of the day of battle which will precede it.". "Come near, ye nations, to hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is † Chap. xxvii. 1, 2.

* Verses 20, 21.

upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense." Then, "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

In the fifty-ninth chapter, God is represented coming forth to this battle in that glorious and dreadful array in which he will come to judg ment, and render to every man according to his deeds. "For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."* And to this battle, this work of judgment and vengeance, succeeds the day of light and salvation. It will then be said to the church,

* Verses 17, 18, 19.