him forth, and commanded him to go into the temple and preach it. But when upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them, and the people gave a shout, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man- immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten up of worms, and gave up the ghost, but the word of God grew and multiplied."-When the Lord wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan-He cast upon them his wrath, indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

When Jehoshaphat was joined in affinity with Ahab, who did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him, and whose wife Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, "the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go up to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king's hand. And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might inquire of him? Micaiah was a prophet of the Lord, and he said, "As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak. Let them return every man in peace.Hear the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. Then there came

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out a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou shalt entice, and thou shalt also prevail.' As Micaiah told, Ahab did not return in peace. A sparrow can not fall unto the ground without Him whom the prophet saw sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And as before them all the Lord spake of the fall of Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead, there a bow at a venture smote the disguised king of Israel between the joints of the harness. The wounded idolator, who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, died,

1 Acts xii.

2 Psalm 1xxviii. 49.

32 Chron. xvii.

and was brought to Samaria: and according to the word of the Lord by the prophet, for whom an angel spread a table in the wilderness, the dogs licked his blood in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth. It might well seem wise to prefer the counsel of four hundred to the counsel of one. But the prophet of the Lord spake truth; and all the prophets of Ahab lied. It is written that dogs have to lick other blood than that of the king of Israel then. Of others it is written, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighted in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions. Of the kings that have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast it is recorded, that "God hath put it into their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled.' But not less surely shall spiritual agency be at work in executing the true and righteous judgments of the Lord, when idolatry and iniquity shall be brought to an end throughout all the earth, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord shall be avenged, than it was when the prophet saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven on his right hand and on his left, when the time was come that Ahab had to fall at Ramoth-Gilead, and dogs to lick his blood at the pool of Samaria. Christ is exalted far above all principalities and powers; and He is head over all things for his church. In the time of harvest, as He has plainly told, He shall send forth his angels and gather the children of the wicked one, as noxious weeds are gathered together and bound in bundles to be burned. Out of the mouth of his enemies, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, spirits of devils then go forth to gather the kings of the earth and of the whole world. They make war with him; but He gathereth them and the wine-press is trodden without the city, and the blood of his saints is avenged where it first was shed, and where the Lord of glory was slain.

Men speak of "spiritualizing" the prophecies-dwellers in flesh spiritualizing the word of the Father of spirits! they in whom darkness dwells throwing light upon the word of the Father of lights, by altering the word of Him who is without any variableness or shadow of turning! Has He before whom the hairs of our heads are all numbered, and whose eyes behold the nations, nothing to do with the things that are done on the earth, so that his word should

not testify of them? And have they not much to tell of him, as the very things which He had spoken have been already done? And do not these, as exemplars of the future as well as witnesses of the past, speak the more loudly that they are plainly written? Has a bow drawn, on man's part, at a venture, and the washing of Ahab's chariot, nothing to tell of spiritual agencies, even of communings among the host of heaven, in things of themselves seemingly for tuitous or trifling? Is the intervention of angels recorded a hundred times in the Bible, without a lesson to be learned from them all? What else than spiritual is the government of this world, though human instruments and responsible agents be outwardly carrying it on? What was Sennacherib in all his conquests, but the servant of the Lord who had prescribed the things he was to do, till the daughter of Jerusalem laughed him to scorn, and an angel of the Lord went forth and breathed upon his hosts? How were things in this world taking their seemingly natural course when Daniel saw the great vision of one whose face was as lightning, and his eyes as a lamp of fire, and who, when he came to show him the things that are noted in the Scripture of truth, and what shall befall his people in the last days, said, “I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me : and I remained there with the kings of Persia. . . . When I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come." The earth is the Lord's; and the fullness thereof. And the time cometh in which the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. The angels of heaven stand not apart from it now, as if it were an accursed spot forever. And if they from the beginning have been ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the servants of God in the first earth, over which gross darkness, according to Scripture, shall brood to the last—is it not a hope full of glory as of immortality that their ministry toward the heirs of salvation shall pass into the reign of the saints in the new heavens over the new earth, when both shall be created by the Lord, and the kingdoms of this world, as angels glory in proclaiming, are become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. From the beginning apostles and all true believers looked for the new earth as well as the new heavens, according to His promise.

1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:

earth-shall remain before me. promise, look for new heavens For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.

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For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. Isa. lxv. 17. As the new heavens and the new lxvi. 22.-We, according to his and a new earth. 2 Peter iii. 13.

Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name: that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from mine eyes. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: AND

THE FORMER SHALL NOT BE REMEMBERED NOR COME INTO MIND.

Isa. lxv. 14-17. The Lord will render his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire-will the Lord plead with all flesh, &c. lxvi. 15, 16. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise -the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 2 Peter iii. 10.

I saw a new heaven.

I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.

See Tables i., ii. All passages, p. 400.

The earth shall be removed like a cottage. The Lord will punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. The Lord will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory, &c. Isa. xxiv. 20, 21; xxv. 7, 8. The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment-but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished-my salvation shall be from generation to generation. Isa. li. 6, 8. Of old thou hast

laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed.-The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. Ps. cii. 25-28. There were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. Rev. xi. 15, &c.

And there was no more sea.

Behold, the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea-I beheld till the Ancient of days did sit.-These great beasts which are four, are four kings which shall rise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the king

dom for ever. Dan. vii. 2, 3, 9, 17, 18. I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea. And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. Rev. xiii. 1, 2.-And the beast was taken, &c. And he laid hold on the dragon-and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, &c. xix. 20; xx. 2, 3. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isa. ii. 4, &c.

2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.-Gather my saints together unto me, &c. Ps. l. 1, 2, 5. Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. Isa. lii. 1. Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.-But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. Isa. lxv. 17, 18. Then shall Jerusalem be holy. Joel iii. 17.

3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

My servant David shall be their prince for ever. And I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezek. xxxvii. 25-27. The name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE (Jehovah Shammah). Ezek. xlviii. 35.-The city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. Ps. xlvi. 4, 5. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy one of Israel in the midst of thee. Isa. xii. 6. I create Jerusalem a rejoicing-I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. Isa. lxv. 18, 19. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness. Zech. viii. 3, 8.

4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,

Neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain :

He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. Isa. xxv. 8.

The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Isa. xi. 8, 9. The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.-Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. xxxiii. 24; xxxv. 10. Sorrow and