(Concluded)

We have had before us the history of Babylon. Now what will be the end of all this wickedness of man? Well; the destruction of Babylon will be dreadful; for the ten kings and the beast, " these shall hat e the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire" " In one day shall her plagues come, death and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong 'is the Lord God which judgeth her." She will then have " received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins " (Is. xl. 2) even as Jehovah had threatened:—" I will recompence their iniquity and their sin, double" (Jer. xvi. 17); and as he says in the Apocalypse:—"Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works." Immediately after the tribulation of those days, even while these ten kings and the beast are gathered together against this city to war, called the battle of Har-Magedon [place of troops, i.e., valley of Jehoshaphat], " the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

"Then shall the Lord go forth,
And fight against those nations,
As when He fought in the day of battle.
And His feet shall stand in that day
Upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east
And the Lord my God shall come,
And all the saints (holy ones, i.e., angels) with Him."
"Then I will remove far off from you the northern army,
And will drive him into a land barren and desolate,
With his face towards the east sea,
And his hinder part toward the utmost sea."

For a full account read second and third chapters of Joel, and the twelfth and fourteenth chapters of Zechariah. " And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against. him that sat upon the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet; they twain were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone: and the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth."

Now when this city Babylon, the corrupt Jerusalem, has been thus judged and overthrown, the royal marriage will take place between "the Lamb, the King of kings and Lord of lords," and " the Bride, the Lamb's wife," " the holy city Jerusalem." This holy city (beautifully described in Rev. xxi. 9, to xxii. 5), will be composed of all the redeemed, who have tasted the sweets of grace and mercy by faith. We are already espoused to Christ, but wait to be married as Paul says, I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. When we are married to Him then shall the great mystery be unveiled of how Christ and the Church are one flesh, and how " we are members of his body." Then also the world shall know that God the Father sent Christ, and loved us even as He loved Christ, when they behold us in the same glory with Him; as it is said, "When Christ, our life, shall be manifested, then shall we also with him be manifested in glory." "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon, called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. . . . And I saw the beast, and the, kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat•upon the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken," &c. Then also Christ will " send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." There Christ will sit upon His throne reigning with His " fellows (i.e., associates with Him in His kingdom (Psalm, xlv.) viz: (1) " the Queen," " the king's (Pharaoh's) daughter," at His right hand, clothed in gold of Ophir, i.e., the Church; (2) " The virgins," the Queen's companions, i.e., the Old Testament saints, such as Enoch, Job, and Abraham. ( " Thy sons," (comp. Heb. ii. 10), i.e., New. Testament saints, both of Jews and Gentiles, who live in the period after the Church is caught up, subdivided into: (1) " Those that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God " (Rev. vi. 9), and (2) " such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand."

After Christ has executed His terrible judgments on the nations, He will build up again the earthly Jerusalem, as it is written:—

"When the Lord shall build up Zion,
He shall appear in His glory."
"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem;
He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel."
"Again I will build thee,
And thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel."

And it will be called " the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel " (see Isaiah lx.), and " the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem " (it is called " heavenly," not because it is ih heaven, but because it is heavenly in character and origin, the builder and maker thereof being God).

And Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth,
And the mountain of the Lord of Hosts the holy mountain."

It will have a grand temple, as described in chaps. 40th to 47th v. 12 of Ezekiel.

Before concluding, I would ask my reader a solemn question—Which of these two religions and reigns are you helping on? The world has not only crucified Christ as Saviour but also as King. Do you own Him as your Saviour and King? Are you at all linked up with the politics of this world; or do you mind earthly things to the exclusion of heavenly? If so, beware: your end is destruction. And you, my Christian readers, beware lest, " being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have mercy, who are in doubt; and some save, snatching them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

"Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now, and for evermore. Amen."

S. C.