into that great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great; when the cities of the nations shall fall, and great Babylon shall come in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. As the powers and the army of Egypt were overthrown in the Red Sea, so the powers and armies of spiritual Egypt, the European kingdoms, who have given their power to the beast, shall be overthrown by a flood of rebellion; and as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man. When the righteous see the abomination that maketh desolate again uplifted-when they see spiritual authority and civil power once more conjoined to persecute or punish for religion-then let them which are in the doomed. territories who believe in Christ flee unto the mountains; let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. (Luke xxi. 21, 22.) Two women shall be grinding together-the protestant and Romish churches. The Romish shall be taken; the protestant, still further reformed, shall be left. Two men shall be in the field-the absolute and despotic powers of Europe and the earthly power of Britain. The former shall be taken and destroyed; the latter shall be left. "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt; and a pillar at the border thereof." (Isa. xix. 19.) Switzerland shall be to fugitives who cannot reach Great Britain, what Zoar was to Lot in the day of the destruction of the first Sodom; and until believers in whom is the Life of God are escaped and safe, ven

geance shall be kept back. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. This is figurative of the full rise, the meridian splendour of the Sun of Righteousness, who shall have risen upon the figurative earth, Great Britain, when those who flee for refuge shall have entered into the figurative Zoar, and found shelter beneath God's altar. The pillar at the border is the tenth part of the city, the French nation, in which the troubles shall begin, but who shall be converted unto the Lord. For the witnesses slain, whose dead bodies lie in the street, shall be raised to life by the Spirit of God; and in France, those who escape the perils of the earthquake will be affrighted, and give glory to God, and shall become a pillar at the border of spiritual Egypt. Other five cities in the land-that is, other five kingdoms-shall learn the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts; these are Austria, Bavaria, Sardinia, Spain, and Portugal: one, however, is the city of destruction, the kingdom of Naples, shall fall with the spiritual Sodom, the popedom of Rome, and shall rise no more. Then on the borders of the Red Sea and on mount Zion shall be sung the song of Moses and the Lamb; for "I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass,

having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest."

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(Rev. xv. 2—4.) This overthrow will be accomplished in the manner described by Isaiah and the other prophets. 'Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: (that is, figurative of the European powers,) and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom." (Isa. xix. 1-3.) The earthquake shall have subsided in 1883, the completion of the second period of forty years.

"After the earthquake there was a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire." (1 Kings xix. 12.) "The great city was divided into three parts." (Rev. xvi. 19.) "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third part shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call upon my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God." (Zech. xiii. 8, 9.) To accomplish this, God saith, " And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up." (Isa. xix. 4, 5.) "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds, and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong: there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and behind

them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: and the Lord shall utter his voice before his army; for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" (Joel ii. 2, 3, 10, 11.) "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south (the Egyptian Pacha) push at him (that is the Turkish empire): and the king of the north (that is the Russian power) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, (that is the European territory, which is called the holy city,) and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, Edom, (that is Prussia,) and Moab, (that is France,) and the chief of the children of Ammon, (these are christians then converted, and belonging to the countries which Russia shall overflow.) He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, (that is, he shall take possession of them by conquest;) and the land of Egypt shall not escape, (that is spiritual Egypt.)" (Dan. xi. 40-42.) Thus shall God fulfil His purpose upon the nations of Europe. Thus shall the fire burn and purify, and make white, and try, one third of the inhabitants of these countries.

"But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And

he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, (that is in the land of Palestine, already spoken of:) but he shall come to his end, (in 1923,) and none shall help him." (Dan. xi. 44, 45.) Thus shall terminate the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, in all of which the Lord is not, but the Destroyer doing his destructive work; which in the end accomplishes the destruction of himself. Then after the fire shall be heard the still small voice of Jehovah, our own God: good, merciful, kind, and compassionate; yea, love itself.

The time of Gideon, and the manner of his conquest of the Midianites, were figures of the times of the former and the latter rain. The number of his army was first reduced from thirty and two thousand to ten thousand; for he proclaimed in the ear of the people, saying, "Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand." (Judges vii. 3.) They were still further reduced to three hundred. "And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place." (Judges vii. 7.) Gideon was encouraged by a visit to the camp of the Midianites and the Amalekites, and all the children of the east, who lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude, and their camels without number, as the sand by the sea-side for multitude. For when he came, "behold a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley-bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it, that it fell and overturned it, that the tent