of the Lord cometh; the day of the Lord is very great, and who can abide it?' Joel ii.

I-II.

The day of the Lord cannot here fignify the deftruction of Jerufalem by the Chaldeans, or the Romans, because the defcription of the northern army which fhall come against it, by no means agrees with either of thofe people, as I have fhown in Art. IV. of the preceding work. The invafion of the Turks and Saracens answers indeed to this prophetic defcription, as I have made appear in the aforementioned place; but tho' the Turks be most probably the people spoken of in this chapter, yet by the great day of the Lord is not meant any destruction which they, or any other people, fhall bring upon the Jews or Ifraelites, but, as our Author rightly obferves, a day of facrifice and vengeance against his (the Lord's) enemies. It was to fucceed the prayers and fupplications of his people, and is described, ver. 18. Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity bis people. Behold, I will fend corn and oil, and ye fhall be fatisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the Heathen; but I will remove far off from you the northern army, &c. This is the great day of the Lord, when he fhall take vengeance upon the northern army, bis, and his people's enemies, the Gog of Ezekiel, who, in the latter days, fhall come into the land which is brought back from the fword. Our Author indeed underftands by the northern army that of the Chaldeans, as appears from p. 48. • In Joel (fays he).

• the

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the trumpet founds again, a new proclamation is made, the people return, they are gathered together, the congregation is fanctified, the nor¿ thern army is removed far off, the ears that the locuft hath eaten, the canker worm, and other inftruments of deftruction in the hand' of Providence, are to be restored, they were to eat in plenty, and be fatisfied: and after this, it fhall come to pafs, that I will pour out my fpirit (which happened upon the day of Pentecoft) upon all flesh, and your fons and your daughters fhall prophecy :-And alfo -And alfo upon the fervants and upon the handmaids, in those days ⚫ will I pour out my fpirit:-This was to precede the other great day of the Lord, the final deftruction of Jerufalem; when, as it immediately follows, I will fhew wonders in the heaven, and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of fmoak; the fun fhall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood:-the natural effects of a fiege fo dreadful as that of Jerufalem, when the light of the fun and moon was obscured by the fire and fimoak, and ruins, in that great and terrible day of the Lord.

I have (I think) given fufficient reafon above*, why by the northern army cannot be here meant the army of the Chaldeans; I fhall only add here, that the Chaldeans, or people of Babylon, were an eastern, and not a northern people, with refpect

*Article IV. p. 7.

to

to Jerufalem. The locust, the canker-worm, the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, mentioned here, and in the 4th verfe of chap. i. are, by fome commentators, thought to fignify the four monarchies which fucceffively oppreffed the Jewish nation; and if fo, the deliverance here promised, must be posterior to their oppreffion by the laft of these monarchies: but I am more inclined to think, that by the locusts are here meant the Saracens or Turks, who are reprefented by that fimilitude in the Revelations to St. John, chap. ix. according to the opinion of the best interpreters. As to the pouring out of the Spirit here spoken of, it is to be after that they shall know that the Lord was in the midst of Ifrael, and that he was their Lord and God, and none elfe; and after which, bis people shall never be ashamed, ver. 27. A portion of the Spirit was indeed poured out upon the day of Pentecoft, but it cannot be with propriety faid, to be upon all flesh, as is here prophecied; fo that it is reasonable to expect a more plentiful effufion of it hereafter, at the time here spoken of. The wonders in heaven and earth, ver. 30, &c. therefore are not figns of any deftruction of Jerufalem, as our Author fuppofes, but of a deliverance in Mount Zion and in JeruSalem, as appears from ver. 32, and the two following verses, which declare that it fhall be in thofe days, and in that time, when the Lord fhall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerufalem,

and when he will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehofaphat, and will plead with them there for his people, and for his beritage Ifrael, whom they have fcattered, and parted bis land.

This great day of the Lord is therefore not a day of deftruction to his people Ifrael, but a day of vengeance upon their enemies, to be executed upon them hereafter, when the Lord fhall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.

The great day of the Lord, mentioned by Zeph. i. 14. that was near and hafted greatly, feems indeed to be the deftruction of Jerufalem by the Chaldeans, which happened about 150 years after this prophecy; for I do not affert, that the day of the Lord never fignifies the destruction of Jerufalem, but that it often points at that great day when the Lord fhall restore his people Ifrael, and take vengeance upon their enemies and oppreffors.

The Prophet Amos, as our Author obferves, fpeaks of a day which was to be darkness, &c. and fays, the virgin of Ifrael is fallen; he shall no more rife, fhe is forfaken upon her land, there is none to raise her up: Amos v. 2. which is a prophecy of the captivity of the ten tribes. It is indeed here faid, that the virgin of Ifrael fhall no more rife, but this must not be fo understood as to contradict the very remarkable words with which this Prophet concludes his prophecy: And I will bring

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bring again the captivity of my people Ifrael, and they fhall build the wafte cities and I will plant them upon their land, and they shall NO MORE be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, faith the Lord thy God.

In Malachi, the laft of the Prophets (fays · our Author) is a moft evident and clear prediction of the coming of a meffenger to pre< pare the way of the Lord who was fuddenly to come to his people-Behold he shall come, faith the Lord of Hofts.After this, the day that was fatal to Jerufalem cometh; the day that fhall burn like an oven, when all the

proud, and all that do wickedly, fhall be as 'ftubble; and the day that cometh fhall burn them

up, faith the Lord of Hofts, that it fhall leave them neither root nor branch. Behold I will fend you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Hence it follows, that by the great and dreadful day of the Lord, is to be understood the deftruction of Jerufalem; and that before the laft de• ftruction of that ancient and glorious city, in which God, on account of his people and his

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temple, was faid to dwell, the Meffiah or Chrift, and his herald John, in the character of Elijah, were to appear.'

As to the coming of a meffenger, Malachi iii. 1. our Saviour himfelf, as I above obferved †, has

+ Article LII. p. 85.

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applied