by reason of his breach of covenant with them; for Satan hates that nation above all other nations, not only because Jehovah Jesus was born therein, but likewise because that nation, even in its dispersion, has ever been a standing witness of the truth of the words of the living God: so that even in more senses than one, it may be said of them, "Ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, that I am God."1 And now is fulfilled that awful passage in Ezekiel, "Son of Man, the house of Israel is become to me dross all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah; because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I Jehovah have poured out My fury upon you. "2 For, as He says in another place, His "fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem." And that both these passages relate to this particular tribulation, is proved from the fact, that the "melting" in Jerusalem mentioned in Ezekiel,

1 Isa. xliii. 12.

2 Ezek. xxii. 18-22.

3 Isa. xxxi. 9.

will not take place, until the " gathering" again of Israel after their "scattering among the heathen," and "dispersion in the countries":1 while the "fire" and "furnace" mentioned in Isaiah, is connected with "the Assyrian," i.e., Antichrist, just before the Lord's deliverance of His people out of his hand.

It is during this period, in consequence of Israel, as a nation, having rejected their Messiah, and put their trust in an "idol Shepherd," i.e., Antichrist, that he is permitted to "eat the flesh of the fat," and to "tear their claws in pieces; " and as the "Assyrian, the rod of" the Lord's "anger," "sent" by Him "against an hypocritical nation," "to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire in the streets."3 And that this tribulation will greatly exceed the one inflicted upon the Jews by the Romans, is proved from the fact, "that in all the land," i.e., of Israel," two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third 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 on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God"— a time which is also referred to in Mal. iii. 1-6.

But as it would be foreign to my purpose, to pursue the matter farther in this respect; I would only now

1 Ezek. xxii. 15.
3 Isa. x. 5,
6.

2 Zech. xi. 16, 17.

4 Zech. xiii. 8, 9.

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mention, that this tribulation, and the feelings and prayers of repentant Israel during it, are frequently set forth in the Psalms and the Prophets; where Antichrist is called, "the man of the earth," who "terrifies" (margin) the people;1 "the enemy," pre-eminently, who "does wickedly in the sanctuary," i.e., by setting up there the abomination of desolation; "the boar out of the wood," and "the wild beast," who "devours" all before him ;3 a cruel lord" "and a fierce King;" "the lion," and "the destroyer of the Gentiles;" and "the wicked one," pre-eminently, whom "Jehovah ""shall slay with the breath of His lips," or, as it is rendered in 2 Thes. ii. 8-a passage manifestly referring to the same person, and the same event -"with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming," or, as it is in the original, "with the epiphany of His Parousia," or Personal Presence. There are also clusters of Psalms, if I might so say, which depict the whole period from the beginning to its close; as for instance, the 7 Psalms, in the Levitical Book of Psalms, which relate to the "Sanctuary," commencing with Psalm lxxix., and ending with Psalm lxxxv.

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During this awful tribulation, therefore, Antichrist opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is

1 Psa. x. 18.

5 Jer. iv. 7.

4 Isa. xix. 4.

2 Psa. lxxiv. 3. 3 Psa. lxxx. 13.
6 So in the Hebrew.

7 Isa, xi, 4.

God." "And he opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His Name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it" will be " given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power" will be "given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth SHALL WORSHIP HIM, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." "And all the world wondered after the beast. And they WORSHIPPED THE DRAGON which gave power unto the beast."2 So that this, and this truly, will be the final issue of the "apostacy" of the nations from God! For, as I have shewn in my "Outlines of Prophetic Truth," as well as in my "Personality and History of Satan," that, inasmuch as God is "only wise "a statement no less than three times repeated in the Scriptures of truth 3— there can but be one infinitely holy, Divine, and allperfect will, the will of God Himself: for to assert otherwise would be to say, that God is not God, and that things might, therefore, be ordered better than they are, or have been. Hence it follows also, as a consequence, that the least conceivable departure from that will, has a necessary tendency, and unless God prevent, most assuredly will, as in the case of all those who are not saved, issue in eternal separation from His presence, irremediable ruin, and black eternal death.

1 2 Thes. ii. 4.

2 Rev. xiii. 6-8, 3, 4. 3 Rom. xvi. 27; 1 Tim. i. 17; Jude 25.

1

Moreover, as sin originated with Satan, he must of necessity be the exact opposite of God Himself, as I have also therein shewn. "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft," Keh'-sem, "and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry"-two "works of the flesh,' which we have seen began with the devil, and which must, as we also see, end in the worship of him, and of his creature, Antichrist likewise!

13

And now if any of my readers should be disposed to think that God does not mean what He says; and, therefore, to question the literal words of the Scriptures, which I have set forth, so as to put a non-natural interpretation upon them, by explaining them away to signify something fanciful or mystical, on the assumption that they cannot possibly suppose that men could ever be brought to worship the devil himself; I would only remind them,

1. That this Scripture, Rev. xiii. 4, is not isolated in its statement: for every other worship offered to any other than God Himself, is virtually a worship of Satan; as the following, among other Scriptures, plainly declare-1 Cor. x. 20; Lev. xvii. 7; Deut. xxxii. 17; Psa. cvi. 37; Rev. ix. 20.

2. The North American Indians, the Africans, and many other nations, have worshipped, and still worship, evil spirits, as such, knowing them to be evil spirits!

1 See page 7.

21 Sam. xv. 23.

3 Gal. v. 20.