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of the long-sought Millennium has blessed the world. This is noted as the arrival of the marriage of the Lamb, for which the church is noted as ready, dressed in her fine linen of sanctification and justification, white and clean; "has made herself ready." The sovereign grace of God has done it; but in the way of her own activity, holy love, and faithfulness. All who come to this joyful occasion are pronounced "blessed." The same we find in Dan. xii. 12; "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five-and-thirty days!" or, the rising of the millennial sun. They have obeyed the call of Christ in a sense never done before: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away."

But how is this the marriage supper of the Lamb? Is not that event after the judgment day? We read of it, chap. xxi. "I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife !”—“a bride adorned for her husband." "I will no more drink of the juice of the wine (said our Saviour), till I drink it new with you in my kingdom." These allude to the glorified church. The morning of the Millennium is so noted, in our text, by a prolipsis; and by giving to the type the name of the thing typified: a thing not uncommon. The Millennium will be a bright resemblance of heaven. Hence one of the glories of heaven is here ascribed to it, "the marriage of the Lamb."*

* In 2 Pet. iii. 13, we have, after the final conflagration, a new heavens and a new earth; and these are said to be according to divine promise. In Rev. xxi. 1, we have the same, in a description there of heaven. These passages rest on Isai. lxv. 17, 18, and lxvi. 22, which furnish the "promise" noted by Peter. But this promise in Isaiah alludes primarily to the Millennium, as it is connected with the prediction that "it shall come to pass, that from one Sabbath to another, all flesh (on earth) shall come and worship before God." This passage in Isaiah then, had a primary allusion to the Millennium; but an ultimate one, to the state of future glory. And Peter and the Revelator note the passage only as it relates to the latter. Such a mode of procedure is common in prophecy; to begin with the type, and end with the antitype; sliding, in the same passage, from the type to the antitype. See Psalm lxxii. This Psalm commences with a prayer for Solomon, whose reign was typical of the Millennium; and it slides directly into the kingdom of Christ in the latter. In the eight last chapters of Ezekiel, is a description of a city, and temple, and a system of religion. This (at least primarily) alludes, no doubt, to the Millennium. But it is believed to have an ultimate allusion to heaven; and that the description of the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. and xxii., are but an

John, apprehending the angel to have been Christ, fell down to worship him; but his mistake was corrected, and this argument added :-" for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." q. d. All the prophesyings of Christ are a demonstration of his divinity, that he is one in the infinite God; and to him alone is worship due.

The great final battle is next given; the same event with the seventh trumpet, chap. xi. 15-19;-the seventh vial, chap. xvi. 17-21;—and the harvest and vintage, chap. xiv. 14-20. No addition, from human comment, can be given to its glory. Look, then, with adoration, on the picture drawn by the Holy Ghost, verse xi. to end.

abridgment, and an illustration of it. These remarks may explain the case of the marriage of the Lamb, in our text. And the following may also illustrate it. The coming of Christ in the battle of the great day, is, in some prophecies, combined with his coming to judge the world. See the following, given in language borrowed from that of the judgment day. In Dan. vii. is the great secular Roman beast, whose destruction introduces the Millennium, as clearly there appears. But his destruction (the very event clearly with the battle of the great day) is here thus introduced, ver. 9-11, "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened." The fall of this beast and popery (the very event and period in our text) follows, which shows that it is a scene antecedent to the Millennium; "I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn (popery) spake, I beheld till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." But while this description of the coming of Christ, and his introduction of the scene, has a primary fulfilment in the fall of this beast of infidelity, and the fall of popery; it is to have an ultimate one in the great judgment day. We accordingly read, in Rev. xx., at the close of the Millennium (in allusion no doubt to this very text in Dan. vii. 9, 10)," and the books were opened." That passage in Daniel then, will receive its final accomplishment in the final judgment, when Christ takes the great white throne,-when a fire devoureth before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him; and the judgment will set, and the book be opened! Such instances may illustrate the coming of the marriage of the Lamb, at the opening of the Millennium; while yet its more glorious accomplishment will be at the opening of the future glory of the church. One is type, the other antitype: and the name of the latter is given to the former, as being a bright resemblance of its fulfilment.

It is a finishing touch to much that we find in the prophets; such as Psalm xlv., "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh," &c. Joel ii., "The Lord shall utter his voice before his army; for his camp is very great." "The Lord is a man of war; the Lord of hosts is his name." "He rideth upon the heavens by the name Jah." "He bowed the heavens, and came down; darkness was under his feet, and he did ride upon the wings of the winds. See the view given of Christ, in the first seal, Rev. vi. 2; to which the riding forth of Christ in our text is very similar, but is a rich improvement in imagery, as this battle of the great day was clearly typified by the destruction of the Jews in that seal. The scene of this riding forth of Jesus Christ, in our text, has been so frequently brought to view in the preceding pages, that less needs here to be said. His white horse of victory, his flaming eye of omniscience, his crown denoting him as the king of kings; his unknown name of infinite divinity," no man knows the Son but the Father;" the bloody vestments of his works of vengeance now on hand, his accompanying armies on white horses of victory, denoting the church, and perhaps her guardian angels; the mountains were full of horses, and chariots of fire around about Elisha;" the sharp sword from Christ's mouth, indicating the fatal power of his word against his enemies, and his name in capitals on his vesture and on his thigh, as the binding on of the whole armour! these are emblems of vast significance in the presentation of Jesus Christ, as riding forth to meet his enemies in the battle of that great day of God, in our text. The blood and slaughter, indicated by the standing of an angel in the sun, and, with a loud voice, calling on all carnivorous fowls to come to a great supper which God would prepare for them, will exceed every thing of the kind ever before known. This stroke rests on Ezek. xxix. 17-20; which we may view as its parent text, inviting all beasts and fowls to convene on the same occasion, to eat the flesh of kings and captains, and of vast slaughter. That the scene in both is one and the same, see the subjoined note.*

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That the Gog in Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix., is the same power with the secular Roman beast, with his healed head, Rev. xiii. 3; and the new beast of the last days, Rev. xvii. 8 (which are one and the same), is thought to be evident from the following considerations

The remainder of the chapter of our text is so expres sive and definite, and the subject has, in these pages, been so often noted, that little needs here to be added. This is the great battle, which occupies a great section of the prophetic scriptures. The following are several, out of scores of texts, which predict this battle, and its result; and may here suffice. Thus saith the Lord, Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine ene

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1. If this Gog be another power, distinct from the last head of the Roman beast; then we have in the prophecies a fifth notable monarchy upon the earth, contending with the church. For Gog is a most notable power, that collects innumerable hosts from at least three-quarters of the world, in a furious array against the people of God; as may be seen in these chapters of Ezekiel. But the prophecies admit of but four such notable hostile monarchies before the Millennium. This is distinctly decided in the great image, Dan. ii.; and the four great beasts, Dan. vii. Such a fifth power then, cannot be admitted.

2. The Gog of Ezekiel is a power just antecedent to the Millennium. This is manifest in the whole description of this power, and of his deeds in these chapters of Ezekiel. Gog here attacks the Jews soon after their return from their long dispersion. And upon the destruction of Gog and his bands upon the mountains of Israel, the Jews enter upon their millennial glory.

Hence this is a distinct power from the Gog in Rev. xx., that rises at the close of the Millennium. The fact is, the latter (being but an apostacy over the face of the earth) derives his name from the latter; being, in the figure, "the rest of the dead," or old Antichrist raised to life again, and raised under this distinctive name, in which he goes into perdition just before the Millennium.

3. Gog and the last head of the Roman beast, are the same power found described in the ancient prophets. The prophets unitedly present a great wicked power, to be destroyed in the battle of the great day of God. And we find the same allusion is had to these ancient prophecies, both in the case of Gog, and of the Roman beast; which shows them to be the same. See instances of this fact:-Ezek. xxxviii. 17, and on, "Thus saith the Lord God, Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old times by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days many years, that I would bring thee against them?" Here we find that Gog is not a little accidental power, rising for once in some northern region. But he is a great and notable dynasty, long predicted by the prophets of Israel to come against Israel in the last days. But surely this description applies only to the Roman beast. See Dan. ii. 40-45; and vii. 19-26; and other prophets, which testify to the same event, of God's gathering the nations, and assembling the kingdoms (at the time of the restoration of the Jews), as a coalition against them in Palestine. Turn to Joel iii. 1, 2; Zeph. iii. 8, 9; Zech. xii. 9, and xiv. 2, &c. &c. But in the Revelation

mies. The destruction of the transgressors shall be together. The strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them." "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." 'Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and with fierce anger; to lay the land (earth) desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof

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we are assured that all this is fulfilled by the last head of the secular Roman beast, as has been shown.

In Rev. x. 7, where the seventh trumpet is spoken of (manifestly the same event with the destruction of Gog), the event is said to be only "as God hath declared to his servants the prophets." And the seventh vial poured upon the Roman beast, Rev. xvi. 14, is only "the battle of THAT great day of God Almighty," as a day well known in the prophets.

4. Gog and the last head of the Roman beast are found precisely alike, in arms against the people of God, at the same time and place, and both sink under the same destruction. Gog goes into perdition in a conflict with the Jews restored to Palestine. See Ezekiel xxxviii. 18, to the end; and xxxix. Turn then to Daniel ii. 34, 35; and vii. 11, 26, 27; Rev. xix. 19-21; and xvii. 8; and xvi. 10, to the end; and xiv. 14, to the end; and you find the same destruction, at the same period, of the last head of the Roman beast. The time and circumstances of this signal destruction decide that the power then destroyed, or Gog and the Roman beast, must be the same. Possibly a reason why the Roman beast should, at last, be denominated Gog, will be better understood when this power, "that was, and is not, and yet is," shall again rise into his last and terrible destination; especially should some power of the north be found in some kind of coalition with the Roman beast. Gog is a natural abbreviation of Magog; and may be understood as the name of a mighty dynasty of the descendants of Magog, in the last days. Magog was a son of Japhet, and grandson of Noah. His descendants peopled ancient Scythia, which lay east and north of the Euxine and Caspian seas, north of Syria; thence they spread and peopled the vast regions of Tartary. They peopled the north of Europe and Asia for 5,000 miles. "There can be no doubt (says Guthrie) that the Scandinavians (inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) were by origin Scythians." The descendants of ancient Magog, we find, under the names of Scythians, Tartars, Moguls, Turks, Goths, Vandals, Huns, Franks, and others, have made the most terrible ravages in the earth. Different tribes of them, in the early ages, overran a considerable part of Asia and Europe. Hordes of these northern barbarians ravaged the kingdoms in the south of Europe, in the fourth and fifth centuries; as was shown under the first four of the apocalyptic trumpets. These barbarous tribes planted themselves in Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, and others of those nations, and gave to some of them their

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