The same last invader is contemplated under the type of the Assyrian. His very line is pointed out, when he proceeds to the attack of Jerusalem : for that line of march and investiture of the city, agrees with no achievement of the literal Assyrian. And again, under that of the Babylonian, † who, as if in his arrogancy, he would rival the Almighty, threatens to fix his throne "on the mount of the testimony," of whom God says, "I will trample him upon my mountains: "§ a fate that never yet befel any monarch of the Babylonian line.

It appears, therefore, that the armies of the apostate invading the land of restored Israel, is one of the immediate signs of the near approach of the great day; and among the events of this last fatal campaign, a siege of Jerusalem seems by the word of prophecy to be marked out as the particular crisis of the Lord's interposition. We find in two passages in Scripture especially, a very particular account of this siege, and its result. The first is Isaiah xxix. "Woe to Ariel," &c. or as I would rather represent the original :

"Ah, Altar-of-God, Altar-of-God! the city which David chose for a habitation,

Add

ye year to year, let the festivals go round!
But I shall press hard upon Altar-of-God,
And there shall be grief and sorrow;

Yet shall it be to me as Altar-of-God:

And I will encamp, as in a circle against thee;
And I will form a mound against thee,

And I will erect forts against thee:

* Isaiah x. 24. + Chap. xiv.

Ver. 13.

§ Ver. 25.

And thou shalt be brought low, from the earth shalt thou speak,

And from the dust shalt thou utter thy words;

And thy voice shall come like a necromancer's from the earth,
And thy speech shall be muttered from the dust."

It will readily occur to the reader why Altar-ofGod, which I think is the most probable interpretation of Ariel,* should be an epithet of Jerusalem. Altar-of God may also be an appropriate title of the holy city, in those times and circumstances.

The first restored Israelites will certainly begin as soon as possible to restore their temple. But this must be a work of time: the probability is, that like the children of the Babylonian captivity, they will first of all erect an altar for the performance of their ceremonies, before they have strength sufficient to engage in the restoration of the larger structure of the temple itself. As being actually so engaged, they are indeed described, in the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah, when God appears in judgment, and for the final deliverance of the faithful. It is much to be remarked, that the term Ariel, only used of the holy city in this passage, is again used in Ezekiel xliii. 15, and applied to the altar in that future temple to be erected for restored Israel.

The unspiritual formality of the restored remnant besieged in this city, seems to be glanced at: their great despair, and the feeble moans of their distress, is described," the hypocrites in Zion are afraid." But mark the result; so unlike the issue of the Babylonian or Roman attacks.

* See Vitringa. Compare Gesenius.

But the multitude of thy foes shall become as small dust,
Even the multitude of the terrible as flitting chaff;
And it shall be suddenly, in an instant!"

The enemy is addressed:

"From Jehovah Sabaoth shalt thou be visited

With thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice,
With storms, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire :
And as a dream, a vision of the night, shall the multitude
become,

All the nations that are fighting against Altar-of-God,
And all the armies, and all the forts, and them that be-
siege her.

As the hungry man dreameth, and lo, he eateth;

But he awaketh, and his appetite is unsatisfied:

And as the thirsty man dreameth, and lo, he drinketh;
But he awaketh, and lo, he is faint, and his appetite craveth:

So shall it be with all the multitude of the nations,
That set themselves in array against Mount Zion."

The other scripture that I would quote is, Zechariah the fourteenth :

"Behold, a day cometh to Jehovah,

When thy spoil shall be divided within thee;

And I will gather all nations,

Against Jerusalem to war;

And the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered,

And the women violated;

And a division of the city shall go into captivity,

But the residue of the people shall not be cut off from

the city.

And Jehovah shall go forth, and fight against those nations,
As at the day, when himself fighteth in the day of conflict.

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of
Olives,

Which is opposite to Jerusalem on the east.

And the Mount of Olives shall be rent,

From the midst thereof eastward and westward;

So shall there be a very great valley ;

And half the mountain shall remove northward, and half southward.

And ye shall flee by the valley of the mountains;

For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal.
Ye shall even flee as ye fled before the earthquake,
In the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.

And Jehovah my Elohim shall come,
And all his saints with him."*

* See Archbishop Newcome on the Minor Prophets. Compare Isaiah lxvi. 7, 8, 9. liv. 1, &c.

B

SECTION THE FIFTH.

THE GLORIFYING OF THE SAINTS.

When the Redeemer cometh forth at Zion, "all his saints are with him" -Before this grand crisis, therefore, other prophecies must have had their fulfilment The blessed dead have been raised-The living saints have been changed-The order of events as symbolized, Revelation xiv.-The glorifying of the saints connected with the seventh vial-The symbols of that vial—The Redeemer proceedeth to Armageddon, where the armies of the nations are assembled.

THE nations assembled in Palestine engaged finally in a siege of Jerusalem, which they all but carry, marks, as we have seen, the epocha of the appearance of the Lord, at least with respect to his manifestation and interference in the conflict described above. But we observe he is manifested "with all his saints"--"Jehovah cometh from heaven with ten thousands of his saints."* This must remind us, that other scenes belonging to the second advent of our Lord, must already have been displayed, before "the Redeemer shall come to Zion;" especially, that the souls of "them that

* Jude.