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upon the earth, and he shall come, to the astonishment of them that dwell on the earth. And one shall undertake to fight against

another, one city against another, one place against another, one people against another, “and one realm against another. And the

time shall be when these things shall come "to pass, then shall my son be declared, "whom thou sawest as a man ascending. And "when all the people hear his voice, every

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man shall in their own land leave the battle

they have one against another, and an in"numerable multitude shall be gathered together, as thou sawest them, willing to come, " and to overcome him by fighting. But he shall stand upon the top of the mount Sion, "and Sion shall come, and shall be shewed to "all men, being prepared and builded, like as "thou sawest the hill graven without hands.

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And this my son shall rebuke the wicked "inventions of those nations, which for their "wicked life are fallen into the tempest; and

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shall lay before them their evil thoughts, and "the torments wherewith they shall begin to "be tormented, which are like unto a flame: " and he shall destroy them without labour by "the law which is like unto fire."

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Upon which description of this eventful battle I will only remark, that in the Apocalypse

we are told that Antichrist and his armies will be destroyed by the sword proceeding out of the mouth of Christ; which symbol Ezra explains, when he says that the instrument of their destruction is "the law, which is like "unto fire;" for Christ is here represented as "the Word of God," through whom alone he reveals himself unto man; and as at his first advent he revealed the love of God, in all its wonderful and inconceivable extent, so, at his second coming, he will in like manner reveal the attribute of the holiness of God, or that law which requires the utter destruction of those who shall have neglected, and accounted as a light thing, the only means by which God can extend mercy to sinners. "Kiss therefore "the Son, lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way: if his wrath be kindled, but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

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yea

The battle of Armageddon, and the destruction of the Infidel King, is also thus spoken of, as taking place at the same time with the restoration of the Jews, in the xxx. chapter of Isaiah, ver. 25-33. "And there shall be upon

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every high mountain, and upon every high

hill, rivers and streams of water" (the copious effusions and reviving influences of the Holy Spirit upon the Church) “in the day of the great

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slaughter, when the towers" (the established temporal kingdoms of the earth) “fall.”

"Moreover, the light of the moon shall be "as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven

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days; in the day that the Lord bindeth up the

breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of "their wound."

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Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden "thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indig

nation, and his tongue as a devouring fire.

And his breath as an overflowing stream "shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift "the nations with the sieve of vanity; and "there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the "people" (the spirit of violence, of St. John, and the setting themselves up to reign, of Ezra) "causing them to err."

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"Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall

cause his glorious voice to be heard, and "shall shew the lighting down of his arm with "the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and

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tempest and hail-stones. For through the

"voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian" (the enemy of the ancient Church, a name for Antichrist) "be beaten down, which smote with a "rod" (of iron);" and in every place where "the grounded staff shall pass which the Lord "shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets " and harps" (the rejoicings of the Church) "and in battles of shaking will he fight with "it. For Tophet is ordained of old; for the King" (the Infidel King of Daniel, the eighth head of the Empire of St. John) "it is prepared, "he hath made it deep and large: the pile

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thereof is fire and much wood: the breath "of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it."

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Upon which particular description of that desired consummation which the Church now holds, in almost immediate prospect, we may remark, that Isaiah appears to have seen with the same spirit as the other prophets, the two personalities of Antichrist forming as it were but one character; for there can be but little doubt that the smiting with a rod refers, at least in part, to the acts of Antichrist as seventh head; who was during the last thirty years a rod of iron, in the hand of God, to break in pieces the Papal nations; and who is here. spoken of apparently as the same person whose destruction is yet to come at the battle of Ar

mageddon. And it may be that the prophet unfolds the mystery of the true character of Antichrist, where he says-"Rejoice not thou, "whole Palestina, because the rod of him that "smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's "root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his

fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent," shewing like St. John, when he describes the Infidel Antichrist under the symbol of the septimooctave head, that he has a two-fold character; his last form springing out of a preceding form. And it is probable that it is of Antichrist, viz., of his past invasion of Egypt as seventh head, or of his future invasion of it as eighth head, or of both united in one view, that Isaiah speaks, when he says, (Chap. xix. 4,) "The

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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."

The prophecy of Daniel thus proceeds to speak of those events which shall follow, and be immediately connected with, the battle of Armageddon.

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Chap. xii. ver. 1. "And at that time shall "Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that

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same time; and at that time thy people shall