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from the four winds: from the uttermost part of heaven." (Mark xiii. 27.) The envy also of Ephraim shall depart at this pacific era, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; (for all the wicked in that day will receive their final doom ;) Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. All the redeemed of the Lord will become like little children, for of such is the kingdom of heaven; and they shall fly on the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together. The righteous shall assist the judge in the condemnation of the wicked. They shall lay their hands upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them: and the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongues of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall He shake his. hand over the river, (when He cometh the second time to terribly shake the earth,) and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, (for a remnant shall be saved,) which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egppt, (and which was an allowed type of the great awful day :) and in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, (in this great final day,) thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid, (amidst the terrors of this tremendous day;) for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song, He also is become my

salvation. Therefore with joy shall we draw water out of the wells of salvation. (All of which predictions are strictly and singly applicable to the decisive day.)

We have, perhaps, digressed too long by transcribing the foregoing prophecies, but they, as well as the comment on them, have been stated for the purpose of proving, that although a very glorious Christian era will probably ensue on the calling together of the Jews, yet that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will not be fully attained till the decisive day; and also, that this is the juncture which will unite the wolf and the lamb in bands of amity. Should Mr. J. Wesley's and Mr. Abraham Tucker's supposition have been esteemed just, and instinct have been advanced to reason in a secondary state of existence, also keeping in mind that the ferocious dispositions evinced by many of the animal creation were superinduced in them by the sin of man, and sin in man by the arch adversary, it renders it highly probable that God would ultimately destroy the effects of Satan's operations in even the brute creation, and not suffer so distinguished a part of the original formation, and which He had himself pronounced to be very good, and included in the heavenly benediction, ever to remain in their present despoiled and polluted state. In this they must remain so long as they are the permitted instruments in the hands of him who has the power of death-who is, we know, the devil. He oft effects his malign purposes, and destroys mankind, through the agency of savage animals;

and as the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, it is not improbable that the ferocious portion of the brute creation, who have not been removed by death from off our earthly clod before the final day, would be left in their savage polluted state until the glorious juncture that endeth Satan's reign, and that his power would not be diminished by a change effected in the nature of blood-thirsty animals, so long as he does exercise his dominion over death, but that they will be allowed to remain instruments in his hands, and act as they have ever done since the sad fall of man, under his control.

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These considerations again tend to strengthen the supposition of a change having been ordained to be wrought on the instinctive faculties of the animal creation, and which Scripture, should Isaiah's prophecy be not altogether figurative, appears in some degree to confirm, and also (should this be the case) to ascertain that it will not be brought to pass until the final consummationuntil Christ's second coming. Previous unto this awful era, millions of the animal creation may have with honour passed (should a probationary state have been allotted to them) through their appointed trials with safety and with honour, and be fitted for the Judge's acceptation. The wolf and the lamb, in their transformed and reformed state, would then lie down together.

On those who remain and are alive when Christ comes to judge the world, a separation of the instinctive spark (breathed in them by the same great emanating Spirit who breathed in

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us the vital spark of reason) from out their brutal nature, may at this awful crisis be ordained to instantly take place, and the inanimate corse which contained the precious gem, be left to perish in the general conflagration; but the instinctive faculties which had animated it, consigned to sustain probationary trials, in newly created seminaries adapted for that purpose. That God has power to control and change the natures of the most savage creatures, is a position, the truth of which is proved by the allowed axiom, that all things must be possible to God. On this important point, the great Supreme has not, however, left his power unwitnessed. This power he fully evinced in the case of Noah, Daniel, and his own blessed Son, on whose accounts he shut the mouths of lions, and stilled the rage of the enemy and avenger. And our Lord not only subdued the fury of ferocious animals for his own personal preservation, but as heretofore observed, likewise endued his disciples with the power of doing so also: nor was this all, for as Dr. Horne further remarks, He gave his beloved followers, power not only over serpents and scorpions, but over some whose venom is of a more malignant and fatal kind-over all the power of the enemy. The apostles returned accordingly, crying out, Lord, the very devils are subject unto us through thy name. And we have a general promise, that in our combats with them God will give us victory, and bruise their leader, Satan himself, under our feet. Our Redeemer is exalted above the heavens, and human

VOL. III.

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nature in the second Adam is restored to dominion over all the earth. And though at present the apostles' lot may be ours, to fight with beasts, with evil men, evil passions, and evil spirits, yet through God we shall do great acts: it is He that shall tread down those that rise up against us; till finally triumphant over the last enemy, and exalted to the eternal throne, we shall view the earth beneath us, and the sun and stars shall be dust under our feet."

Should the remarks just stated be allowed to be correct, the whole creation, as we too well know, will continue, as it at present does, to groan and travail on in pain together until the time of general refreshment comes from the presence of the Lord. Then will the great Refiner utterly destroy the effects of Satan's operations, and thoroughly purge his floor from all things that offend : nothing shall then be found to hurt or to destroy in all God's holy mountain. The wolf and the lamb shall dwell together in perfect amity. And Isaiah's prophecy may be proved not altogether a figurative prediction: for if evil is working out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, it may for instinct be working out a subordinate happiness. In my Father's house, says our adored Redeemer, there are many mansions: and He could prepare for instinct, that has been advanced to reason, and with honour borne the heat and hardship of a probationary day, a place subordinate to those He has assigned for us, wherein to pass in glory our third, eternal, and triumphant state. Then will every creature

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