(written by Bro. John Thomas in Eureka Vol. 5)

Under the Mosaic Law, which is “the pattern of the things in the heavens,” the Pentecostian Feast of Firstfruits of the third month was succeeded in the first day of the seventh month by the Memorial of the blowing of trumpets, a Sabbath of holy convocation—inviting to a holy rest and assembly. Between this Memorial and the offering of “an offering made by fire unto Yahweh,” was an interval of ten days. This tenth day of the seventh month was yom hakkiphpurim, a Day of Coverings — a day on which the sins of the past were being covered over by fiery expiation. In the English Version this is styled the Day of Atonement. But before this day of affliction, in which all who did not afflict themselves on account of their transgressions, were to be cut off from Yahweh’s people, the trumpets blew a memorial blast, to remind the people that the hour, or month, of the annual judgment and covering of sins had arrived.

The Sons of Aaron, the priests, were appointed to blow the trumpets in the day of their gladness, in their solemn days, over their burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of their peace offerings (Lev. 23:24; Num. 10:8,10).

The antitype of this arrangement is found in this fourteenth chapter — the Pentecost is celebrated in the inauguration of the Deity’s kings and priests on Mount Zion — the Bread of the Firstfruits. Then comes the memorial proclamation through midheaven by these priests of the Deity, reminding the world that the hour of judicial retribution so long threatened has arrived; and inviting men to afflict their souls, in turning from their iniquities, to the reverential fear and worship of Him who made all things. When this proclamation has been made to the end of the world, the Jubilee Blast of the Day of Coverings, on the tenth day of the seventh month, is then blown — a Jubilee to Israel, proclaiming their return to their country, and consequent avengement upon all their enemies, who worship the Beast and his Image, and receive his sign in their foreheads, or in their hands. This is “the Day of Vengeance in the heart” of the Lamb, contemporary with “the Year of his redeemed” (Isa. 63:4); the works of which are detailed in Apoc. 14:8-11,14-20; 16:16-21; 17:14; 18; 19:1-3,11-21; 20:1-4,14.

The Angel who makes the memorial proclamation is symbolical of the royal priests of the Melchizedec Household. The Mosaic type required that the silver trumpets be blown by priests of the High Priest’s family. But the priesthood being changed the Aaronic priests are ineligible for the sounding of this proclamation in midheaven. Hence, the priestly trumpeters have to be provided from another source; and there is no other source of supply but the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus, whom he has made kings and priests for the Deity. The proclamation is therefore made by as many of the 144,000 as the work to be performed may demand. Among these will be the apostle John, as the representative of a class. In the tenth chapter he tells us that after he had digested the little scroll of judgment, the Spirit told him that he “must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues, and kings”. To do this he must rise from the dead, be judged, and quickened, when he will be fitted for the work. But it is too much for one man to accomplish in the short space allotted for the proclamation. Others of like qualifications will therefore be associated with him in the work; so that it may be carried on in different countries at the same time. The apostles had their colaboring attendants and subordinates when they sounded the gospel trumpet in old time. In the new proclamation the same condition may obtain. Be this as it may, it is “those that escape,” or the saved remnant, that are sent, as sounders of the Truth, to the nations that have not heard the fame nor seen the glory of Yahweh; and they shall declare His glory to the Gentiles (Isa. 66:19). This is the plurality represented by the Angel — one messenger emblematic of a multitude; as it is written in Psa. 68:11, “Adonai will give the word; those who bear the tidings are a great host.”

The proclamation is to be made through “midheaven.” This is “the Air” into which the judgments of the Seventh Vial are to be poured after the proclamation of the message, or word given, is finished. It is the political aerial of Babylon the Great, which, instead of being as now the highest heaven of the political world, will occupy a middle station between the worshippers of the Beast, and the new throne established on Mount Zion. The Midheaven is the political firmament occupied by all the ranks, orders, and degrees, of the world rulers — the supreme and subordinate governors of those “many people, nations, and tongues” before whom John is to prophesy again. This will be an exceedingly interesting time when the clergy of all orders, “the spirituals of wickedness in the heavenlies,” shall be confronted by the apostles and saints, and proved to be liars and impostors before the world. And richly do they deserve to be exposed to this “shame and contempt”. They will no longer be permitted to deceive the hearts of the simple with good words and fair speeches with impunity. The sheep’s clothing will be stripped off them, and the wolf undisguised will be revealed. High and pompous ecclesiastical titles will then be at a discount; and regarded only by those who come to obey the proclamation, as the tinsel bespanglement of vain and foolish men. The occupation of the clerical False Prophet of the world will be gone; for the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and Yahweh alone will come to be exalted in that day (Isaiah 2:17).

The situation is illustrated by 1 Chron. 21:16, where it is stated that David saw the Angel of Yahweh standing between the earth and the heaven — in midheaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out, as he was just going to afflict Jerusalem with an impending judicial visitation. His position there was exhibited to David, that he might have time and occasion for obtaining the deliverance of the city from the wrath to come; so that the hovering of the Angel was to show, that there was room for escape on terms to be proposed, just as the Deity was going to inflict the punishment. So with the great host in midheaven on their proclamation of the good news. The destruction of Babylon, and the overthrow of the governments of the world, are decreed. Nothing can save them from abrogation and obliteration. The proclamation invites mankind to abandon these spiritual and temporal institutions, in commanding them to “Fear the Deity, and give glory to Him”. It affords them time and opportunity for saving themselves from the impending calamities of the Hour of Divine judgment. If any transfer their allegiance from their clerical and civil rulers to the Lamb-Power, they will doubtless be exempted from the fire and brimstone torment, which is to destroy the Beast and his False Prophet (ch. 19:20; 14:9,10): but if they refuse to abjure these authorities, the plagues written in this prophecy for their destruction will assuredly consume the rebellious.

The reader will not confound this angel flying through midheaven with that said also to fly through midheaven in ch. 8:13. The difference in their proclamations indicates a difference in the time, agents, and circumstances of the two. The proclamation of ch. 8 preceded the sounding of the fifth trumpet; and was made by those who were able to discern the signs of the times in which they lived; while that in the fourteenth is made by agents represented by John after their resurrection and inauguration as kings and priests for the Deity. There was only superlative “woe” proclaimed in the first; but in this remembrance of the Hour of Judgment, there is also an announcement of good news.

This good news is styled aionion, a word which I have not translated but only transferred. The Angel-Host has “aionian good news to proclaim”. It is styled aionian, I conceive, because it announces “things not seen” pertaining to the aion, or COURSE, during which all nations will be “blessed in Abraham and his Seed.” This course is not to last for ever, but for a thousand years, styled in Dan. 7:12, “a season and a time”. At the end of this Course of Centuries, the nations revolt, and judgment comes upon them to extermination (ch. 20:9). For this reason I do not translate the word in this text “everlasting,” as in the English Version. The proclamation is the announcement of MILLENNIAL GOOD NEWS; namely, that the resurrection, immortalization, and inauguration, of the called, and chosen, and faithful firstfruits, have been accomplished by Jesus Christ; who, having returned in power and great glory, has set up the ancient throne of his father David on Mount Zion: that being established there, he invites the allegiance of all nations to himself, as King of the whole earth by the grace of his Eternal Father; who has appointed him to execute judgment and justice in the earth, and to rule the world in righteousness: that he is prepared to destroy the powers that corrupt and oppress the nations; and to wipe away tears from off all faces, and to take away the rebuke of his people, Israel, from off all the earth. That his purpose is to change the face of the world; and to enlighten mankind with the true knowledge from the rising to the setting sun. That, as mankind have been for a long series of ages in the bottomless abyss of ignorance and superstition, in commiseration of their helplessness, he invites them to hearken diligently unto him; and to come and buy wine and milk of him, without money and without price. That, if they will accept this invitation to the feast he has prepared for all peoples, they shall live under their own vines and fig-trees in peace, and none shall make them afraid. But if on the contrary, they determine still to worship the Beast and his Image, and to receive the Sign in their foreheads, or in their hands, then they shall be made to drink of the wine of the wrath of the Deity which hath been prepared without mixture in the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.

A proclamation of this kind, made by such “ambassadors of Jesus Christ,” and attested by signs and wonders of a character to establish their claims to the confidence and respect of the nations and their rulers, cannot fail of arresting attention as the all-absorbing topic of the day. The message itself, and the reception it meets with by the world-rulers of church and state, will doubtless eclipse and supersede all other news. The “leading journals” of Europe and America will be confounded; and seeing that the editorial staff of the world, like, “the spirituals” of the clerical kingdom, have no oil in their vessels, their leading articles upon this wonderful topic can only be the reflex of the darkness that covers the earth, and the gross darkness of the people. As folly and falsehood are their stock in trade, they will doubtless counsel rejection of the message, and hostility to all claims emanating from such questionable authority. As they live by trying to please the majority, they will trim their sails to catch the popular breeze. Their counsel will be a bridle in the jaws of the people causing them to err. The editors, the clergy, and the civil rulers, of the midheaven will be the ruin of society: so that under the guidance of their policy the armies of the nations will go forth as a whirlwind to scatter him (Hab. 3:14). It is not in human nature, much less in its political organization, to surrender power, wealth, and honor, at discretion. It does not part with these things without a struggle to retain them. On such a proclamation coming to the pope and “crowned heads” of Europe, from a Jew on Mount Zion, claiming to be Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews, are they like to acknowledge him, to place their kingdoms at his disposal, and cast their crowns at his feet? We know certainly that they will not; for it is testified that all nations shall compass him about like bees; but they shall be quenched as the fire of thorns; for in the name of Yahweh he will destroy them (Psa. 118:10-12; Apoc. 19:19-21).

Seeing that it is the purpose of the Deity to give the nations to Jesus and his Brethren for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for their possession (Psa. 2:6-8; Apoc. 2:26) the proclamation, or prophesying again, to kings and nations, in the words, “Fear the Deity, and give honor to him,” implies the surrender of all wealth, dominion, honor, and power under the whole heaven to them. Will the peoples of the American Continent be willing to do this; especially in view of the fact, that no unrighteous man will be permitted to hold the meanest office under their supremacy? What will they do with “the Monroet doctrine” then? Is the King of Israel to be interdicted from annexing Canada, Mexico, and the so-called United States to his dominions? Will he regard the screams of the American Eagle, or the roar of the British Lion? Not a whit. What are these powers to him before whom a fire goes, and burns up his enemies: whose lightnings enlighten the world! At whose presence the earth trembles, and the hills thereof melt like wax!

Now as to the precise time after Christ’s advent, and the justification of his household by Spirit, in which this proclamation through midheaven shall be made, it may be remarked, that it is immediately consequent upon the smiting of the Assyro-Gogian image upon the feet by the Stone-Power, and before the grinding of its metallic and clay fragments to powder (Dan. 2:34,35; Matt. 21:44). It will therefore be in the interval between the Armageddon overthrow of the Sixth Vial, and the outpouring of Divine wrath upon “the Air” of the Seventh. This interval will be the period of this remarkable angel-proclamation. The Armageddon discomfiture of the belligerents in the land of Israel; that is, of the Lion-power of Sheba, Dedan and Tarshish, and of its antagonist the Assyro-Gogian confederacy of the North, at Bozrah and elsewhere (Ezek. 38:13,18-23; Isa. 63:1; Dan. 11:41-45) — will put Yahweh Tz’vaoth in possession of Jerusalem the Holy City, which he occupies as the Lamb with the 144,000. Standing thus upon Mount Zion, the Eternal Spirit, in multitudinous manifestation, is “in His dwelling place without fear, as dry heat impending lightning, as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest” (Isa. 18:4). He is “still” as the calm and sultry atmosphere which precedes the tempest; and stands as the uplifted ensign upon the mountains (Isa. 11:10,12); ready for the manifestation of those terrible judgments in the earth under the outpouring of which “the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9). In this still dry heat of impending vengeance, the Pentecostian proclamation of liberty and return is made; after which “the great trumpet is blown” by Yahweh Tz’vaoth (Isa. 18:3; 27:13; Zech. 9:14); the Jubilee Trumpet of the judgment of the great day. The angel-proclamation in midheaven is this Pentecostian proclamation briefly preceding the Jubilee Trumpet of “the Day of Atonement,” when the Eternal Spirit casts up accounts with the nations, and exacts from them the settlement that is due. The proclamation in midheaven is Pentecostian, not judicial and vengeful. It announces the approach of judgment as impending, not in actual manifestation; and therefore invites return to God as the condition of liberty, or escape from the wrath to come.

As to how long the period of proclamation will continue, it is not possible to speak with certainty. The work to be done indicates that it will not be an instantaneous operation. It is a work of “prophesying before many peoples and nations, and tongues, and kings.” This will take time, and possibly years. The Deity is never in a hurry, but deliberate, effective, sure. We need not be surprised if ten years were consumed in the proclamation and the development of its results. Between the “memorial of blowing of trumpets” on the first day of the seventh month, and the Day of Atonement, there was an interval of ten days; after this pattern it may, therefore, be, that between the beginning of the proclamation in midheaven and the commencement of the Second Angel judgment upon Babylon (Ch. 14:3), there will be an interval of ten years. This would leave an “Hour,” or month of years, that is, thirty years, for the judgment to sit in slaying the fourth beast of Daniel, and destroying his body-politic in the burning flame (ch. 7:11).

These forty years after the manifestation of the Son of David and his mighty ones on Mount Zion, are the period of “the building again of the tabernacle of David, and of the setting up of its ruins, as it was in the days of old (Acts 15:16; Amos 9:11) the exodal period of the gathering together under one king of all the tribes of the House of Jacob (Mic. 7:15). These forty years will be the most important and terrible of the world’s history. They are the period of the world’s transition from what it calls “self-government,” to the government of Christ and his Brethren. The most noteworthy developments of this transition period are depicted in the fourteenth, part of the sixteenth and seventeenth, the eighteenth, nineteenth, and part of the twentieth chapters of the Apocalypse. They exhibit the setting up of the Kingdom of David by the Eloahh of the Heavens (Dan. 2:44): by which the kingdom is restored again to Israel (Acts 1:6). The work of these forty years was foreshadowed in the reign of David. His forty years’ reign was to that of Solomon’s peaceful administration over Israel and the Gentiles, as a judicial preparation; for before he could “reign over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt,” these kingdoms had to be subdued by his father David. After the same pattern it will be with the greater than Solomon. Forty years of judgment are consumed in preparing the millennial reign of peace and righteousness; which, as the chapters indicated show, will not be introduced and established by clerical preaching, nor by “the benevolent institutions of the day,” but by “judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries”.

Solomon reigned over the whole twelve tribes from the decease of his father and predecessor. This, however, was not the case with David from the death of Saul. Solomon and David were types of the Christ, who was to descend from them after the flesh, in respect of his career as a hero and conqueror, and the Prince of Peace. “Yahweh”, says Moses, “is a Man of war; Yahweh is His name” (Exod. 15:3). David’s career was illustrative of that of the Man Yahweh, styled by Paul, “the Man Christ Jesus,” as the founder of the reign of peace. Hence, as David reigned several years over Judah before he became the recognized sovereign of the whole nation; it behoves that his Son and Lord reign as King of Judah before he become monarch of all the tribes of Israel and kingdoms of the earth. This typical indication is sustained by the testimony in Zech. 12:7, that “Yahweh shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.” The victory of Bozrah will be fatal to Gentile supremacy in the land of Israel. In the day of this discomfiture its invaders will be beaten off by Yahweh from the channel of the river (Euphrates) unto the stream of Egypt (the Nile); after which he will gather them one by one from Assyria and Egypt to worship him in Jerusalem (Isa. 27:12,13).

This gathering of Israelites of the tribe of Judah, “one of a city and two of a family” (Jer. 3:14) to Zion, will result from the angel-proclamation in midheaven. Being fed by pastors according to Yahweh’s own heart with knowledge and understanding, the veil will be removed from the minds of many, who will become willing (Psa. 110:3) to emigrate from among the nations and return to their fatherland. Yahweh, the Man of War, will bring them there — “I will bring you,” saith He, “to Zion”. He will do this by the influence of his victorious power. Having expelled the Anglo-Indian Lion from the land, that power will probably receive with reverence the angel-proclamation, and consent to place its marine at the disposal of “the Man Christ Jesus,” styled in the English Version “the Lord of hosts”. This, indeed, will certainly be the case. He will command the ships of Tarshish, and they will obey; for what is testified they do, is done in obedience to his will. The last chapter of Isaiah and the nineteenth verse, testifies of the angel-proclamation to Tarshish, and the next verse records the result. The “sounders of the truth” are effective bowmen. Their words move the nations of Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal and Javan, to do the will of Yahweh, and to bring His people as an offering to Him in Jerusalem. Thus they “fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows,” in the fleet ships of Tarshish, which convey the sons of Zion from far with their silver and gold, to the place where the Name of Yahweh is enthroned (Isa. 60:8,9; 18; Jer. 3:17).

Thus the Angel-proclamation recruits the population of the little kingdom of Judah, which, in its beginning, is smaller than the little kingdom of Greece (Matt. 13:31,32). During this decade, the settlers in the midst of the land are “at rest, dwelling safely without walls, and having neither bars nor gates” (Ezek. 38:11,12); and are in league with the wide-shadowing land beyond the rivers of Khush — “Sheba, Dedan, and the Merchants of Tarshish” — which holds a similar relation to the kingdom of Judah under the “greater than Solomon,” that Tyre did in the days of Hiram to the kingdom of David’s Son. The peoples of the British Isles afar off from Jerusalem, having accepted the proclamation, the government will have been transferred from the hands of sinners such as now possess it, to the Saints; so that the constitutition of the United Kingdom will be no longer the old British, but “the law which goes forth from Zion” (Isa. 2:3). This will account for the harmony and concert of action between Israel and Britain in the latter days.

But a like result does not obtain in relation to all the powers to which the proclamation is addressed. Matthew 25:32 shows the separation of the nations into two classes in the day when the Son of Man shall come in his glory. This separation results from the conclusions at which they arrive with respect to the subject-matter of the proclamation. One class rejects the Aionian Good News, and refuses to fear Him who claims to be the God, or “Elohim of the whole earth” (Isa. 54:5), to give glory to him, and to do him homage. The other class of nations comes to an opposite decision, and without further controversy “wait for His law” (Isa. 42:4). Thus the proclamation in midheaven becomes the occasion of the division of the nations into sheep-nations and goat-nations. Of the latter class will certainly be those comprehended in the bodies politic symbolized by the Ten Horns, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Dragon. I say certainly, for they are all represented Apocalyptically in actual warfare with the Lamb-Power. Thus, in ch. 17:14, the ten horns are said to make war with the Lamb; and in ch. 19:19-21, the Beast and the Kings of the Earth and their armies, oppose themselves in sanguinary conflict against him and his forces; the False Prophet goes into perdition with the Beast; and the Dragon is chained in the abyss (ch. 20:2,3), These are symbolical of the goat-nations of Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and Russia. Ere this, Turkey will have been “dried up,” and Holland, Denmark and Sweden, probably annexed to Germany or Russia, as part of the confederacy of Gog$. The sheep-nations will be separated from all these as the allies of the Shepherd of Israel. These he sets on his right hand with the lost sheep of the flock of Judah, which, as a repentant prodigal, will be returning to “the Great Shepherd of the Sheep.” All of this fold he feeds, and gathers, and carries, and gently leads (Isa. 40:2), because they have become joined to him by faith, and are blessed in and with Abraham, his friend (Zech. 2:11; Gal. 3:8,9).

But the Holy One of Israel is not the Shepherd of the Goats. Their shepherd is the False Prophet of the Catholic world, who claims to be “the God of the Earth”, successor of St. Peter, and Vicar of Jesus Christ. This Shepherd of the Goats is the lawless antagonist of the GREAT SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP; and will be found stirring the goats up to the rejection of the angel-proclamation and to the declaration of war against the Chief of the flock, the house of Judah. The issue, however, will not be doubtful. The rejection of his proclamation by the goats and their shepherds, and their preparations for war, will arouse his indignation; as it is written in Zech. 10:3, “Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats”. The when and the how, are expounded in the succeeding sentences, saying, “For Yahweh Tz’vaoth (He who shall be hosts — the Eternal Power) hath visited his flock, the House of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. And they shall be as mighty men, who tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because Yahweh is with them;” “and shall be seen over them”.

The acceptance of the angel-proclamation by the British Isles will plant the Lamb-Power in all their dependencies. Sheba, Dedan, the Hindoo Tarshish, Australia, New Zealand, the Cape, British North America, and the West Indies, will be “ends of the earth” and “isles afar off,” from which the Gentiles shall come to the Great Shepherd and to whom they shall say, “Surely, our fathers have inherited lies, vanities, and things in which there is no profit” (Jer. 16:4,9). This honest renunciation of “the wisdom of our ancestors,” then, by angel-proclaimers of the Truth, proved to be folly, will prepare them for a hearty co-operation with Judah, in slaying the Beast, and giving his body politic to the burning flame. The day of eternal doom will then have arrived for republics throughout the world. The fate of the United States, so-called, will depend upon the response they may return to the proclamation, which is sure to be announced throughout the Western Hemisphere. If they reject it, Judah and his allies in British America, as the forces of the Rainbowed Angel standing upon the earth and sea, whose progress is as pillars of fire, will be at hand to enforce obedience with the two-edged sword of Divine indignation. The only alternative in this unparalleled “time of trouble” for North and South America, will be submission or desolation. Annexation to the little kingdom of Judah, in accordance with the law proceeding from Zion, will be an indispensable condition, without which neither this, nor any other country, can obtain exemption from war, pestilence, famine, and desolation. We can hardly expect that the United States will transfer themselves to the dominion of Judah’s Lion peaceably. If wise men were in place and power, they would doubtless be prompt to “serve Yahweh with fear, to rejoice with trembling, and to kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and they perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little” (Psa. 2:11-12). But experience teaches, that wise and prudent men do not find their way into office, and where fools reign the people perish. The prospects of the country are dark and threatening; and it is much to be feared that model-republicans will not be disposed to accept their destiny until they have been broken with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

The judgment which succeeds the Pentecostian proclamation in mid-heaven is “national,” and executed by Christ and the Saints. But before the proclamation begins there is also judgment. This, however, is not national, but “individual” — a judgment having relation to the ancient Apostolical proclamation. The Son of Man presides judicially at both these gatherings before him; and in each sitting there is his right hand, and his left. The right hand is synonymous with friendship, favor, alliance, peace, and reward; while the left is indicative of their opposites. Nations on the Son of Man’s right hand are “joined to Yahweh as his people” — the subjects of his empire; while individuals on the King’s right hand, are associates with him in the glory, honor, and power, of his dominion. They share with him in the throne, as exhibited in Apoc. 4.

But in the judgment of the King’s household some will have to pass to the left, where “shame and contempt” await them. They arrive at this left hand after being “cast out” from the Divine presence “into the outer darkness, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth”. This left hand is in the country occupied by the Goat nations, which, as the embodiment of all that is hostile to the kingdom prepared for the blessed of the Father, are styled by Jesus, “the Devil and his Angels”. These are the same as Daniel’s fourth Beast, which is styled Apocalyptically, “the Dragon, the Old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan”. The fourteenth chapter, from the eighth verse to the eleventh inclusive, treats of the kolasin aionion, the aion-torment, decreed for the Devil and his adherents; and into which they are commanded to “depart”, who are adjudged unfit to appear among the 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Thus the future national judgment of the great day affords scope for the “sorer punishment” of those “wicked and slothful servants,” who are unprofitable for the Master’s use. Such is the fate of those who “come forth to a resurrection of condemnation”, for neglecting to improve the talents entrusted to their care. The reader can avail himself of these hints concerning the right and left hands of the Great Shepherd, in aid of a “spiritual understanding” of the twenty-fifth of Matthew; and of the relative position of the two classes indicated in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. In conclusion of this section it may be added, that the acceptance of the proclamation by the British “Isles afar off — “the Mart of Nations” — places all the wealth of the British Empire at the disposal of the Lamb and his 144,000. These are the subject of the forty-fifth psalm, where they are treated of prophetically as a Divine and mighty king rejoicing with his bride and her companions. In the first chapter of Hebrews, Paul identifies this king with Christ Jesus, who has not yet been manifested in the circumstances set forth in the psalm.

When the time arrives for the scene exhibited in Apoc. 19:11, he will, in the words of David, “Gird his sword upon his thigh with his glory and his majesty. And in his majesty he will ride prosperously because of truth and meekness, and righteousness: and his right hand will teach him terrible things. His arrows will be sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies (the Goat-nations), whereby the people fall under him”. When the union predicted between Christ and his Brethren hath ensued, and their throne established on Mount Zion? it is declared in the twelfth verse of the psalm, that “the Daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift”. This shows that in the day when Christ shall make “the blessed of the Father” princes in all the earth (v. 16), there will be a Merchant-Power among “the powers that be,” to which the prophetic title of “the Daughter of Tyre” will be applicable. This can be no other than Britain, the mart of modern nations, which inherits the wealth and commerce of her ancient mother; who, after being forgotten seventy years, revived and sang as a harlot; and like her British Daughter, “committed fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth”. The merchandise and revenue of the revived Tyrian Mother passed from her to Alexandria, Venice, Lisbon, and at length to Britannia; who holds on to them as her own peculiar and especial inheritance. She hopes to monopolize them as long as the sun and moon endure. Though this is objected to by other nations, and among these the United States, they have not the ability, and never will have, to divert them to their own ports and coffers.

The decree of heaven is against them; for “the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto Zion, and the wealth of the nations shall come to her.” “for the nation and kingdom that will not serve the city of Yahweh, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel, shall perish, and be utterly wasted” (Isa. 60:5,11,12,14). Thus the commerce and riches of the world, instead of migrating westward, are to return to the Holy Land, where Tyre of old used to rejoice with Israel, when Solomon and Hiram were in league. And this will come to pass when Britain shall have exchanged her present rulers for “those who dwell before Yahweh” — when the nations of the British Empire are ruled by the Lamb and his 144,000 on Mount Zion —- by the Eternal Power incarnate in Jesus and his Brethren “glorified together” (Rom. 8:17). Then, in the words of the prophet, “The merchandise and hire of Tyre shall be holiness to Yahweh; it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing” (Isa. 23:18). Thus, “the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just;” “for to the sinner God giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that He may give to him that is good before God” (Prov. 13:22; Ecc. 2:26). How vast has been the travail through which the Daughter of Tyre has passed in hewing her way to her present greatness! What oceans of blood she has shed, what tears and groans she has extorted from her laboring and ill-fed millions devoted to the creation of wealth! It is gathered from all the face of the earth, and heaped up in store; but not for the capitalists, who pride themselves in its possession; nor for the impoverished multitudes, who as mere beasts of burden toil without cheer in its accumulation. No, it is for none of these; it is “for the just who dwell before Yahweh” — “the poor in this world, rich in faith,” then in possession of the kingdom promised to the obedient — James 2:5.