elements, which no force of man can withstand. And it is in a time of such political hurricanes that Israel is to be visited by the returning favor of heaven.* In the same chapter, (verse 15. &c.) he is called “THE OVERFLOWING SCOURGE," and his peculiar talents, and unexampled success in “overflowing, passing through, and stretching his hand over many countries, with an army at his heels, quicker than some can travel through the same at their ease, recurs in so many places, that it must be considered as one of the designed characteristics of the BREAKER.

In all these passages we still find him employed as a pioneer for Israel, and working for the fulfilment of the prophecy,t" cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.” And, without doubt, this is the modern HERCULES, who is set to work to clean out the filth of the AUGEAN STABLE of POPERY, and to dry up the flood of the mystical Eu

*Isai. xxix. 6.

+ Isai. lvii. 14; Ixii. 10,

VOL. II.

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PHRATES, that the way of the KINGS OF THE EAST may be prepared; there being the closest connection between the rising again of ISRAEL, and the treading down of their mortal enemies." The CROWN OF PRIDE, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet. And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth it, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up."*. This obscure passage seems to intimate the short space of time, comparatively, in which "the crown of pride" and its dependencies, the powers of the corrupt church, intoxicated with the CIRCEAN CUP OF BABYLON, shall be broken in pieces, as it were, with the force and velocity of a stone from a sling.

In contrast with this destruction of the enemies of religion, there follows immediately (ver. 5) a representation of the happy

* Isai. xxviii. 3,

change in favor of Israel. "In that day shall the Lord of Hosts be for A CROWN OF GLORY, and for A DIADEM OF BEAUTY unto the residue of his people, and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate." The contrast in this prophecy is very remarkable, between the crown of pride on the apostate church, and the crown of glory and diadem of beauty on the head of them

that worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," rejecting the meretricious ornaments of popery, together with her intoxicating cup; yet retaining all that is of advantage to the solemnity and decency of divine worship. That this is a representation of such a contrasted

.

state of the christian religion in a late period of time, appears from the characteristic peculiar to Israel in the latter times, the RESIDUE or REMNANT of his people, who are to partake in the blessed consequences of this victory of true religion over popish imposture and impiety.—In Isaiah lvii. is another contrast, drawn between the idolatrous apostacy of "the sons of the SORCERESS, the seed of

the ADULTERESS and the WHORE, while God beld his peace for a very long time,* yet she feared him not, and the consequent distress‡ by which she shall at length be punished; contrasted with the restoration of his mercy to his repenting people Israel.

Another description of the BREAKER which occurs in Jer. li. 20. &c. is very remarkable, and altogether in consistency with the general current of the prophecies of the latter portion of the LAST TIMES, and the dreadful havock to be made in the world by this restless and unceasing ENGINE OF DESTRUCTION, in drawing out the deep stuck roots of popery.— "Thou art my BATTLE AXE, and weapons of war, and with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy the kingdoms. And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider, and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider, &c."

In this long passage of the prophet, the des

*Psalm 1. 21.

+ Rev. ii. 21; ix. 20,

Ieai, viii. 28; xxviii. 20.-Zech. xiv. 12,

truction seems appointed to range from one end of the world to the other ;*—and to sweep away with the besom of destruction the palace and the cottage, the rulers and the ruled, the young and the old, man and woman with an indiscriminating fury, like a real whirlwind, to which he is often compared.-It seems also but too well to agree with the horrors of these calamitous and dreadful times, in which the restoration of the JEWS is to be accomplished.† Isaiah in particular says, that in consequence of the preceding troubles, mankind shall be so much reduced in number upon earth, and the

Probably the papal world only,-or otherwise all those countries which answer to the several parts of the image, (Dan, ii.) which still remain in the catholic league.

Isai. iv. 1; xxix. 6;-Dan. xii, 1.-In Isai. xxxiv. 5. &c. the sword of God bathed in heaven, (or the apostate church) seems to allude to the same instrument of destruction, as the battle axe of God, in Jeremiah,-I have before shewn that Idumea or Edom is one of the mystic names of Rome, and heaven often signifies the church. The figure is a very bold one, and I cannot see what rational meaning can be assigned to that passage taken in context from ver. 1. to ver. 12,-unless it be interpreted of the mystic Babylon of St. John, Rev. xviii, that is, of Gods final judgments upon popery, and the great executioner of them, under the divine direction.