riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I the Lord which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, there is none else, there is no god beside. I girded thee though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me; I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things" (Isa. 45: 1-7). Again he says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid" (Isa. 44: 28). This knowledge that the Lord here gives us is invaluable in learning his ways of working, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. He says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure"; so also he says of this king in Israel, "For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces" (Zech. 11:16). The Lord also says of Cyrus, "I girded thee though thou hast not known me." So also in speaking of the glory and majesty of this prince in Israel he says of him, "I have set him so." Therefore neither did Cyrus rise, nor will this prince in Israel rise to the giddy pinnacle of imperial power by reason of any inherent power or wisdom of his own, because it is the Lord that sets him so, by the hand of his angels whom he sends to walk to and fro through the earth. He calls Cyrus his anointed. He says also of this mystical prince of Tyrus, "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth." Both of these princes were anointed with power to carry out God's purposes. The Lord says also of this anointed cherub (verse 15), "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." Therefore Solomon in some respects appears to be a representative of this prince. Solomon's heart for a time seemed to be perfect with the Lord, until he violated the law of the king as written by Moses (Deut. 17) saying, He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away." This command Solomon disregarded and gathered unto himself a multitude of what Nehemiah called "Outlandish women," who caused him to sin and fall into idolatry, when the Lord in his anger rent away ten tribes from the house of David and gave them unto his servant, to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and there was war between these two nations until the ten tribes were carried captive out of their land. Again speaking of this mighty prince in Israel in the latter days who is called by Isaiah, "Leviathan that crooked serpent," and "the dragon that is in the sea," he says of him (27: 1), “In that day (that is, the day when the dead shall rise) the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword (the Assyrian) shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea" (of nations). The Lord also spake of this wonderful man to Job out of the whirlwind where he describes Leviathan, showing his comely proportions and his marvel ous strength and solidity, saying, "His heart is as firm as a stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone; when he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid; he esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood; upon the earth there is not the like who is made without fear; he is a king over all the children of pride." Behemoth “And as for Behemoth (the great Assyrian) whose bones (speaking figuratively) are as strong pieces of brass, his bones are like bars of iron; he is the chief of the ways of God; he drinketh up a river and hasteth not; he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth" (that is, swallow up the whole house of Israel). This great king of the north of the latter days will dwarf the great kings and warriors of the past, such as the kings of Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, Cyrus and Alexander and their legions will sink into insignificance in comparison with this great king, who is the chief of the ways of God. He is the king of the locusts, the angel of the bottomless pit. He is also the Lord's sore and great and strong sword with which he will punish Leviathan, that piercing serpent, and with which he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. But he that maketh Behemoth, can make a sword to approach unto him, and instead of drawing up Jordan into his mouth, he will fall upon the mountains of Israel by the sword of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and will be given for supper at the marriage of the Lamb to the honored guests at that marriage, the remnant of Israel. But to return to our subject of the king of Israel,- the little horn and the king that does according to his will, as spoken of by Daniel, are one and the same person, the same also that Paul speaks of as the man of sin, the son of perdition, which is easily discerned by comparison. This prince, as we have shown, cuts off many of the righteous through the south and north by the sword, but he will cut off many of the wicked also, for the Lord says, "I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, but will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king, and they shall smite the land and out of their hand I will not deliver them." Again it is testified in the same place that this king will not trouble himself about the poor, or the lame, or the blind, but that he will eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. These peculiarities of this king in Israel are foreshadowed by the acts of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord anointed king of Israel to cut off and to cause to perish the house of Ahab, and to make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha. the son Ahijah. While Jehu was executing these judgments, he lighted upon Jehonadab, the son of Rechab coming to meet him, and he saluted him and said to him, "Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?" And Jehonadab answered, "It is." "If it be, give me thine hand," and he lifted him into the carriage, and said (in the language of the four beasts), Come and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot, and when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah. Then Jehu said, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much." And Jehu proclaimed a solemn assembly for Baal, and they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was full from one end to the other. And Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him," and it came to pass as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard, "Go in, and slay them, let none escape; let none come forth"; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and they destroyed the house of Baal and converted it into a draught house. And when Jezebel cried out of an upper window, after Jehu, saying, "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?" Jehu looked up to the window and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs, and he said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and he trod her under foot. And he went in to eat and drink. And when he sent to bury her, because she was a king's daughter, the dogs had eaten Jezebel, and they found no more than the skull and the palms of her hands, according to the word of the Lord by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "In the portion of Jezreel, shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they will not say, This is Jezebel." Now the strangest part of these things is the fact that while Jehu showed so much zeal in executing the righteous judgments of the Lord upon the house of Ahab, and slew Joram king of Israel, and Ahaziah king of Judah, who was fraternizing with him, yet Jehu remained an idolater to the day of his death, for to his dishonor it is said, "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin." Thus the Lord sometimes employs even idolaters to punish idolaters, and he maketh the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath he restrains (II Kings 9-10). THE GREAT RED DRAGON This mighty prince in Israel, who is a king over all the children of pride (for that is the character of the rebellious house in the latter days, proud and haughty and lifted up), he who goes forth conquering, and to conquer, under the supervision of those who have girded him with power and set him so,- this great prince is introduced to our notice in the book of symbols in the character of the great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns. His color is red because he sheds the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Any careful reader of the Scriptures can see that the dragon that John saw and described, and the little horn that Daniel saw and described, are one and the same king. In the one instance, he is seen as a horn of the beast; in the next place, he appears as a mouth of the beast; but the mouth is a most important factor in both visions. The four beasts of Daniel are resolved into one in John's vision. In the Revelation the wisdom of God is concentrated. The little horn acts as a mouth to the fourth beast, and the dragon acts as a mouth to the beast that rises out of the sea. The little horn is aided and supported by the beast that carries him, and in that capacity they make war upon the saints for three years and a half. It is also said of the dragon, that he was given as a mouth to the beast and in that capacity supported by the beast. Power was given him to continue forty and two months (three years and a half), and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. That is, this power was given him by the four spirits of the heavens who set him so, and who have the direction and control of these wonders, but subject to the Lamb, who is the Prince of the kings of the earth. The heads and horns that the dragon has are not his own, but they belong to the beast. In a secondary sense only do they belong to the dragon. He gets their aid by covenant and alliance, but only for a short time. The little horn also is supported by seven heads and ten horns, although they are a little more scattered in Daniel's vision than in John's. Daniel saw four beasts, one having four heads, the others having but one each, thus making seven heads in all, and the fourth beast had ten horns, but the wisdom of God concentrated these four into one, and showed to John one beast with a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouth like a lion, having all the heads and horns of the four. Now of the dragon king of Israel, in his alliance with the beast, it is said (137) that power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, that is, the kindreds and tongues and nations that are assembled there in the capacity of their armies, and as this dragon king sets himself up as a God, it is added (verse 8), " And all that dwell upon the earth (Israel's earth) shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," and it is significantly added, “If any man have an ear let him hear. He (the dragon) that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity. He that killeth (the saints) with a sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience of the saints." THE OPENING OF THE SECOND SEAL (REV. 6:3-4) "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see." Now what form of judgment is there to be seen when the Lamb opens the second seal? It is added, "And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him which sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and there was given unto him a great sword." The spectacle, therefore, that will be seen among the rebellious people of Israel when the Lamb opens the second seal of judgment, and when his servants go forth to walk to and fro through the earth, to take away God's peace from the earth, his loving-kindness and mercies from his rebellious people, the spectacle that will then be seen among the tribes and people of Israel will be that of civil war, and that in its very worst forms, for it is added, "and that they should kill one an other." Now the prophet Isaiah graphically describes the condition of things in Israel when these things take place, saying (5:18), "Woe unto them which draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope; that say, Let him speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh, and come that we may know it"; or as Peter transposes and puts the language of these scoffers in the last days, saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." ---- But Isaiah continues (verse 20), "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and as the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them and hath smitten them, and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets." And then the prophet sums up in the words which he employs five times in this series. of judgments: first, in this place (5:25); second, in chapter 9, verse 12; third, in verse 17; fourth, in verse 21; fifth, in chapter 10, verse 4, saying, "For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." And for the true and scriptural application of the saying, "And that they should kill one another," hearken to what this prophet says (9: 18-21), 'For wickedness burneth as a fire. It shall devour the briers and thorns (the wicked), and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall spare his brother, and he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, and he shall eat on the left hand and they shall not be satisfied. They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and they together shall be against Judah." But this does not complete their punishment, for it is added, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." The manner of this judgment also appears by what the Lord said to the people of Judah, by the hand of Zechariah the prophet on their return from the Babylonish captivity, saying, "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country, and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people in truth and in righteousness. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. For before |