CHAPTER XXII.

REV. chap. xvi. ver. 1, 2. “And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." Of these things Zechariah spake, saying, "Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth." (Zech. v. 1-3.) The roll of the curse is the same with the seven vials of the seven last plagues: the roll is said to be flying, because of the suddenness of the coming of God's final judgments, and the comparatively short space of time which will be occupied in their completion. The roll was twenty cubits long, and ten broad: each cubit is a year; and the time would therefore be thirty years, adding the length and breadth together. But it is represented under the figure of a roll, to indicate that the breadth is within the length, both dating their measurement from the same point of

time; so that the end of the breadth is the middle watch of the length. The roll, however, has two sides; "for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side, according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timbers thereof, and the stones thereof." (Zech. v. 3, 4.) The two sides are twenty years each, in all forty years. The two are, however, mixed up together, and the meaning is, that the cutting off of every one that stealeth will be completed in twenty years; the curse shall during that time be taking effect also on every one that sweareth falsely, but shall not have finished their destruction until the end of other twenty years. They that steal are the men who have the mark of the beast, and who worship his image. The first angel poured out his vial upon the earth, Great Britain. The two things for which God's wrath is revealed against this nation are, the manner in which the church is supported, and the spirit of those who make God's house a house of merchandise. Regarding the former God saith, "I hate robbery for burnt offering;" (Isa. lxi. 8;) and it has been already explained that the principle of a state supporting the ministers of Christ's church, is hateful to the Lord; and however unpleasant and unwelcome the truth may be, it must be declared, that whosoever cleaveth unto such a principle from henceforth, is in danger of God's wrath .The freewill offerings of God's people is the appointed support of the christian ministry. "Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might,

to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." (Mic. iii. 811.) "Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand." (Mal. i. 10.) The love of gain, which some men count godliness, is alarmingly prevalent throughout all classes of society; the recent railway speculation mania proved the strength of the desire of many to make rich, and that in a way so unreasonable and foolish, that had men's minds not been blinded by their love of money, ordinary prudence would have taught them the infatuation of their conduct. The curse has overtaken them, and there are few who are not sufferers to a greater or less extent, because of the indecent haste with which they desired to be made rich; and many are after all great gainers, for they may have learned to propose to themselves the solemn inquiry-" what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark viii. 36, 37.) Those men who make the ministry of the word, and the sion, merely to gain a living, are of all men upon this earth the most miserable, and most to be pitied in these days of vengeance. They know not what they do;

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would that they would all repent, and pray God to forgive their sin, for it is great, and if persisted in, their ruin is inevitable, both in time and in eternity. Let no man deceive himself, the time is come, and judgment has begun at the house of God. In the year 1843 the roll of the curse began to unfold in Britain, and the disruption of the church of Scotland was the beginning of the outpouring of the first vial of God's wrath, which is now revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness. A noisome and grievous sore has fallen upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and worshipped his image. The truly noble conduct of those godly men has taught a sceptical generation, and a timeserving and worldly priesthood, that there is such a thing as principle, a power within a man which will command him, and cannot be controlled by him, except he wilfully resist the strivings of his conscience. The act of those men who gave up all rather than violate their conscience, was in God's sight an event of such magnitude and importance, that it is referred to more than once in the predictions of Scripture; and unquestionably it has inflicted a very grievous wound upon those who regarded the christian ministry as little else than a means of procuring a morsel of bread. In twenty years from 1843 the roll shall be fully unfolded, and they will act the part of true wisdom who begin forthwith to set their house in order, for God will come, and will not tarry, and he that will not repent cannot escape destruction. I have more than a hope that men will hear and do what God commands, and then God will bless them; for "thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do

touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No." If even the manner of his support be holy-the free-will offerings of a believing people-yet if he, in the most remote degree, be influenced by the mere gaining of a livelihood in the ministry of God's house, the offering becomes polluted in the sight of God, by the carnal and worldly spirit of him that receives it. "Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean." The dead body is the state-paid church, called in Scripture the carcase of the king; and if a godly and pious man, zealous for the glory of God and salvation of sinners, accept of such support, he touches the unclean thing, and is polluted. "Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord; since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me saith the Lord. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.” (Hag. ii. 14—19.)