be loofed out of his prifon a little season: and he fhall go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the fand of the fea, Rev. xx. 7, 8. Which brings us to obferve,

II. That the Spirit of the Lord fhall lift up a adard against the enemy, in the deftruction of Gog nd Magog. What nations are meant by Gog and Magog, is impoffible to fay. As in the revelation made to John, there is a frequent allufion to OldTeftament history; fo is there in designing the last enemies of the New-Teftament church, by the mystical names of Gog and Magog. Under the Old Teftament, Gog and Magog were the last powerful enemies to Ifrael, after their deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, as appears from the xxxvith, xxxviith, xxxviiith, and xxxixth chapters of Ezekiel. And therefore as the Antichriftian enemy is ftyled, Babylon, Rev. xvi. 19. and xvii. 5.; fo are thefe, Gog and Magog.

The thousand years wherein Satan was bound, being fulfilled, he fhall be loofed a little feafon, and go out to deceive the nations, as before thefe years began. And as then, fo now, he will first

"elect, the proper and appointed time of gathering in God's "fruits. The feast of tabernacles was the last feaft that Ifrael "had in the whole year. So this great feast of the Christian "church, will be the last feaft the fhall have on earth; foon "after it is paft, this lower world will be destroyed.". Thoughts concerning the Revival of Religion in New England, p. 60, 61, 62.

Rr

act the ferpent in deceiving; and next the dragon in attempting to deftroy in the most cruel manner. Having deceived the nations, and muftered his forces, they shall come up on the breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the faints about, and the beloved city, Rev. xx. 9. They fhall come up on the breadth of the earth, and fo come in like a flood, as our text fpeaks. And to this enemy the venerable Vitringa, (as was noticed above, p. 28.) thinks it refers; and, as he tells us, a famous Jewish Rabbi, Kimchi, underftands the enemy in the text, of Gog and Magog. It is faid, They shall compass the camp of the faints about, alluding to the encampment of the Ifraelites in the wilderness, when the Egyptian enemy overtook them, Exod. xiv. 9. It is added, and the beloved city; alluding, I apprehend, to the fiege of Jerufalem, by the Affyrians and Chaldeans.

The camp, or city of the faints, thus befieged by enemies, numerous as the fand of the fea, what muft the event be? What can be expected, but that the faints must be swallowed up? What, but that their city must be levelled to the ground? But, lo! While the enemy is coming in like a flood, on every fide, the Spirit of the Lord fhall lift up a fandard against him. While they fhall compass the camp of the faints, fo that all poffibility of escape feems to be cut off, Fire fhall come down from God out of heaven, and devour them, Rev. xx. 9. Where there is a manifeft allufion to what was threatened to the Old-Teftament Gog and Magog, Ezek. Xxxviii. 22. and xxxix. 6.; and to what in the moft awful manner befel Sodom and Gomorrah,

Gen. xix. 24.

That Spirit, who garnished the heavens, Job xxvi. 13. fhall from thence rain fire and brimftone on the enemies of his church. Whether by this fire is meant the general conflagration at the last day, as fome think *, wherein the heavens being on fire, fhall be diffolved, and the earth, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up, I dare not offer to determine: mean while, according to the thread of prophecy, it seems to be at least a near forerunner of the laft judgment; for it immediately follows, ver. 10. And the devil that deceived them was caft into the lake of fire and brimStone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and Shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Now, the enemy fhall be bound, not for a thou fand years only; but in everlasting chains, he fhall be fastened as to the bottom of the burning lake. And the banner, lifted up by the Spirit of the Lord, shall for ever be displayed, as on the walls of the heavenly Jerufalem. The name of the city from that day fhall be, JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH, The Lord is there. The tabernacle of God shall be with men; and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself fhall be with them, their God; even he, who fent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts: that good Spirit which led them into the land of uprightness, (compare Pfal. cxliii. 10. Gal. v. 18.) and ever and anon lifted up a standard on their behalf, againft all their wilderness-enemies, the Spirit of glory, and of God, fhall reft upon them: nor fhall his unfpeakable confolations be for a moment fufpended, through the revolving ages of eternity.

Lime-ftreet Lectures, Vol. I. p. 26. Guyfe in loc.

REFLECTION S.

HAVING thus illuftrated the propofition in

the text, I fhall shut up all with a few re

flections. And in the

1. Place, fee again the excellency of holy scripture. It informs us of what is paft, and it alone reveals what is yet to come. It carries us back to the fix working days of God; and mounted as on it's celeftial wing we can look afar into futurity, yea, to the confummation-day. By it's light we fee from the beginning to the end of time; from the Almighty's fat to the laft trumpet's found. It is the prerogative of fcripture alone to tell us what was in the beginning, and what fhall be to the end. Leaving this celeftial luminary, we are straight in amaze. We can have no fatisfying account of what has been; no pleasing prospect of what shall be. All, all is clouds and darkness, chimeras and uncertainty. To the fcripture therefore let us cleave. In this light of the Lord let us walk. His book let us read, ever and anon looking up to him, to open our eyes that we may fee it's wonders. At this fountain let us daily drink, that refreshed with it's living waters, we may go on our way rejoicing.

2. Seeing what God has wrought, how often the Spirit has lifted up a standard against the enemy coming in like a flood, let our fong be of him; and let us fay, as in the words of infpiration, Had not the Lord been on our fide; had not the Lord been on our fide, the waters had overwhelmed us, the fiream

had gone over our foul. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. We will rejoice in his falvation; and in the name of the Lord our God we will lift up OUR banners: For HIS banner over us is love.

3. Let us, my Brethren, bear witness for Christ. Let us not be ashamed of him, nor of his teftimony. Let us be ferving God in our generation, faithfully tranfmitting his truth to our pofterity, that they alfo may tell it to people yet unborn. Let the teftimony of Jefus be to us, as it is in itself, more precious than our blood. Did he, as the faithful Witness, feal it with the blood-royal of heaven? and, shall we think much to confirm it with ours? Let us rather choose to walk in the fackcloth of the faints, than to enjoy the pleasures of fin for a season. If among the weeping witnesses, it is but a little, and God fhall appoint unto us beauty for afbes, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, and rivers of pleasures for drops of tears. ever our hand findeth to do, let us do it with all our might. Let us gird up our loins as for witneffing-work. The living, the living, they alone are honoured to bear teftimony for God. Yet a little, and we go down to the filent grave. And did the cause of God turn as on one word from us, that one word we could not give. Therefore, while we live, let us live: live to him who died once, and has now the keys of the unfeen world and of death hanging at his golden girdle.

What

4. See how dark a night and how bright a day, are yet before the church. There is reason to expect in future times, what we partly dread,