said in another place, "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath (burning with fire), because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Rev. 12:12).

Now when the Lord has reduced this great and destroying mountain to a plain, then the remnant of Israel take up this proverb or parable against the mystical king of Babylon (who is in reality the king of Jerusalem) and say, "How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke (for he is called the hammer of the whole earth [Jer. 50: 23]), he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing, yea the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Hell (the grave) from beneath is moved to meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of thy viols (he figures under the fourth viol as a sun which scorches men with great heat). The worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (or day star; he appears as a great star that falls from heaven under the third trumpet), son of the morning. How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation (of Israel), in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High (he is also the man of sin spoken of by Paul [II Thess. 2:4]), Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides. of the pit" (Isa. 14:4-15).

It is under such similitudes as these that the true character and terrible works of this prodigy among Israel's kings are forcibly described, and therefore in continuance it is said, "They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the houses of the prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them lie in glory, every one in his own house (grave). But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with the sword that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcase trodden under foot. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial." If we ask the question, Why not? the answer is, "Because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people; the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned." Therefore it is added, "Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise nor possess the land nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon (mystical Babylon) the name and remnant and son and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water,

and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord" (Isa. 14:3-23).

As a result of the ravages of this mighty king in Israel who slays his own people, one-third of the sea of Israel is turned into blood, and a third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died (the righteous have life and are heirs of life, many of whom fall in these terrible times), and a third part of the ships were destroyed.

When by a figure of speech the armies of Israel are called a sea, the captains, great lords and renowned, who control and operate these great armies may very appropriately be styled "ships," even gallant ships which navigate and sail upon these great and mighty waters. But one-third of them are shipwrecked and destroyed in the day that the Lord fulfils his word by the Prophet Zechariah (11:6) saying, "I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord, but lo I 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."

Men are symbolized by objects in nature and art in the mystical language of the Scriptures, as for instance they are called chariots, wagons and wheels; mountains, hills, valleys, trees, forests, cedars, oaks, ships, and beasts of burden, and are called by the names of figures almost without number. But when these troubles are past, there will be no more ships of this nature to plough the sea of Israel, for the Prophet Isaiah testifies saying, "Look unto Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; he will save us." And then referring to the galleys with oars and gallant ships that formerly sailed in Israel's waters which will be destroyed in the judgment, he says of them, "Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail; then is the prey of a great spoil divided, the lame take the prey. And the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities" (Isa. 33: 20-24).

THE THIRD TRUMPET (REV. 8:10-11)

"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood, and a third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter."

"A GREAT STAR FELL FROM HEAVEN

Under the second trumpet, a great mountain burning with fire was rolled down from the rocks and fell into the sea, and a third part of the

sea was smitten. And under the third trumpet this same burning mountain, under the figure of a great star burning as it were a lamp, fell upon a third part of the rivers and fountains of waters, which rivers contribute to make up the sea of Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel are by this figure called rivers and fountains of waters, one-third of which are affected by this burning star. In Isaiah it is said, "O Lucifer, son of the morning," but the marginal reading is, "O Daystar, son of the morning." This king of Israel, this daystar, son of the morning, who falls from heaven (that is, the Israelitish heavens, or government) in the morning of the resurrection, falls upon another third part of the people of Israel. Three-thirds make a whole, therefore under the first three trumpets the whole twelve tribes of Israel will have been affected by the miseries and evils which overtake them. The name of this star is called

"And the third part of the waters (people) became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter," even as the Lord said in the song of witness, "They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction" (Deut. 32:24). The Lord said also by Moses to the people of Israel, "Ye know how ye have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how ye came through the nations which ye passed by, and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them. Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day (the latter day particularly he is speaking of) from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations, lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood. And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse (for these words will be proclaimed in that day), that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst, the Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven" (Deut. 29: 17-20).

Now here is found the true key to the proper meaning of the great burning star that falls from Israel's heavens whose name is Wormwood. He is a man who turns away from the worship of the true God, the hope of Israel, to worship idols, the work of men's hands, and the idols of the nations, and becomes a root that bears gall and wormwood. And among the many examples of such roots which have already been manifested among the kings and princes of the house of Israel in the past, there is yet to arise a notable example in the future,- one to which this prophecy has a special reference,— whose name is not only called "Wormwood," but "a king that does according to his will," and who not only magnifies himself above every god, and speaks marvelous things (blasphemous things) against the God of gods (who is the God of heaven and earth), but in his estate he also honors the god of forces (that is the Assyrian's god); and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver and with precious stones and pleasant

things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory (Dan. 11:36).

This king in Israel, in partnership with the king of the north, takes away the daily sacrifice from the Temple service of the morning and evening sacrifice, and substitutes in its stead his idols as an object for himself and the children of Israel to worship. This is branded the "abomination of desolation." It is called so, because it is the climax of Israel's wickedness, and especially because of this abomination, desolations are pronounced against the rebellious house,- bitter destruction, wormwood and gall will be given them, for, as the prophet says, "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 and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm (Isa. 9:20). Therefore it may truly be said of these evil times, "Many men died of the waters because they were made bitter."

Again, regarding the priests of Israel and the false prophets who join in and acquiesce in those abominations, and persecute the righteous who reprove and rebuke the wicked for their wicked works, the Lord speaks of their evil doings and the punishment which shall follow, by the Prophet Jeremiah, as recorded in the thirty-third chapter, from the beginning, and from verse 11; it is written, "For both prophet and priest are profane, yea in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord; wherefore their ways shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness, they shall be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation saith the Lord. I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err." (The ten tribes had ceased to be a people in Jeremiah's day, therefore this prophecy must needs refer to the future of Samaria and her people.) "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen also the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall,, for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land."

And as for the people also who follow after their idolatrous kings, princes, prophets and priests, in all their abominations, the Lord speaks in another place of them, saying, "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither have walked therein, but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim which their fathers taught them, therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them, till they be consumed" (Jer. 9: 13-16).

It is under the sounding of the seven judgment trumpets that these prophecies will be fulfilled in the latter days. Therefore the Lord says, "Behold a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind;

it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked; the anger of the Lord shall not return until he have performed the thoughts of his heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly" (Jer. 23: 19-20).

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THE FOURTH TRUMPET (REV. 8:12)

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise." The sun, moon, and stars of Israel's heavens are intended to shine day and night upon the whole house of Israel, that is, upon the whole twelve tribes, for their good and prosperity; and to darken a third part of the sun and moon and stars would be to leave the third part of Israel, that is four tribes, without light, and the blighting effects of this punishment, and the evils thereof, may be seen by what the prophet Isaiah says of this punishment. Speaking of the punishment of the people of Israel under the mystical name of Babylon, he says, "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay desolate the land, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it, for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place (they go into captivity), in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger."

That the judgments of God in that day fall first upon one part of the country and then upon another, will appear from what Amos says to and of the house of Israel, the ten tribes, who in the latter days fall again into the iniquities of their ancestors, and set up in their land the Egyptian system of idolatry by changing their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, after the manner of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat King of Israel. Amos speaking of the doings of Samaria and her people in the latter days and of the punishments which follow, says, "Come to Bethel (where their idols. were set up) and transgress at Gilgal; multiply transgression and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years (speaking ironically); and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings, for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God.

First. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places, yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord.

Second. I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest, and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord.

Third. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; when your gardens