October 30

Joel iii.—14. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

15. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18. And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20. But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

Micah iv.—1. But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of

the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

2. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

6. In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth; and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;

7. And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even forever.

In vain should we search the history of Israel for the fulfilment of this blessed and glowing promise. Centuries of calamity, civil war, invasion, captivity, subjugation by foreign powers, terminating at last in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the dispersion of the Jews among all nations, have blighted whatever hope this prediction may have inspired in the ancient people of God. Indeed, the prophet had already foretold that Zion should be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. Neither has any period of human history furnished the picture of peace, safety, plenty, and righteousness, that is here described. Alas! at the very moment that these lines are written, the two greatest nations of Europe, rivals for leadership in the civilization of the future, are waging a most deadly and desolating war!

It was of the final triumph of the Messiah's kingdom that the prophet spoke. The "last days" denote "the point which lies on the outermost limits of the horizon." History is filling up the intermediate spaces, and we are moving toward the glorious consummation. Christianity has already done much to humanize war, and to mitigate its horrors. It is yet to abolish it altogether. For it is through the prevalence of this spiritual, peaceful, and loving religion, the exaltation of the word and the worship of God, that the nations shall be subdued to peace. When its principles shall prevail, the very weapons of war shall be turned into implements of husbandry; production shall take the place of destruction; armies shall be disbanded; private rights shall be respected; and every home shall be the abode of peace, love, and devotion.

APPROPRIATE [LYNNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 120, 121, 130.

O Lord, most gracious Saviour, who on this day didst rise again from the dead! raise up our souls unto newness of life, granting us repentance from dead works, and planting us in the likeness of thy resurrection.

O Lord! we beseech thee so to purify our hearts this day, that we may worship thee acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. Incline us to receive thy Word into honest and good hearts, and to bring forth fruit with patience; that we may at last inherit everlasting life, through the mediation of our great High Priest, who has passed into the heavens, and who liveth evermore.

Thou Lord of the evening and morning, we bless

thee for thy love which shines upon us in the morning light. As thy goodness hath preserved us in the night, may thy grace attend and keep us this day! As we shall study thee in thy works and Word, fill our minds with thy truth, and our hearts with thy love. Teach the children thy grace in the gospel of thy Son, that they may consecrate to thee the dew of their youth.

Let thy special blessing, O Lord! rest on all our relations, friends, and neighbors, and upon thy whole Church. Oh! hasten the final coming of Christ our Saviour; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all praise and thanksgiving forever. Amen.