9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

To put a hook in the jaws of Leviathan, or Gog, is to overcome him; and to put a bridle in his lips is to give such a direction to his movements, through the policy he shall be called to avow, as that he will be forced to go where the purpose of his conqueror demands.

Sennacherib was both hooked and bridled, and the consequence was he was turned back by the way by which he came; as it is written,

"I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest," Isaiah 37:29.

When a fish is hooked it is overcome and may be turned out of its course. Russia is not hooked, nor can all the powers combined put a hook into its jaws.

It is therefore not "turned back." There is but one power can hook it, and that is the Lord Jesus, who is

"the Name of Yahweh that cometh from far, his anger burning, and its burden heavy: his lips full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire; and his breath as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck to fan the (Leviathan) nations with the fan of destruction, and there shall be a rein upon the jaws of the people causing to err (or blunder in their policy, as may now be clearly seen.)

... This is the way the Lord Jesus, or "Name of Yahweh, " turns back, or repulses Gog, when, as Ezekiel says,

"His fury comes up into his face; and all the men that are upon the face of the land shall shake at his presence."

Then saith the Lord Yahweh,

"I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains; every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and blood, and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and upon the many peoples with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I make myself great and holy; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I (that is Jesus) am the I shall be, " or Yahweh.

Such is the teaching of the word. Russia's career is evidently onward until its power is encountered from above. What it cannot do by force it will accomplish by guile, and by the bridled policy of its blundering and incapable foes. It may lose many battles, and experience considerable reverses; but this will only prove that its efforts have been in the wrong direction, or that it has been going ahead too impetuously for the times and purposes of God. Its success eventually is certain; and none can finally repulse it until the sling-stone of David's Son shall prostrate the giant upon the mountains of Jacob's land.

Soon then may Russia stamp "the residue" with its feet, firmly planting its heel in the neck of Gomer and his bands. The speedier this is accomplished, the nearer will God's kingdom be; and for which "the Heir of All Things" taught his joint-inheritors to pray. Things seem at present taking a new turn, and preparing to enter into the second stage of the war.

The Gogship of Europe is before the Prince of Rosh, which can never be attained by campaigns in the Crimea. The seat of war must be changed that the Papal Kings, no longer overawed by the armies of France, may agree and give their power and strength to the Beast, until the words of God be fulfilled.—Rev. 17:13, 17.

This is a point worthy of more consideration than has yet been bestowed upon it. These Ten-Horn Kings are the Kings of Gomer and his bands—the Iron nations to be commingled with the clay. But "they shall not cleave one to another" long. The brittle bond will soon be broken on the mountains of Israel.

Babylon's colossal empire of the latter days will be dis-severed into its four constituent metallic elements, when Gog, laden with nations as with thick clay, shall fall to rise no more for a thousand years. Thus cleft asunder by a single blow, a wind shall fan them as the chaff of God's threshing, until their kingdoms become theirs for whom they are prepared. Surely, then, the heirs of the kingdom may well and earnestly pray, "Let Russia triumph, and Europe speedily be chained!"

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, March, 1855

Whose fire is in Zion

Hence the "angels," or agents sent, were the forces of the Little Horn,

"who severed the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of the fire."

They hemmed the wicked up in the fortified places, especially in Jerusalem. That portion of the Jews who became Judaizers and Gnostics made common cause with the Pharisees against the Roman Eagles. They had already, Jude says, separated themselves from fellowship with the Apostolic party (verse 19); and as they took no heed to the sign, when the Lord of the vineyard sent his Eagles against the state, they were readily ensnared; for instead of fleeing into the mountains, as Jesus advised, they sought refuge in the cities; and thus, as Isaiah predicted,

"they stumbled and fell, and were broken, and snared, and taken"

—ch. 8:15; Luke 21:35.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, July 1859