assuredly expect : and from the description already given it is easy to anticipate,
II. The advantages that will accrue from it —
Let us notice,
1. Those of a temporal nature —
[The first that occurs to our minds is this, that there will be no more foreign wars. The history of the world for four thousand years has been little else than a recital of murderous and desolating wars : but in that day, we are told, that " swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into pruning- hooks : nation shall not rise against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." What a blessing this will be, can scarcely be estimated by us, who have for so long a period been exempt from the horrors of war ; but in those countries where its de- solating progress has been felt, this will appear a blessing of no small moment. As " wars will cease among the nations of the earth," so in the different nations there will be no domestic feuds. " Judah will no more vex Ephraim, nor Ephraim envy Judah." " The wolf and the lamb shall dwell together" in perfect harmony : the noxious qualities of the human heart shall be universally restrained : love alone will reign in every circle : " they shall not hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain, because the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seag." We may further add, that in that day there will be no personal wants. Now a great portion of the human race are oppressed with want, so as scarcely to know how they shall provide bread for the morrow : but in that day it will be as on the day of Pentecost, not lite- rally indeed, but in effect, all delighting to supply the necessi- ties of their fellow-saints. As in the wilderness " he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack," so in that day will " the abundance of some be a supply for the want of others, that, as far as will conduce to the welfare of the whole, there may be equality11."]
2. Those of a spiritual nature —
[Vast will be the increase of light in that day : " the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days." Hitherto the greatest part of the world have sat in darkness and the shadow of death : but then " many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased;" and such shall be the fruit of their exer- tions, that " all men shall be made to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest." The diffusion of Divine knowledge will
§ Isai. xi. 6—9. h 2 Cor. viii. 13—15.