or or rulere in Ohuroh 11nd etrito? By the d11y of the Lord ie 11t hand, and ae a de- original oonetitution of these luminaries, as struction from the Almi,,hty 0 shall it romll." epeoillerl in the record of Oreation, they were Again in Amos v. 18, " The day of the uotunlly rippointed to tlrn, and so naturally Lord is darkness, and Mt light." But other enough tho physical here, as elsewhere, dnye of judicial visitation were not to be underlies the symbolic, as we read. "God compared with this. The day of Babylon's mndo two gront lights; the greater light to destruction is called by Isaiah simply " the rulo tho dny, and the lesser light to rule the day or the Lord;" so Jeremiah speaks of night." Thus what wae commenced when the day of the destroction of Pharaoh'e Judma became a Roman province woe com- army o.t the Euphrates ae "the day of the pleted when Jerusalem WRB destroyed and Lord;" and Joel himself designates tho the temple burnt by the Roman army under day of Jerosalem'e destruction of Nebu- Titus. "The day of the Lord" is an chadnezzar ae "the day of the Lord." But expression very common with the prophets, the day mentioned in the text before as ie and 111 ways expressive of some severe visita- "that great and notable day of the Lord," tion or special judgment. Thus we read in and eo it was the day of the final destruction this same Book of the Prophet Joel," The and desolation of J eruealem.
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-3.-17iepurposes for which a trumpet was blown and an alarm sO'lknded. J. THE PABTICULAB PURPOSE ON TfilB OC0ABION. • II. THE PLAOE WHEBE THE WARNING WAS GIVEN. III. THE PBIESTS WHO WEBE TO BOUND THE ALABM. We are infonned in Numb. x. 8 that it was the "sons of Aaron, the priests," that were to blow with the trumpets, either in sounding the alarm of war, or convening. an assembly of the people, or for the journeying of the camps. Similar is the duty of the ministers of religion. IV. THE PEBBONB TO WHOM THE WARNING IB ADDRESSED. They are all the inha- bitants of the land wit.bout exception, for all more or leSB add their quota to the national sin, share consequently in the national danger. V. THE PECULIABITIES OF THE CIBCUMBTANCEB BO VIVIDLY PICTURED BY THE PROPHET. While the peculiar circumstances of the visitation which the prophet por- trays intensify the approaching disaster, they at the same time emphasize his preceding exhortation. In this picture of the prophet we have (1) his description of the day of the Lord, and (2) the destruction that succeeded. The description represents that day as a day of darkness and, by way of gradation, of gloominess, that is, of still greater darkness; as a day of clouds and of densely dark clouds; as the morning gray, the darkest hour between midnight and dawn, spread upon the mountains. The locust- people that made it so were great in number and great in strength, unequalled in the past and unparalleled in the future, through all the rolling years of many generations. The destruction was terrible in the extreme, as if a devouring fire went before them and a burning flame followed them. The havoc they made reduced a garden to a desert, and Eden itself to a wilderness ; in a word, it was unescapable. Vere. 4-11.-The way in which God eucutes his judgments. In these verses we are taught many important and solemn lessons in connection with the Divine judgments and their execution. I. THE AGENTS EMPLOYED. 1. These may appear to us in themselves very insignifi- cant; but when executing his commission and armed with his wrath they are truly terriblr.. To the eye and to the ear that terror made its appeal; the sight of them was awe-inspiring, the sound of them frightful. ~oth on the march an~ while feeding they caused sounds harsh and horrible. 2. 'Ihe natural effect of their approach wae pain and fear. The people to whom they came were affrighted by their appearance, but still more were they alarmetl for their property, which they well knew was exposed to havoc and utter destruction. How men should stand in awe of the judgments of God, and especially of sin DB that which brings down those judgments ! "Stand in awe, and sin not ! " II. THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THEIR MISSION. 1. The ministers of the Divine ven- geance do their work speedily, Never did U1ighty men do their work more speedily, 30