Vere. 18-21.-Tlie millervniwm era. "And it shall come to paHH in that, ,lay," etr,. 'l'hie prmo.ge begins with e. splendid repreirentRtion of the gloriouH proAperity which eho.11 attend the people of God after the deAtruction of all their enemieA. Whatever their application to the Jews at e.ny period of their history, they certainly h,mr an application to the.t period foretold by prophets e.nd enng by poete,-the millennial period. Giving it this application, observe- I. IT WILL BE AN EBA OJI' PLENTD'UL PBOVIBION, "And it shall come to pa.RB in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with waterH, and e. fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Bhittim." Fertilizing etree.me will irrigate the land, The vineyardA on the mountainH shall drop down new wine, and the well-fed cattle shall yield abundance of milk. The idea ie, in the.t age there will be a profusion of all that is necee~ary to supply the needs and gratify the deeiree of men. The time, I verily believe, will come when panperism will be banished from the earth, when indigence, equalor, and want will be evils existin:; only in the history of the past. Even now it does not require the earth to be more fruitful than it is, to yield mankind ample supplies. What is wanted is men lesA avaricious, indolent, extravagant, intemperate, and wasteful. II. IT WILL BE AN EBA OJI' OOHPLETE CONQUEST. " Egypt shall be a desolation, aml Edom shall be a desolate wildemess, for the violence against the children of Juclah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land." Egypt and Edom, the old and inveterate enemies of the Jews, are here represented e.s crushed into utter desolatiun. Error and ein are the Egypt and Edom of the world. These will be cm.shed one day. The great moral Deliverer will bruise Ba.tan under our feet, will put down all rule and authority, will make mankind more than conquerors. There is a period of moral conquest and moral kingship that will dawn upon souls before the history of the world is over, III. IT IS ANEBAOII' .ABIDING PBOSPEBITY. "Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.n So long as the earth endures the ri~hteoUB shall continue. They will endure throughout all generations, and happiness will attend them. The kingdom of truth, purity, love, and peace, which Christ is now buildinz up, and which one day he will me.ke commensurate with the world, will continue from generation to generation ; it will have no end. IV. IT IS AN EBA OJI' MOBAL PUBITY. "For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed." That is, I will radically cleanse them. Their very blood, which has been a current of moral pollution, I will make pure in every particle. I will cleanse, not merely their skin, or their external parts, but the whole current of their life. Such is the era which the passage anyhow suggests; such is the era that await.s the earth. Would that it had dawned I Haste, ye circling seasons, and bring it on-or rather haste, ye servants of Obrist, to disseminate those principles of the gospel over the earth in whose mature development consists the blessed era f " The time shall come when every evil thing From being and rememlmmce both shall die : The world one solid templo of pure gold." (' Festus.') D.T.
JOEL, F HOMILETICAL INDEX 'l'O
THE BOOK OF JOEL.
THB>IB P.l.o• OBAPTEB L Spiritual Repentance 37 TIIBIDI PJ.GK The Value of the Divine Word 8 The Hope of Beconcilie.tion 37 A Retrospect and a Prospect 8 Elden and Children 38 The Lessons taught by this Calamity 8 Priestly Entreaty 38 The Cale.mity has fallen upon all, and Pity and Relenting 39 therefore the We.ii of Woe 1;1roceeds Joy after Sorrow ... 39 from e.11 ... ... . .. 9 Showen of Blessing 39 Calamity removed 9 The God of Israel 40 Tradition 10 The Outpouring of the Spirit i0,il "Awake!" 10 The Promise of Salvation .. . 41 Religious Privations 11 The Ce.11 of the Convicted .. . 42 'fhe Withering of Joy 11 The Ministry of Alarm i3 AFast ... 11 Soul-Reformation 43 " The Day of the Lord" 12 An urgently Demanded Meeting 44 The Desolation of the Land 12 Interaction of the Divine and Human 44 Trouble lee.de to Prayer 12 Twofold Restoration 45 The Life-Work of an Obscure Prophet 13 The Gospel Age ... 46 Religious Reformation H: National Calamity 15 CHAPTER IIL A Call to Drunkards . .. . .. 17 The InJluence of National Calamities Deliverance and Destruction 53 on the Minds of the Good Providence, Preparation, and Preven- 17 tion 5i That Day-the Fear of the Wicked, CHAPTER II. the Hope of the Just 56 The Purposes for which a Trumpet The Promise of Plenty 57 was blown and an Alarm sounded 29 Restoration from Captivity 58 The Way in which God executes his Retribution 59, 6-l Judgments ... ... 29 We.rand Judgment 59 Humiliation for Sin, and Thanksgiving "The Valley of Decision" 60 for Meroy ... ... ... :'10 The Lord his People'8 Hope aru.l The Efficacy of Prayer 31 Strength 60 Loss repaired ... 32 The Lord's Holy Dwelling-place 61 The Dispeusution of the Gospel 33 Spiritual ProBperity 61 "Souud 11.u Alarm I" 86 A Harvest Sermon 62 "Whuc11.nl\bidoit?" ... 86 The Persecution of Good :Hen 63 Clouver1io11 llli The Millennium Era tia