David being a prophet, he foresaw the end of the wicked or fallen Israel, whom he reigned over as king, and spake of their end, and of the prosperity of the wicked; and complained of his own folly for being grieved at their prosperity. He says, for all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus, behold I shall offend against the generations of thy children. When I thought to know this it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast de

stroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. David being a prophet foresaw the end of the wicked; which was the dragon, devil and Satan, which composed the companies of death and hell, who stood on the top of the sanctuary with their false prophet. Romans set fire to the temple, they threw themselves down headlong into the lake of fire, rather than die by the Romans' sword.

And when the

Here was the place where David saw the end of the wicked; but it was fulfilled some years after David's day. Take notice, that the word wicked is wholly applied to fallen Israel, in Scripture, and the word sinners to the Gentiles.

Malachi refers to this overthrow of the dragon, death and hell, which David calls the wicked; For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day

that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.' 'And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet, in that day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.' This was the fire that burned the dragon, devil and Satan, death and hell; and they became as ashes under the feet of the Romans, who were Gentiles.

Isaiah, speaking concerning the elect part of Israel, gives a caution to them to come out and hide themselves from the judgment of the dragon. See Isaiah, xxvi: 20. Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast; for behold, the Lord cometh out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquities; the earth shall disclose her

blood, and shall no

more cover her

dead. In that day, the Lord, with his sore and great and strong sword, shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.' The judgment spoken of in this book fell on the beast, or fallen Israel, in the day of her judgment; and is the same that John referred to, when the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea. He says, the sea became as the blood of a dead man. Remember this sea was composed of many waters; and the angel informs us that the many waters where the whore sat, were 'multitudes and people,' which contained all the dragon' part of Israel, which had received the mark of the beast.

John speaks of the same punishment as Isaiah. 'And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her, people, that ye be not partakers of

her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.' This was the woman that sat upon many waters. The angel informed John that the woman was that great city which ruled over the nations of the earth; and that great city was Jerusalem, drunk with the blood of the saints.