"And in their days, even of those kings, the God of heaven shall set up A KINGDOM which shall never perish, and A DOMINION that shall not be left to another people. It shall grind to powder and bring to an end all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever."—DANIEL.

JOHN THOMAS, Editor. NEW YORK, March, 1854—

Volume 4—No. 3

BY THE EDITOR.

In the thirty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel is the celebrated prophecy of the Invisible One against the Great Power of the Latter Days, styled Gog, eretz ham-Mahgog, nesi Rosh Meshech, we-Thuvahl; that is, Gog of the land of the Magog, Prince of Russia, Muscovy and Siberia. Having designated the Power by this title, repeating it—Ezekiel 38: 3—with the omission of eretz ham-Mahgog to show that Gog is not the name of the land of the Magogians, or European Scythians, but indicative of the Agag * who shall be the Prince of all the Russias, particularised in the title contemporary with "the latter days"—the Spirit goes on to advertise the reader of the several races or peoples that shall compose his army and fight against Israel under his ensigns. They are ranged under certain principals, as "Persia, Khush, and Phut; Gomer and all his hosts; the House of Togarmah, parts of the north, and all his hosts." Persia, Khush, and Phut, belong to the gold and silver parts of Nebuchadnezzar’s image; Gomer and his hosts to the iron and brass; and Magog, Rosh, Meshech, Thubal and Togarmah to the clay, and destined ere long to be commingled with Gomer and his hosts by a brittle union, soon to be preternaturally dissolved, after the illustration of iron not being permanently miscible with miry clay.

* AGAG I suspect is the ancient form of Gog, a word of the same class as Pharaoh, Shah, Czar, Emperor, Sultan, Autocrat, Khan, etc.; not the family name of a man, but the national title of him who is for the time being the enthroned chief of the state. Agag was the greatest of the powers of the time of Israel’s exode from Egypt, and their most inveterate enemy. He was related to them much as Gog will be at the crisis of their future exodus from the "Spiritual Egypt," and their fate will be the same—utter obliteration from under heaven. Balaam’s prediction will then be fulfilled, saying of Israel, "His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted."—Numbers 24: 7.

Togarmah was son of Gomer, grandson of Japheth, and great grandson of Noah. There is but little said in the Scriptures about him or his descendants. The prophecy which was written in Babylon says, that his "house" occupies "parts of the north." In a northerly direction, then, from the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, we must look for the territory occupied by Togarmah’s house. This bearing points us to all that country lying between the Caspian, Persia, Afghanistan, and the Chinese Empire, with Russian Siberia on the north, as the dwelling-place of Togarmah’s hosts. This region is called Tartaria, or Independent Tartary; a human hive, from which have issued immense swarms of cavalry in ages past, that have swept over Asia to the gates of Constantinople and Vienna, like tornadoes from the east. Togarmah’s country has always been celebrated for its numerous herds of horses and for its horsemen. In the days of Tyre’s commercial prosperity, they of the house of Togarmah traded in its fairs with horses, and horsemen, and mules. Bochara, Khiva, Samarcand, etc., are principal cities of this Mongolian and Kirgesian region, or "Scythia within the Imaus," as the ancients used to style it. These are the tribes of the buckler, of the shield, of the bow, of the arrow, of the javelin, of the spear, the horse and the sword, so that these Tartar auxiliaries, added to the forces of the west, would constitute an army such as that described by Ezekiel, being "equipped with all sorts of armour," whose overthrow on the mountains of Israel would leave the land strewed with "the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the javelins and the spears"—Ezekiel 38: 4; 39: 9.

Having enumerated the races that are to be confederated under Gog as the clay-element of the Latter-day Image dominion, Adoni Jehovah addresses the Prince of all the Scythians, saying: "Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy multitude assembled unto thee, and be thou to them for a mishmahr, or guardian." It is evident from this, that before the invasion of the land of Israel by this power, the Dynastic Chief will pursue such a policy as will, in its full manifestation, bring these races to submit to him as their shepherd or sovereign director. The period during which he is working out this policy is the period of preparation indicated in the prophecy—a period thus foretold by the prophet Joel, saying, "Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your ploughshares into swords and your scythes into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves and come, all ye nations, and gather yourselves together round about." This is the war preparation preceding the actual invasion of Palestine and final investment of Jerusalem by the confederated hosts of the Autocrat, who is the waker-up of the nations to the war of the great day of God the Almighty.

The nations of the prophetic earth have evidently entered this period of preparation. As I have shown many years ago from the prophets, so it has come to pass, namely, that in the latter-day gathering of the hosts of the nations for their last struggle preceding the advent of Christ, Persia would side with Russia, British counsels losing all their influence there. Now, behold the verification of the interpretation, ye that say prophecy cannot be understood till after it be fulfilled. The news by the "Baltic," which sailed from England December 29, 1853, states that "accounts had been received from Vienna, that the Persians and Russians had opened a direct communication, and that the Russian General Yermiloff is to command the Persian forces. The overland Indian mail brings confirmation that the Shah of Persia had left Teheran with an army numbering 30,000 horsemen, with 1000 pieces of cannon, and 3000 camel-loads of ammunition, to cooperate with Russia. At latest accounts the army had passed Tabreez. The Shah had also sent an envoy to Dost Mahommed to point out the advantages of his siding with Persia and the Russians."

In relation to the tribes of Togarmah’s house as confederates of the Czar, the same steamer brings the following information, which may be accepted as a sign of the times: "According to the Kolnische Zeitung, curious developments are coming to light which indicate that Russia has long been preparing for the present crisis. A large expedition has been secretly organising under pretence of a campaign against the Khan of Khiva. For fifteen years past, Russian agents have been busied in organising the Mongolian and Kirghesian hordes, supplying them with money and arms, and teaching them to act in concert. From this source it is asserted that Russia may obtain the aid of 200,000 irregulars, mostly horsemen, so that if war does break out in earnest between Russia and the Western Powers, the war will rage along the entire line of Europe and Asia."

The plot evidently thickens. The Autocrat is very successfully fulfilling his mission, and will ere long falsify all the vaticinations of that particular school of political prophets of which the London Peace Society and the Stock Exchange Moneycrats of all nations are the most far-seeing, "wise and prudent" examples! The Autocrat must fulfil the destiny marked out for him; and where he would seem unequal to an emergency, the blundering diplomacy of those who would keep him in check will be sure to help him. He is Gulliver in Lilliput, a perfect whale among the minnows. Habakkuk’s description of him is to the life. "He is a proud man," says the prophet, "keeping not at home, who enlargeth his soul as the grave and as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all the nations, and heapeth unto him all the peoples: shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Ho to him that increaseth that which is not his! How long? to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!’" The "nations" and "peoples" are the "thick clay" with which he loads himself; and now is the time that this proud Lucifer has left his own home, or proper dominion, to begin the work of "the End" in loading himself with the guardianship of many Asiatic and European races. He has left his own home, and broken into the Sultan’s, like a robber. But this is only the beginning of his depredations; and the prophet says, "He cannot be satisfied." The powers that be have therefore fearful times before them. A gigantic burglar has appeared among them, who is taking measures to break into their houses, and to spoil them of the populations by the sweat of whose faces they have their wealth. As a whirlwind from the north, he is preparing to sweep over many countries of the Gomerian race, and to overthrow them. In these conquests he will mix up the iron and the clay, and mould them into the Feet and Toes of the Image-dominion of the Latter-days. The Assyrian Colossus being complete, and being within forty years of the terminus of its existence, which terminus will be the end of the seven times, or 2520 years, destined to pass over the Assyrian Tree, it will march its forces into "the Glorious Land," and plant its royal encampment between the seas before the holy mountain of glory. Behold it there, like Rabshakeh defying Israel at the wall of the Holy City, whose confidence will then be in the power possessed of Egypt, that is, the British. They may take up a parable and a taunting proverb against him, saying "How long?" etc.; but Anglo-Egypt cannot save them, for "the land of Egypt shall not escape" him. The Holy City with its shrines, which now stir up the fanaticism and covetousness of the Czar, will fall into his hands, and the vengeance of his fury will scatter death and violence in the land and city. Will not Israel then cry to heaven, saying, "How long, Lord? Wilt thou hide thyself for ever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire?" But Israel knoweth not the voices of their own prophets. They know not the oracle of the Lord addressed to their Assyrian spoiler of the latter days, indicating from whence his destruction and their deliverance shall proceed. Our "bones are dried and our hope is lost," say they, "and we are cut off from our parts"—Ezekiel 37: 11. But help comes to them from "the right hand of power," and from the dust of earth; for, says the prophet, addressing the Power laden with thick clay, or in other words, the thickly-laden clay power, "Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and the violence of the Land, of the City and of all that dwell therein." Christ from heaven and the resurrected saints shall be their deliverers.

* * *