Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/262

 236 The Plan of tfa Ages,

cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne " " and he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations ; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron \ as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father/* (Rev. 3:21 j 2:26, 27; Psa. 2:8-12.) When the iron rod has accomplished the work of destruction, then will the hand that smote be turned to heal, and the people will re- turn to the Lord, and he shall heal them (Isa, 19 122 ; Jer. 3:22, 23; Hos. 6:1; 14:4; Isa. 2:3), giving them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

DANIEL'S VISION OF EARTHLY GOVERNMENTS.

Tn Nebuchadnezzar's vision we see the empires of earth, as viewed from the world's standpoint, to be an exhibition of human glory, grandeur and power ; though in it we also see an intimation of their decay and final destruction, as expressed in the deterioration from gold to iron and clay.

The stone class, the true Church, during its selection or taking out of the mountain, has been esteemed by the world as of no value. It has been despised and rejected of men. They see no beauty in it that they should desire it. The world loves, admires, praises and defends the rulers and governments represented in this great image, though it has been continually disappointed, deceived, wounded and oppressed by them. The world extols, in prose and verse, the great and successful agents of this image, its Alexanders, Caesars, Bonapartes and others, whose greatness showed itself in the slaughter of their fellow men, and who, in their lust for power, made millions of widows and orphans. And such is still the spirit which exists in the " ten toes "of tlae image, as we see it exhibited to-day in their marshaled hosts of more than twelve millions of men armed

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