Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/66

 and that an improved influence was at work; that a dark cloud had been dispersed, and that a gleam of spiritual sunshine had burst in upon the people. For it was then said, "I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanites" and the other idolatrous nations of the land; thus strongly assuring us that some spiritual phenomena lay behind those natural occurrences. Why else is an angel introduced into the scene, and represented as a necessity for the future guidance and safety of the nation?

Another case is presented in the rebellion of Korah. Who cannot see that he, with Dathan, Abiram, and two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, and men of renown, could only have been blinded as to the real authority of Moses, induced to defy his government, and seek pre-eminence for themselves, by the wicked influence of some abandoned spirits, who were endeavouring to destroy the progress of truth among those who were in the process of accepting it in the world? It seems almost impossible to read, with intelligence and care, the narrative which details the facts, without perceiving that a Divine coming to judgement is described,—a judgment not merely upon the rebels in the world, but also upon those spirits whose seducing influences had conduced to the infamous revolt. The presence and revelations of the Lord upon the occasion; the separation of the loyal from those who were conducting the insurrection; their earnest confession that God was "the God of the spirits of all flesh;" the direction of Moses, that they should depart from the tents of those wicked men, lest they should be consumed in their sins, are all indications of some pecular and special providence of the Lord being in a state of un-