ost dreadful curses upon them. The
very hands that once crowned them with laurels, will be raised for their
destruction. The swords which were to slay God's people, are now employed
to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed.

"A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a
controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give
them that are wicked to the sword."(1135) For six thousand years the great
controversy has been in progress; the Son of God and His heavenly
messengers have been in conflict with the power of the evil one, to warn,
enlighten, and save the children of men. Now all have made their decision;
the wicked have fully united with Satan in his warfare against God. The
time has come for God to vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law.
Now the controversy is not alone with Satan, but with men. "The Lord hath
a controversy with the nations;" "He will give them that are wicked to the
sword."

The mark of deliverance has been set upon those "that sigh and that cry
for all the abominations that be done." Now the angel of death goes forth,
represented in Ezekiel's vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons,
to whom the command is given: "Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and
little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the
mark; and begin at My sanctuary."(1136) Says the prophet, "They began at
the ancient men which were before the house."(1137) The work of
destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual
guardians of the people. The false watchmen are the first to fall. There
are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, maidens, and little children
perish together.

"The Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth
for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no
more cover her slain."(1138) "And this shall be the plague wherewith the
Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: Their
flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes
shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in
their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult
from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on
the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of
his neighbor."(1139) In the mad strife of their own fierce passions, and
by the