In view of this glorious reign of peace and universal redemption, Isaiah calls upon the earth to be joyful and all the mountains to break forth in singing, and Zion to awake, and Jerusalem to put on her beautiful garments, and all waste places to break forth in joy; for the glory of the Lord is risen upon the City of David.  How rapturously does the prophet, in the most glowing and lofty flights of poetry, dwell upon the time when the redeemed of the Lord shall return to Zion with songs and thanksgivings, no more to be called “forsaken,” but a city to be renewed in beauties and glories, and in which kings shall be nursing fathers to its sons and daughters, and queens nursing mothers.  These are the tidings which the prophet brings, and which the poet sings in matchless lyrics.  To the Zion of the Holy One of Israel shall the Gentiles come with their precious offerings.  “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,” saith the poet, “wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise....  Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the day of thy mourning shall be ended....  Thy people shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.  A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation:  I the Lord will hasten it in its time.”

Salvation, peace, the glory of Zion!—­these are the words which Isaiah reiterates.  With these are identified the spiritual kingdom of Christ, which is to spread over the whole earth.  The prophet does not specify when that time shall come, when peace shall be universal, and when all the people shall be righteous; that part of the prophecy remains unfulfilled, as well as the renewed glories of Jerusalem.  Yet a thousand years with the Lord are as one day.  No believing Christian doubts that it will be fulfilled, as certainly as that Babylon should be destroyed, or that a Messiah should appear among the Jews.  The day of deliverance began to dawn when Christianity was proclaimed among the Gentiles.  From that time a great progress has been seen among the nations.  First, wars began to cease in the Roman world.  They were renewed when the empire of the Caesars fell, but their ferocity and cruelty diminished; conquered people were not carried away as slaves, nor were women and children put to death, except in extraordinary cases, which called out universal grief, compassion, and indignation.  With all the progress of truth and civilization, it is amazing that Christian nations should still be armed to the teeth, and that wars are still so frequent.  We fear that they will not cease until those who govern shall be conscientious Christians.  But that the time will come when rulers shall be righteous and nations learn war no more, is a truth which Christians everywhere accept.  When, how,—­by the gradual spread of knowledge,