up again: for iniquity has waxed mighty therein. And God shall set His hand upon the host of the Heaven in the height in that day, and upon the kingdoms of the earth, and He shall gather together the congregation thereof into a prison, and shall shut them up in a strong- hold.”261 And Malachi speaking concordantly with these said “Behold the Lord almighty cometh, and who shall abide the day of His coming or who shall stand when He appeareth? for He cometh like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers soap: and He shall sit refining and purifying as it were silver, and as it were gold.”262 And again, “Behold,” he saith, “the day of the Lord cometh, burning like an oven, and it shall consume them, and all the aliens, and all who work iniquity shall be stubble, and the day which is coming shall set fire to them saith the Lord almighty; and there shall be left neither root nor branch.”263 And the man greatly be- loved saith “I beheld until thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days was seated, and his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was pure as wool: His throne was a flame of fire, and the wheels thereof burning fire: a stream of fire wound its way in front of Him. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The judgment was set and the books were opened.”264 Then after a little space “I beheld,” he says, “in a vision of the night and behold with the clouds of Heaven, one came like the Son of Man, and reached unto the Ancient of Days, and was brought near before Him, and to Him was given rule, and honor, and the kingdom, and all the people, tribes and tongues serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed. As for me Daniel, my spirit shuddered within me, and the visions of my head troubled me.”265 Then all the gates of the heavenly vaults are opened, or rather the heaven itself is taken away out of the midst “for the heaven,” we read “shall be rolled up like a scroll,”266 wrapped up in the middle like the skin and covering of some tent so as to be transformed into some better shape. Then all things are full of amazement and horror and trembling: then even the angels themselves are holden by much fear, and not angels only but also archangels and thrones, and dominions, and principalities and authorities. “For the powers” we read “of the heavens shall be shaken,” because their fellow-servants are required to give an account of their life in this world.267 261 Isa. xxiv. 19–22, a very loose quotation from the LXX. 262 Mal. iii. 2, 3. 263 Mal. iv. 1. 264 Dan. vii. 9. 10. Slightly varied from the LXX.: for the designation of Daniel as “greatly beloved,” see Dan. x. 11. 265 Dan. vii. 13–15, a closer rendering of the Hebrew than the LXX. 266 Isa. xxxiv. 4. 267 Matt. xxiv. 29. 141 Letter I