Can such divine testimony as this be done away? But similar testimonies to the point are numerous in the prophets. This passage has never yet received a primary, or partial fulfilment.The whole of it remains to be fulfilled. Some of the predictions, which are to have an ultimate accomplishment in this final restoration, had a primary one in the restoration from the seventy years captivity in Babylon. But even this cannot be said of the prophecy under consideration. None of those written on the second stick, in the hand of the prophet, have ever yet been recovered. The whole passage is intimately connected with the battle of that great day, which introduces the Millennium; as appears in the two following chapters. Here the house of Israel enter again upon their everlasting possession of the land of promise, which God engaged to Abraham.

A reiteration of these predictions is intermingled with the predictions concerning Gog, or the powers of Antichrist, to be collected against the Jews, after their restoration, in the two chapters succeeding. "In the latter years thou (Gog) shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste, (or have lain waste for so many centuries during the dispersion of Israel ;) but it (that nation) is brought back out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm; thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God; it shall also come to pass, that at the same time, shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought; and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwall

ed villages, (the state of the Jews in Palestine, after their restoration); I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them, dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; to take a spoil, and to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land."-"Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, it is come, it is done, saith the Lord God. This is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons seven years.

The whole account is thus divinely summed up. "Therefore, thus saith the Lord God; now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; after that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again. from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, who caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen; but I have gathered them into their own land, and left none of them there (among the heathen) any more ; neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured out my spirit upon the house f Israel, saith the Lord God." It seems as

though this were enough, if nothing more were quoted from the prophets to prove our point. If this proof should be deemed insufficient, one would be apt to say, nothing that inspiration can assert upon the point, could be deemed sufficient!

But that it may appear that the prophetic writings unite to exhibit this as a great object of the christian's belief, I shall note some of the other predictions of it.

In Isaiah xi. the stem from the root of Jesse is promised. The Millennium follows, when the cow and the bear shall feed together, and the wolf and the lamb unite in love; and nothing more shall hurt or offend. "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again, the second time, to gather the remnant of his people, who shall be left, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamah, and from the isles of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth." Here just before the Millennium, the Jews and ten tribes are collected from their long dispersion, by the hand of Omnipotence, set a second time for their recovery.A body of the Jews, and some of several other tribes, were recovered from ancient Babylon. God is going, in the last days, to make a second, and more effectual recovery from mystical Babylon, and from the four quarters of the earth. The prophet proceeds; "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall unite it in the seven streams, and

make men go over dry shod.

And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." Mr. Scott, upon this passage, says; "For the Lord will then remove all obstacles by the same powerful interposition, that he vouchsafed in behalf of Israel, when He separated the tongue, or bay of the Red Sea, and destroyed that hindrance to the departure of Israel; and with a mighty wind he will so separate the waters of the river Euphrates, in all its streams, that men may pass over dry shod. Thus an highway shall be made for Israel's return, as there was for their ancestors to pass from Egypt into Canaan. This part of the chapter contains a prophecy, which certainly remains yet to be accomplished." Bishop Lowth says the same; and adds, as quoted by Mr. Scott, "This part of the chapter, foretels the glorious times of the church, which shall be ushered in by the restoration of the Jewish nation, when they shall embrace the gospel, and be restored to their own country. This remarkable scene of Providence is plainly foretold by most of the prophets; and by St. Paul." We thus have the testimony of those great men in favour of a literal restoration of the Jews to their own land, being here predicted. And here is a drying up of a mighty river, to prepare the way for the event. A river is the symbol of a nation. When Israel were to be redeemed from Egypt, the Red Sea was to be dried before them, When they were to be redeemed from Babylon, the Euphrates was by Cyrus to be dried or turned, to accomplish the event. And in their last restoration to Palestine, (ere long to be accomplished,) another

great mystical river is to be dried up. The sixth vial dries up the mystic Euphrates, that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared. This is to be fulfilled on the Turks. Perhaps the event is now transpiring. This river is to be smitten in its seven streams; as stated in this prophecy of Isaiah; perhaps indicating, that the Turks, be they ever so powerful in provinces and resources, as seven is a number of perfection, they yet shall fall by the remarkable hand of God, to accommodate the return of his ancient people. These prophetic hints give an interest to the present struggles in the south-east of Europe.

In Jeremiah, xxiii. 6, 8, is the restoration of Israel. "In his days, (i. e. under the millennial reign of the righteous branch raised up to David,) Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries, whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, who brought up, and who led the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I have driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land." As this event is under the reign of Christ; so it has never yet been fulfilled. It is an event of the last days; and plants the ancient people of God in their own land.

The same comparison of the same event, we find in Isaiah, xvi. 14, 15. After denouncing their long dispersion, for their sins; God says, "Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord