ness, by showing that the only legitimate, nay the only possible application which can be made of such predictions, is to the lineal descendants of faithful Abraham.

Before Israel was at all admitted to the promised land, Moses gave them a prophetic narrative, or prospective history of all that should befall them—the blessings the Lord should bestow—their future apostasy—the captivity of themselves and of their king— the destruction of their city—the unparalleled sufferings to which they should be exposed- -and their dispersion into all nations. Deut. xxviii. xxix. And having thus predicted with fearful minuteness, the calamities by which they have since been overtaken for their sins, as the inspired servant of God he left them the gracious assurance that their wanderings and misery should ultimately terminate, by their being re-admitted to the favour of God and restored to their own land: "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, -with all thine heart and with all thy soul; that then the Lord. thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion, upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from «« t'1^ nations whither the Lord thy God hath, scattered thee. any of thine be driven out into the •utmost JP*^* heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God I and from thence will he fetch thee. And thy God will bring thee into the land which * -?\ possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and \\e '^^CiJ^c.

good, and multiply thee above thy fa.th.ers" 1—5. * ""

Of the correctness of the application o? — • - e

to God's ancient people, there can foe no do* "^ \vst

if so, what reason can be assigned, -why sucVx <

of the love and faithfulness of G-od should n ally received? It is recorded -with all that of language which characterizes the preceding chapters, the judgments detailed in which have been inflicted with the utmost minuteness* The prediction is extensive. It embraces the whole period of Israel's history till the present and future times—as the verses quoted, (which form its conclusion,) evidently refer to their final restoration. The Babylonish captivity is not however overlooked. It is foretold in a preceding part of this remarkable prophetic narrative in terms sufficiently distinctive : " The Lord shall bring thee, and tlii/ king which thou shall set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known." (xxviii. 36.) This then clearly refers to that captivity when, "in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it; and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand."—" Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon."— "And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the land." Dan. i. 1,2. 2 Chron. xxxvi. f>. 2 Kings xxiv. 14. This then was the captivity to which Israel with the<r "king" were to be subjected. This part of the prediction had at that time its complete fulfilment, while it cannot at all apply to the captivity which afterwards followed their overthrow by the Romans—for they had then no king to be carried captive.

But we have also another distinctive mark by which the prediction in the above verse is fixed to the Babylonish captivity, and by which it is also rendered inapplicable to that which they afterwards suffered. They, together with their king, were at this time to be carried only into "a nation," while the restoration promised in the conclusion of the prediction must refer to their subsequent dispersion, which is afterwards predicted. It is a restoration "from all the nations," "from the utmost parts of heaven." (xxx. 3, 4.) Besides, having foretold their being carried captive with

their king into one nation, the prophet had therefore declared that " the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other." (xxvii. 64.) There is no mention of their king as participating in this wide dispersion, an omission which exactly corresponds with the circumstances attending that captivity which followed their overthrow by the Romans. They had then no king, and it was not till then that they were dispersed "among all people." The Romans are evidently the scourge here described. They are strikingly characterized by Moses to his brethren, as "a nation whose tongue thou shall not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the youHg." (xxviii. 49, 50.) An account of the aggravated horrors of siege to which the Jews were subjected by them, forms part of the inspired detail, including even the mention of the revolting fact of delicate mothers eating their own children. Both captivities are, therefore, predicted ; and it is "when All these things" are come upon them, and when they shall call them "to mind, among All the nations whither they have been scattered," that they are to be restored. This therefore is a prediction not merely of their restoration from Babylon, though that is included, but clearly is the restoration succeeding their last and greatest captivity, and from which they yet remain to be rescued.

It is instructive to attend lo such distinctive marks, given relative to events of a similar nature. Such an exact fulfilment of the threatened curse, shou\d surety teach us in what manner the promised blessings are to be received; and as the judgment of dlsperswm, vatt\ all its attendant miseries, has been literally fu\fv\\ed, can we doubt that their restoration will be e* It is added, that after this return to the land thers,the Lord "will do thee good, and above thy fathers"—a promise which, apply to their return from Babylon' ponds with other prophecies concerning restoration.

Were there no other prediction in the inspired volume from which the literal restoration of Israel could be proved, this alone ought to be regarded as sufficient to decide the question. In the estimation of faith, it will weigh against a thousand speculations of erring reason about the expediency, and utility, and necessity, of such a thing. Ah! there is surely something greatly wrong, when, ere the declared purposes of God can be believed, Inspiration must be arraigned at Reason's bar, and the wisdom and utility and certainty of Heaven's decrees must be submitted to her decisions!

But clearly and distinctly as Moses thus foretells Israel's restoration, his is no solitary prediction. On the contrary, if there be a single fact to which All the prophets have borne testimony—from the time of Moses, and before his day, down to the incarnation of the "Prophet like unto Moses," and beyond His stay on earth, even until after Patmos isle had received his most-loved and longest-surviving apostle—that attested fact is, Israel's future restoration'to Palestine. "For thus saith the Lord," by the prophet Jeremiah, "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, / will bring them [to Zion] from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them." Jer. xxxi. 7—9. That this promise is not to the church, but to the literal Israel, is obvious from its also including other blessings, which relate exclusively to the land of Palestine: "Thou shah yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things," ver. 5. Besides proving that the only application of such passages is to the house of Israel; it is also necessary, however, that attention be given to the time to which they relate. Those who deny any future restoration, assert of all such predictions, that they were fulfilled in the return of the J jws to Babylon, if it should be found impossible (even with the aid of a most convenient system of interpretation) to transfer them to the church. That restoration was indeed divinely predicted also, as we have already remarked, but in the present selection of passages, none are inserted except such as are, from their context, evidently future. And such is the case in the prediction above quoted; for when this restoration is enjoyed, "they shall not sorrow any more, at all." ver. 12. But, since their return from Babylon, they have had more cause to "sorrow" than they ever had before. They are now more widely scattered, and more cruelly dealt with, than when under the power and within the dominions of Nebuchadnezzar: and the only captivity of Israel since that period, is that from which they are not yet recovered. And is their restoration to be considered less real, because it is future? The Lord will undoubtedly perform this his promise in their favour, and "gather them from the coasts of the earth." Nor can this restoration be conFounded with their conversion, which is here predicted as an accompaniment. In coming from the coasts of the earth, "they shall come," saith the Lord, "with weeping; and with supplications will 1 lead them, ver. 9.

Ezekiel records a similar prophecy: "Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and / will give you the land of "Israel." Ezek. xi. 17. To the same period, obviously, does this promise refer. It is the pledge of recovery, not from one land alone, as was that from Babylon, but of their rescue from "the countries" into which they have latterly "been scattered." And those who are so desirous of investing the Gentile church with the various promises given to Israel, will do well to observe how this is secured to them. Addressing the Hebrew prophet, the Lord calls those to be thus gathered, "thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred," whom He had "cast far off among the heatieiu" ver. 15, 16. Nor is this to be explained as predicting merely their conversion, which the Lord im