(Henderson's "Minor Proph.," p. 438):-" But it shall be one day, which shall be known to the Lord," &c., &c. (Chap. xiv. 7.) Just as it is said, in Rev. xviii. 8, of the destruction of mystical Babylon (which synchronises with these events), "her plagues come in one day."

Moreover, Ezekiel also had prophesied of these events in his chaps. xxxviii., xxxix. He had depicted the entire invasion of the Holy Land, limited specifically to the latter days; an invasion to issue in the most marvellous destruction of the invaders, and known, therefore, never to have been yet fulfilled. Of which destruction the most marvellous part he places in the vale east of Tiberias; and thus the whole plain of Megiddo, or valley of Jezreel, from Tiberias, by Bysan or Scythopolis, to the mountains of Samaria, and from this line north-westward to the Mediterranean, appears to be marked out as the scene where the great body of Israel's invaders are to be overthrown; while an especial destruction is also foretold eastward of Jerusalem, between Olivet and Zion. But not only does Ezekiel, like the others, predict the complete and miraculous overthrow of the invaders, he also assures us that, at that time, all Palestine will be in possession of the sons of Israel; not only of sons of Judah, whom the other prophets specifically place in possession of Jerusalem, but of the other tribes besides; and he does this, as already explained, p. 393, suprà, by the employment of the most general national titles; so that we learn from him this especial fact, that when this assault upon the restored people takes place, they will comprise sons of both houses, Judah and Ephraim, alike restored; a restoration of all, nationally described.

And Ezekiel appears to have been commissioned to indicate, in a peculiar manner, the nations of whom this great confederacy would be formed he limits his description in chief to the sons of Japhet; and, speaking as he does of "the latter days," bids us look for the chief of the confederates to the nations of the west and north-to Europe. But, while including the nations of Europe generally, he particularizes their leader as being peculiarly of the north; thus, in addition to Isaiah and to Joel, not only directing us to the north for the confederacy, but especially to the north of Europe for the leaders of it, and describing them by such titles as we believe enable us sufficiently to identify them. He, too, like the other prophets, associates Israel's conversion with the destruction of their enemies,

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saying distinctly they shall know the Lord "from that day and forward."

These predictions Zechariah, in a distinct prophecy, viz., chaps. ix., x., singularly strengthens and corroborates. In these chapters, unlike chaps. xii.-xiv., above mentioned, he prophesies for "all the tribes of Israel," depicts Judah and Ephraim as fighting against their common foe at Jerusalem (chaps. ix. 12-17, and x. 5—8), Judah's being the directing power; and with the overthrow of these enemies, whom he describes as "sons of Greece," he associates, as its consequence, the conversion of the people to Christianity. So that thus, putting all these prophecies together, it appears that Holy Scripture permits us to anticipate a time yet coming when Judah and Ephraim, sons of both houses, shall be restored, unconverted, to the Holy Land; being so restored, shall possess Jerusalem in their right, as masters of it, shall be under the governorship of the house of Judah, with the lawful priesthood of Levi, asserting a national existence and independence; that being thus restored, in considerable numbers, and with national coincidents, possessing Jerusalem and the villages of Israel, "having gotten cattle and much goods," their country will be invaded, and themselves be unable to resist the storm. Jerusalem will be invested, and its people, in reliance upon "the Lord their God," induced, though almost hopelessly, to resist the siege (Zech. xii. 5); but Jerusalem will be taken, and Israel's hope lost, when the Lord Jesus himself will stand on Olivet, rescuing his people temporally and spiritually, their conversion being effected by that epiphany. "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments; He hath cast out thine enemy: the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said of Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy: He will rest in his love, He will joy over thee with singing," &c., &c. (Zeph. iii. 14—20.)

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

"I WILL BLESS THEM THAT BLESS THEE."- -GEN. XII. 3.

MR. BICKERSTETH assures us, "It would not have been difficult to have accumulated here testimonies from all ages. Fathers, and their successors, Protestants, Reformers of different countries, Puritans, Church of England writers, and Dissenters, and men of vast variety of opinions on other parts of Christian theology, who have agreed in expounding the prophecies of the Old Testament as declaring a yet future national conversion and restoration of the Jews; but let us rest on the simple and full testimony of Scripture. Let the reader's faith be in God's Word, and not in man's. My friend, Mr. Brooks, in his valuable work entitled 'Elements of Prophetical Interpretation,' has brought together much of this voice of the Church. Bishop Prideaux states:-'Astruunt hoc, inter Patres, Origines, Chrysostomus, Ambrosius, Hieronymus, et è recentioribus quàm plurimi, qui alias inter se in nimium multis degladiantur.'" ("Rest. of Jews," Introd., p. 10.) And Bishop Horsley had long before observed, in the same vein-" Amongst ourselves it has long been the persuasion of our best Biblical scholars and ablest divines that the restoration of the Jews is a principal article of prophecy, being, indeed, a principal branch of the great scheme of general redemption." (On Hosea, p. 27, preface.) Let those, therefore, whose attention, contrary to previous prepossessions, is now invited to the examination of this subject, be careful lest they should adopt the error of supposing that conclusions of correct divinity, or of sound and extensive learning, are against it; for the very contrary is the case. We have the evidence not only of the plain letter of Holy Scripture, but of its letter and spirit also, after being subjected to the severest test of critical examination. Unfortunately it is too often the custom to consider those who advocate certain well-known views, as remarkable for other gifts than those of solid attainments, calm judgment, and close reading. Even Dr. Lee falls into this vulgar error, and more than once makes the singular mistake of calling "the national restoration and conversion of Israel"

a popular subject. (See "Inquiry," Introd., p. 119.) We regret to state that at present it is not popular, nor generally understood; but we have the assurance of God's own Word that, in proper time, it is destined to become so. “Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.” (Ps. cii. 13.) Time will be when all that concerns the Israelites will be matter of absorbing moment to the world at large, and to the nations of Europe first of all; meanwhile, we take comfort in the correct theology and sound learning of our cause.

[1.] The question has hitherto been the reverse of popular; the Church at large seems to have laboured under a deep and strange prejudice against every suggestion favourable to the future hopes and elevation of the Jews. Perhaps it may be considered one part of that curse which the Almighty has laid upon them that it should be so ; that not only Christians of great learning and eminence should disregard the manifest literal import of God's Word on this subject, while asserting it as a first great principle upon others, but also should invent a false and pernicious system of interpretation which in effect perverts that Word; and that such a process, so opposed to correct divinity, and the dictates of solid learning, should have become popular in the Christian Church. The following extract from Bishop Horsley's notes on Hosea will show that the ruling idea of Lee's "Inquiry" is by no means new or original, written as it was forty-five years before the great Professor's book :-" A prejudice which for a long time possessed the minds of Christians against the literal sense of the prophecies relating to the future exaltation of the Jewish nation, gave occasion to a false scheme of interpretation, which, assuming it as a principle that prophecy, under the old dispensation, looked forward to nothing beyond the abrogation of the Mosaic ritual, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans, either wrested everything to the history antecedent to that epoch, and generally as near as possible to the prophets' times (as if it were not the gift and business of a prophet to see far before him), or by figurative interpretations, for the most part forced and unnatural, applied what could not be so wrested to the Christian Church, and rarely to the Christian Church on earth, but to the condition of the glorified saints in heaven.” (P. 26.) This is precisely the principle of those interpreters, even

the oldest of them, who have denied either the future restoration, or the conversion, or both, of the people Israel. And, as observed at the commencement of this book, Dr. Lee's work must be considered precisely of this distorted caste, unless, by reason of his unequalled attainments as a Gentile Hebraist, he has succeeded in placing this dilapidated mode of exposition upon a new and better principle. This an examination of his work will show he has not done; and we, who venerate his memory, cannot fail to perceive that the cause of Israel was not attacked by the Regius Professor of Hebrew, but merely by the Rector of Barley.

[2.] They who desire to read the recorded opinions of the Fathers in favour of Israel's conversion will consult Whitby's "Discourse on the Calling of the Jews," being "An Appendix to Romans xi.," in his Commentary. He will there see the sentiments of Chrysostom, Theodoret, Gennadius, Photius, Theophylact, Origen, Hilary, Primasius, Sedulius, Haymo, Augustine, Jerome, and Cyril, either specifically quoted or referred to; so that the commentator observes, "This doctrine hath the suffrages of all the ancient Fathers :" and whoever will carefully read that appendix cannot fail of observing two things: -1. That the conversion spoken of is always national, i.e., of Israel in a mass, and after the fulness of the Gentiles is come in; and 2. That arguing for the conversion, irrespective of the restoration, involves the commentator in this inconsistency, viz., that in one breath he interprets the same verse of Holy Scripture partly in a literal and partly in a figurative sense. I shall give an extract or two in proof. First,―The conversion spoken of is national. Chrysostom :-"When the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, then all Israel shall be saved, at the time of Christ's second coming, and the consummation of all things." Origen :-"If the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, then all Israel shall be saved, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." Augustine :-"The carnal Israel, who now will not believe, shall hereafter do so." Jerome :-" "This is the blindness that happened to Israel in part, that the fulness of the Gentiles might come in, and all Israel be saved, and after a long time might return and seek the Lord. Some do interpret this (Hosea iii. 4, 5) of the captivity of Babylon, but others, with us, refer it to a time yet future." Cyril :-"Here is a manifest declaration of what shall hereafter happen to the adulterous synagogue, and