that it is predicted that there should then be among the Gentiles those upon whom the Lord's name had been called he leads us also to the hope of the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David, and the prophecy itself shews us that then the Jews shall no more be carried out of their land.

(13.) Micah iii. 12; iv. 1, 2. Therefore shall Zion, for your sake, be ploughed as a field: and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house, as the high places of the forest. But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow into it. And many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

From the last clause, this passage has been generally applied in a literal sense, but only to the first diffusion of the gospel from Jerusalem; but if we extend the same principle of literal interpretation to the whole-Zion ploughed as a field, and the mountain of the house, named in iii. 12, the same as that named in chap. iv. 1,-we shall find no consistent and harmonious interpretation that has yet been fulfilled. Jerusalem was not exalted, but destroyed at the first diffusion of the gospel. The word rendered "top" might be rendered "head, or chief." See the marginal reading, Psalm cxxxvi. 6; and Dr. Mc Caul's able Sermon on this text. He justly says, "Words used figuratively, do not compel us to adopt an allegorical interpretation of the whole passage." He shews by the parallel passage (Isaiah ii. 1—3.) that the prediction refers to the literal Judah and Jerusalem.

(14.) Zephaniah iii. 14-20. Sing, O daughter of Zion! shout, O Israel! be glad and rejoice with all

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thine heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! the Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he has cast out thine enemy ; the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee, thou shalt not see evil any more. I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.

Where is the fulfilment literally or spiritually in any thing that is past? The Jews were not praised among all people at their return from Babylon; the judgments continue. The Jews still see evil. The captivity is not turned back. We have another clear testimony to their future restoration.

(15.) Zech. x. 6. I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them, for I will have mercy upon them, and they shall be as though I had not cast them off; for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them, and they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man. They shall remember me in far countries, and they shall live with their children and turn again. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria, and I will bring them again into the land of Gilead and Lebanon.

Zechariah prophesied after the chief return from Babylon, under Zerubbabel. His predictions however correspond to the predictions of those who wrote before, and lead our minds on to a future and larger return. Judah was restored, and was to be strengthened; Joseph and Ephraim have never yet been thus gathered from far countries, and resettled in the land of Gilead and Lebanon. The predictions of Zechariah, after the restoration, thus correspond to those who wrote before, and foretell a future return and settlement in their own land, which has not been accomplished.

(16.) Zech. xiv. The whole of this chapter, written after the return from Babylon, is manifestly yet unfulfilled. No such gathering of all nations against

Jerusalem to battle, no earthquake like that here described, joined with a capture of the city, and destruction of the nations and coming of the Lord, and his feet standing on the mount Olivet, and the lifting up of the plain, and all in Jerusalem being holiness to the Lord, have yet been accomplished; and for the accomplishing of these, the Jews must be restored to their own land.

(17.) Mal. iii. 12. All nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts.

This prediction, written 100 years after the restoration from Babylon, is in the same glowing colours as those written before that captivity. It is connected with promises of fruitfulness of the earth, in the 10th verse. Malachi therefore, after the restoration from Babylon, distinctly leads us to times yet to come, in which Judea shall be a delightsome land and the Jews be called what they have never yet been called, by all nations, Blessed.

Malachi contains also statements of the national sinfulness, which are wholly inconsistent with the fulfilment of those promises of national holiness connected with their final glorious restoration. Isaiah lx. 21; lxii. 12. The Jews are therefore yet to be restored from their present dispersion.

THE NEW TESTAMENT evidence will now be noticed. It is admitted; and when we consider the peculiar circumstances under which it was given, there are sufficient reasons for the fact, that it is less explicit on the subject of the restoration, and thus has proved a stumbling-block to us Gentiles, and given an occasion for the manifestation of our selfishness, unbelief and high-mindedness. Rom. xi. 20. But the New Testament by no means contradicts, or weakens our hope of the literal fulfilment of such promises as those which we have noticed. It was chiefly written while the Jews were still under a

season of grace (Luke xix. 41-44.) in their own land, and had not universally as a nation rejected their Messiah. It was chiefly given also for the guidance of the church, during the time of Israel's rejection, and it was unseasonable therefore to enter then at large into their restoration. The chief part of it was also written at the crisis when God was casting off the Jews for a season, and all the contrast views of a purely spiritual and heavenly dispensation, like that to the Gentiles, had to be unfolded, for the everlasting edification of mankind. But though these were the facts of that age, not only is there nothing to contradict the hopes which the Old Testament promises give, but there is much to strengthen them. The New Testament is by no means silent on the Jewish Restoration.*

Its very opening embodies, in the genealogy, all the history and hopes of the Old Testament. Its first words are―The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham; thus bringing into prominence his direct descent from those to whom the promises were given. And the close almost of the New Testament still holds Christ forth in this relation, as the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star.

In the sermon on the Mount, which is the full opening out of the divine constitution of the gospel, our Lord declares, Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth puss, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matt. v. 17, 18.

At our Lord's annunciation, it was explicitly promised, The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David, and he shall reign over the house of

*The reader is referred to Dr. McCaul's striking tract "The New Testament evidence that the Jews are not cast away," for fuller information on this part of the subject.

Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Luke i. 32. We wait for its fulfilment.

Zecharias, filled with the Holy Ghost, applies to Christ the fulfilment of the prophecies, spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began; and thus we have the Old Testament prophecies linked in with the New Testament for this end. As Zecharias states that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham. Luke i. 66–79. And this confirms the Abrahamic covenant.

Simeon declares that he is not only a light to lighten the Gentiles, but also the glory of thy people Israel. Luke ii. 32. Yet hitherto Christ has been chiefly unto the Jews a stumbling-block, (1 Cor. i. 23.) and a rock of offence. 1 Peter ii. 8.

Our Lord plainly promises a future sitting on the throne of his glory, and dominion over the twelve tribes; ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matt. xix. 28. And again he assures them, I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke xxii. 29, 30. We deny not the spiritual intervening kingdom, but we have no scriptural reason for excluding the future literal kingdom.

The very time of the rejection of Israel was indirectly predicted by a reference to the times of the Gentiles which Daniel had foretold. Dan. vii. 25; ix. 27; xii. 7. They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive of the Gentiles, and Jerusasalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Luke xxi. 24. The deso