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"and place seems to have no effect in obliterating the remem"brance of the desolation. I often thought of the verse in the "Psalms, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.' They speak of Palestine as being close "at hand, and easily accessible. It is become an ordinance "of the Rabbins in some places, that when a man builds a new "house, he shall leave a small part of it unfinished, as an em"blem of ruin, and write on it these words, Zecher Lachorchan, "i. e. IN MEMORY OF THE DESOLATION."*

And undoubtedly the language of prophecy justifies their looking forward to some most signal and favourable change, some illustrious restoration of their nation to divine favour and temporal prosperity. This change, I have no doubt, will consist primarily in the conversion of the great bulk of the entire nation (the descendants of the Ten Tribes, as well as of the Two) to Christianity, and their consequent restoration to the privileges and the blessings of the chosen people of God. And I am persuaded, that this will also be attended by the return of the great body of the Jews to Palestine, and their settlement there, with the enjoyment of national independence and great temporal prosperity. But the belief of this last I would not contend for as a fact, or impose it as a tenet of faith: it does not appear so indisputable or so important as the former conclusion. As to the times and circumstances of either event, the Christian will, I conceive, also pronounce his opinion with great caution and reserve. In order to prove the reality of a superintending Providence, it may be sufficient, that prophecy, antecedent to the events, should produce a general conviction and expectation that some grand era in the Divine dispensations is rapidly approaching; and should exhibit such prophetic characters as will clearly prove the Divine foreknowledge and arrangement of all the circumstances attending it, after the event has taken place; though not such as to enable any individual to foretel, with precision, the year in which it is to begin, or the exact process by which it is to be introduced. To establish the truth of the prophecy, rather than to render uninspired individuals, at any particular period,

* Vide Buchanan's Christian Researches, 2d edit. p. 212.

This is the sentiment of the judicious and excellent Dr Buchanan; vide his Christian Researches concerning the Jews, p. 220, 2d edit.

prophets, seems to be the design of the sacred Scriptures.* Directed by these principles, let us proceed to examine the prophetic writings on these interesting topics.

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The return of the Jews to Palestine, their consequent reestablishment as a nation, and their restoration from a state of punishment for their national offences, to a state of reconciliation and favor with God, are generally combined in the prophetic writings. The earliest intimation of both is found in the last prophetic address of their inspired Lawgiver. He assures them "whenever thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, "thou and thy children, and shalt obey his voice with all thine “ heart, and with all thy soul; then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return " and gather thee from all the nations whither he hath scattered "thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts “ of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee : “ And he will bring thee into the land which thy fathers pos"sessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, "and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God ،، will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to “ love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy "soul, that thou mayest live."+ In this prediction we perceive the clearest declaration that the house of Israel is never to be excluded from the peculiar protection of Providence, never irrevocably to forfeit the privileges secured to them in the original covenant with their great ancestor, but is to be for ever preserved a distinct people; and that, however dispersed, whenever they returned to their God, they would certainly be restored to his favor, and as a nation re-established in their country. And it is not obscurely intimated that a period would come, when such a restoration from a wide-spread dispersion would take place, attended with a general conversion to sincere and vital religion, and a consequent enjoyment of national prosperity, far exceeding, both in degree and duration, any they had ever before experienced. This was such a disclosure of the divine purposes as was best adapted to the object which the revelation, at that time communicated to the inspired Lawgiver, was in

* Such was the feeling of Sir Isaac Newton. Vide Newton on the Apocalypse, Part II. chap. i. p. 249. Printed in Dublin, 1733.

+ Deut. xxx. 1—6.

tended to promote. While it enlarged on the immediate rewards and punishments annexed to immediate obedience or transgression, with that fulness and force necessary to make a due impression on the minds of a short-sighted and carnal people, it at the same time opened the more remote dispensations of Providence, sufficiently to prove to the most distant ages the clearness of the divine foreknowledge,* and the harmony of the divine economy.

The subsequent Prophets predict the final and permanent restoration of the Jews, in characters which render it impossible to confound it with that which took place at the close of the captivity in Babylon. Isaiah, who lived before that captivity, most clearly distinguishes them: "It shall come to pass (says "he) in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again a SECOND TIME to recover the remnant of his people." It was to be a

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* Dr Buchanan remarks, "The prophecy that the Jews should become an aston"ishment, and a proverb, and a by-word among all the nations, whither the Lord "shall lead thee,' must afford a contemplation to Infidelity, to the end of time. This "punishment they were to suffer, because they shed the blood of the Saviour of the "world. Now it is not surprising that Christians should reproach them for such a "crime. But how should we expect that they would be 'trodden down of the heathen "world,' who never heard of such a Saviour? Behold the Hindoo, at this day, "punishing the Jew, without knowing the crime of which he has been guilty!" Christian Researches, p. 193, 2d edit.

† Isaiah, xi. 10 to 16.-David Levi, in his Dissertation on the Prophecies, sums up the expectations he collects from the prophecies of Isaiah in fourteen particulars, vol. ii. p. 92-1. Vengeance on the enemies of the Jews by God-2. Espe"cially on Edom and Bolsrath, that is Rome-3. A general restoration of Israel"4. Particularly of the Ten Tribes-5. Conformable to that of Egypt-6. The ap"pointed time of Redemption will not be prevented even by the great number of "sinners amongst the Jews, who will be cut off-7. This Redemption is not to take place until after a great length of time-8. The Shechinah, and the spirit of pro"phecy, will be restored-9. The apostatized, and those who have quitted the nation, "will be restored to it-10. A king of the lineage of David, and called by his name, "will reign over the whole nation-11. They will never go into captivity any more "-12. The majority of the nations will acknowledge the unity of God, and earnestly "desire to be instructed in his Law-13. Peace will then reign in all the earth"14. About the time of the Redemption, the resurrection of the dead will take place; "a general one; but only of those who are most distinguished either for piety or "wickedness."-Vide vol. i. pp. 180 to 200.-Of these expectations, some are evidently extravagant and ill founded. But the very existence of any expectations of such a restoration is a phenomenon unparalleled in the history of any other people; and unaccountable, except by the influence of Revelation. And the extraordinary revival and diffusion of such expectations at this period, even by this very work, tainly remarkable.

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restoration from a captivity extending to the remote regions of the globe, where the dominion of Babylon was never felt, even "from the islands of the sea and the four corners of the earth.” It was to embrace, not merely the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which were restored after the Seventy years Captivity, but the posterity of the Ten Tribes, which had been carried captive so long before, and which have not yet been restored, or the place of their dispersion accurately ascertained. This prophecy declares, that God "will set up an ensign for the nations, and "will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the "dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." This event was to put an end to the disunion of the rival kingdoms of Judah and Israel; "The envy also of Ephraim (says the pro"phet) shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut "off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim."

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In another passage of the same Prophet, a circumstance is predicted to attend the restoration of the people of God, which it is utterly impossible to apply to the return from Babylon : "Who are these (asks the prophet, concerning the captives,) "who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their "windows? Surely (he answers) the isles shall wait for me, and "the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their "silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath

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glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy "walls; and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my "wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on "thee."* Whatever may be the accomplishment of these predictions, it is clear it has never yet taken place; the circumstances here described have never yet been realized they form a clear distinction between the restoration which has already occurred, and that to which we are here taught to look forward.

Another particular also appears to be intimated by the evangelical prophet, perfectly applicable to the present circumstances of the Hebrew nation, but not to those which had existed before the restoration from Babylon. It is intimated, that the divine interposition in their favour, which the prophet here particu

* Isaiah, Ix. S-10.

larizes, would take place after an apparently long cessation from any such interposition, after they had abode "many days with“out a king, and without a priest, and without a sacrifice, and "without an altar, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the "Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the "Lord and his goodness in the latter days."* After "the “Lord had taken rest, and reposed in his dwelling place, like a "cloud of dew in the heat of harvest :"+ after he had waited “that he might be gracious unto them;" after he had " a "long time holden his peace, and been still, and refrained him"self;" he is represented as, "going forth as a mighty man; "and crying aloud, and prevailing over his enemies: And I "will bring (says he) the blind by a way that they knew not; "and I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I "will make darkness light before them, and crooked things "straight: These things will I do unto them, and not forsake “ them.” §

With still greater clearness, Isaiah in another passage, declares it to be the peculiar office of Christ "to proclaim the ac"ceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our "God; and to give those that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." It is added, "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the "former desolations, they shall repair the waste cities, the deso"lations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and "feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and your vine-dressers. But ye shall be named "the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of "our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves." || Now the interval of seventy years captivity in Babylon could not be termed a desolation of "many generations ;" and it was marked by distinguished manifestations of God's wisdom and power in behalf of his chosen people, and his revealed law. The deliverance of the three illustrious martyrs, who, rather than join in the impious

*Hosea, iii. 4, 5. and Poli Synopsin in locum. Ib. xxx. 18.

Isaiah, xviii. 4. | Isaiah, Ixi. 1—8.

Isaiah, xliii. 13-16.