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 * 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 prophecy, 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, is certainly remarkable. 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 prophet) shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut "off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex "Ephraim." 66 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 66 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, lx. 8-10, 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 66 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 (6 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 Hasea, iii. 4, 5. and Poli Synopsin in locum. || Isaiah, Ixi. I-8. Isaiah, xliii. 13-16. idolatry of Nebuchadnezzar, exposed themselves to his utmost rage, and defied his utmost power; the punishment and humi liation of that proud monarch; the signal deliverance of the Jews, by Esther, from the hatred of Haman; and, above all, the prophetic wisdom, miraculous deliverance, and signal exaltation of Daniel-these, and many other facts of the same nature, illumined the gloom of that captivity with an effulgence of divine glory, which manifested the presence of Jehovah as the guardian king of Israel. But now for near eighteen hundred years this chosen people appear as if deserted by their God; no prophet has arisen among them, to instruct, to warn, or to console; no hero has appeared to rescue them. Banished from their temple and their country, persecution and distress every where have embittered their exile. So often have they been deluded to their destruction by false prophets and false Messiahs, they have sometimes almost despaired of beholding the object of their fondest hope, the long-promised and long expected Deliverer. True it is, the careful and religious observer, amidst such an apparent abandonment of this unhappy race, can discern the secret but constant, guardian hand of Providence, which preserves, nay multiplies, this extraordinary people, notwithstanding all their sufferings. But yet their situation exactly corresponds to this intimation, that they would seem, for a long period, to be forsaken of their God, and that their final deliverance would thus appear more signal and illustrious. The future restoration and establishment of the Jewish nation is not to be more distinguished from the past, by the circumstances which it is declared will prepare for and attend it, than by its unprecedented permanence and extent. The language of prophecy labours to express this permanence: "For a small "moment (saith God, by the prophet, to his people) for a small "moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I "gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a "moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on "thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer."* And again in language if possible more emphatic and impressive: "The ransomed "of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."+ 66 Isaiah, liv. 7—11. Ibid. xxxv. 10. But the most important, and to us the most interesting character of this restoration of the Jewish people, is its inseparable connexion with the extension of the Messiah's kingdom to the utmost bounds of the earth; the general reception of his religion both by Jews and Gentiles; and the consequent diffusion of virtue and piety, peace and happiness, over all the nations of the world. This is the uniform language, the grand object, the final result of the entire series of prophecy, from the primary promise that "the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the "serpent ;" and the covenant with Abraham, "that in his "seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed;"+ through every prophet, down to the declaration of the great apostle of the Gentiles, that "blindness in part is happened to Israel, until "the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel "shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion "the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." In the evangelic prophet Isaiah, the connexion of these two great events is repeatedly declared: it forms the opening and the close, the Alpha and the Omega, of his predictions. With what majesty does he call to Israel to hail the glory of that appearance of Christ; "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the dark(6 ness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people : “but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen npon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and "kings to the brightness of thy rising. Whereas thou hast "been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, "I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many gene"rations." And again, "As the earth bringeth forth her bud, "and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." And with equal clearness in the prophet Jeremiah: "Behold, the days come, "saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous "Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute In his days Judah shall bo and this is his name, 66 judgment and justice in the earth. "saved, and Israel shall dwell safely |