that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts."

No one will say this was ever intended to be received literally in reference to any period, or circumstances whatever; and, interpreted literally, as referring to converted Israel, it is manifestly incongruous in several particulars. Yet if it be not taken literally as referring to the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, after their conversion to Christianity, there is no ground for presuming that "Jerusalem" signifies "the Jerusalem that now is." Read the passage as alluding, primarily, to the prosperity just dawning on the Jews when the prophet wrote, and secondarily, as a metaphorical description of the general church in after ages, and all difficulties vanish.

These terms, so often used in the Old Testament, we are informed by the New, do not always mean the children of Abra

ham according to the flesh (Rom. ii. 28; iv. 11, 12; ix. 7, 8.), and therefore a promise made to the Old Testament church, to be fulfilled in New Testament times, should be interpreted with a due regard to this intimation. "Think not to say for yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." "For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." "For the promise that he (Abraham) should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith; for if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made of none effect; therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all — (you, Roman Gentiles, as well as myself and other believing Jews). As it is written, I have made

thee a father of many nations." Writing to the Philippians, who were Gentiles, Paul says, "For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, &c." The converted Gentiles are said to be branches of that olive-tree from which the Jews were broken off; and the Ephesians, said once to be "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise," are, as converts to Christianity, congratulated as " fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God." With these statements, agrees the comment of the Apostle Paul on Hosea i. 10, and ii. 23. Reading the Old Testament prophecy, uninstructed by the New Testament interpretation, we could do no other than conclude that the Jewish nation alone is addressed. In chap. ii. 23, it is, without the least apparent ambiguity, spoken of "her" (that is, "Israel," see 2d verse); but the Apostle Paul, Rom. ix. 24-26, explains it as referring to the Gentile believers-" us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, as He saith in Osea, "I will call them my people which were

not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God." Without this inspired application of the words to the people of God collected from amongst the Gentiles, it would seem like doing violence to the text, so to interpret it; for in the 6th and 9th verses of the first chapter, it is said, "I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. For ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." Then in the 23d verse of the second chapter, as the climax of an announcement of returning kindness to Israel, the prophet's" mother," (chap. ii. 2,) it is said, "And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God;" and the fourteenth chapter still more fully confirms the apparent propriety of understanding the words of literal Israel exclusively; yet we see this would be

wrong. Although literal Israel was primarily addressed, the secondary and more important reference was to the calling of the Gentiles.

"ZERUBBABEL."

Haggai ii. 21-23, "Speak to Zerubbabel the governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and I will make thee as a signet for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts." If this prophecy refer to "the latter days," "Zerubbabel" must, of necessity, describe some other person than the Zerubbabel addressed.

"Zech. iv. 6, 7, 9, " This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,