THE STRANGER'S SACRIFICE ACCEPTED.

"ALSO the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant: even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar." During the captivity of the Jews, many of the heathen became proselytes to their religion; indeed, so considerable was the number of Gentile converts, that God made a revelation in their favour through the mouth of his prophet Isaiah. Though they were not admitted to similar privileges, either spiritual or civil, with the stock of Abraham, they were nevertheless encouraged by the prophetic declaration of a chosen minister of God, that in process of time many other Gentiles of different nations would be added to his church, when both Jews and Gentiles would forsake a less perfect for a purer worship, and become "one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ the righteous." The words of the prophecy evidently have a primary reference to the temple at Jerusalem, in which there was a place set apart for the worship of proselytes, called "The court of the Gentiles." But they have also an ulterior reference to the gospel dispensation. The object of the artist has been to exhibit the picture conveyed to the prophet's mind when under the influence of the Divine afflatus. The mountain is an imaginary representation of the holy hill of Zion, upon which two proselytes have made an acceptable sacrifice unto the Lord. Seeing that the Deity has vouchsafed to receive it, and overcome by a simultaneous emotion of reverence, they have retired to a distance, and are lifting up their hands in devout acknowledgment. The universality of the Divine dispensations is here prefigured; for "God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him."