in the extreme part of the last stage of its duration and it is to be supplanted, not by the kingdom of the carnal Jews, we think; but by the kingdom of the saints and of heaven, which shall never pass away nor be destroyed. The Jews appropriate the promises and the prophecies to their own peculiar use, and among them this of Daniel the prophet, relative to the fifth monarchy: they suppose it will be a Jewish empire: but no Christian supposes any such thing, except with material qualifications. "They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ," Rom. v, 17. "The saints shall judge the world," 1 Cor. vi, 2. "We (Corinthians) shall judge angels," ibid. "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. It is not credible that the twelve tribes of Israel here mean the natural seed of Abraham only, any more than that Christ is the Saviour of those tribes only, or any more than it includes every individual of those tribes, both bad and good. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne :-to him will I give power over the nations," Rev. ii, 26, and iii, 21. "And we shall reign on the earth;"-" and they shall reign for ever and ever," Rev. v, 10, and xxii, 5. "And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him," Dan. vii, 27. These and a multitude of similar passages: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth,"-prove there is to be a final or fifth monarchy, in the earth, universal and eternal, under the sceptre of Messiah and the risen saints, according to the New Testament, but of Messiah and the restored Jews, according to the Old Testament. Wherefore, plainly, these people with two names and one king may be one and the same people, as much as the English and the British are one: for they have the same Messiah, the same empire, and the same eternal reign. They are called in the Old Testament Jews and Israelites: and in the Gospel they are called saints and Christians: their empire begins in the coming of Messiah in his glory, and is called in the Law and the Prophets Israel's return to the promised land; and is called in the Gospel the kingdom of heaven, the abode of the risen dead: and of this kingdom there is to be no end. Agreeing in these particulars, in one king, in one universal and eternal empire, "under the whole heaven," it seems impossible but that the citizens of the empire should be one people, notwithstanding they are called by various names. 1842.] The Hope of Israel. 203 To carry out this mode of reasoning still further, we briefly notice some of the peculiar beauties of contemplating "the hope of Israel" in the identity of the promises made to the Jews and Christians; in the oneness of their hopes, their king, and their fellow-citizens; the country of their dispersion, their promised land, and restoration, and the time of their deliverance. If we mistake not, Israel of the Old Testament embraces Christians of the New Testament; the promises to the former are promises to the latter; the hope of the promise, and the hope of Israel, are the same in both Testaments; and the promised empire and holy land are the same kingdom of Christ and of heaven in both Testaments: * Justin Martyr, speaking of Joshua as a type of Christ, says: "He gave them a temporal inheritance; but this Jesus, after the resurrection, will give us an eternal possession. Whence, from whatever country, whether slaves or freemen, believers in Christ know that they shall be together with him in that land, and possess it for an everlasting and incorruptible inheritance."—With Trypho, sec. 113, 135. St. Cyprian comments thus on the words of the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come:"We pray for the coming of that our kingdom, which has been promised to us by God, and was gained by the blood and passion of Christ, that we who have continued his subjects in the life below, may afterward reign in Christ's kingdom, according to his own promise and word, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world."" Thus he identifies the kingdom to come in the earth with the kingdom of the saints' inheritance in glory with Christ on his throne. The Assembly's Catechism interprets the prayer in the same manner. Likewise St. Jerome interprets it in the same manner, and adds this remark: "How much boldness and purity of conscience it requires to ask for the kingdom of God [to come] and not fear the judgment !" St. Cyril of Jerusalem, A. D. 350, says: "This Jesus who hath ascended cometh again from heaven, not from earth: and I say not from earth, because many antichrists are now to come from earth: for, as thou hast seen, many have already begun to say, I am Christ. And, besides, there is to come the abomination of desolation, usurping the name of Christ: but do thou look for the true Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, who is henceforth to come, not from the earth, but from heaven, appearing to all brighter than any lightning or other brilliance, with angels for his guard, that he may judge the quick and dead, and reign with a kingdom heavenly, eternal, and without end."-Oxf. Trans., p. 41. But what is more than all are the comments of the evangelist on the prophecy of Caiaphas: "And this spake he (Caiaphas) not of himself; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad," John xi, 51, 52. The above follows the resurrection of Lazarus, and shows how the holy people will be gathered and restored to the promised land," not of that nation only," but of all "the children of God." 204 The Hope of Israel. [April, the two Testaments being two witnesses whose language differs, while their testimony is the same; the future things spoken by the prophets to the Jews being preached by the gospel to the Gentiles. This seems to be "the testimony of Jesus" and "the spirit of prophecy," while the other doctrine, that the Jews in the flesh are to be the masters of the world, seems to be rank and intolerable Judaism. The identity of the promise and the hope of Israel with Christianity. 66 Abraham, "the father of us all," Rom. iv, 16, was a type of Christ his chosen seed and faithful are a type of Christians. The promise to Abraham and his seed, (" which is Christ,") is the inheritance of the land; "that he should be the heir of the world," Rom. iv, 13. And Christians have assurance: If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." That Abraham should be the heir of the world seems to be too much, except through his seed, "which is Christ:" and whatever Abraham inherits through Christ, all true believers will: therefore, the Jews have no pre-eminence under the Christian dispensation the promise to Abraham is a promise to all who believe; and peculiar to the true Israel, but not to the circumcised in the flesh only. The promise of Canaan to Abraham was typical and he so understood it; for he died in the faith, hoping to receive it in a better resurrection. He did not realize the promise, except by faith; nor did Gideon, nor Barak, nor Jephtha, Samson, David, Samuel, nor the prophets, "of whom the world was not worthy;" though they ruled, reigned, lived, died, and were buried in Canaan, and through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought wonders, and obtained promises: "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect," Heb. xi, 39, 40. Therefore, they must rise, as Christ did, to receive their promised inheritance. As it was with Abraham and the patriarchs, Samuel and the prophets, and David and the kings, it will probably be with all Jews were they restored to Palestine to-day, they could not have it more than Jephtha, Samuel, and David had it: but as their possession was not the promised possession; neither would the possession by the modern Jews be the promised possession. As those died in the faith, in order to come into the land of promise, so must the modern Jews, though they reigned in Jerusalem again, and all nations obeyed them; they must still die in the faith of a better resurrection, before they 1842.] The Hope of Israel. 205 could inherit the promised land. And as it was with Christ, it must surely be with all Christians. His hope was not in this world; and their promised inheritance belongs not to time. The promises to Abraham and to Christ are not paid in this world. Those who inherit with them will not expect it in this mortal life, but in the resurrection and eternal life. Except the present race of Jews have a promise different from their father Abraham, their king David, and their prophet Samuel, (which they do not pretend, and we do not believe,) they too must place their hope, where "the hope of Israel" lies, in the resurrection of the dead, and in the habitable world to come. Although they should be by a miraculous power brought back in the eyes of all nations, the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, leading their march, they could not, they could not possess Judea more effectually than the judges and David did they must have a new promise, or they have none in this world; for even such restoration would not give them more of Palestine than David had, who yet died in the faith. And Israel, though restored in the flesh, must still, like him, die in the faith, in order to come into their promised inheritance. All who rightly practice infant baptism are wont to regard the promise made to Abraham and his seed as made to them also, and to their children. Therefore, the promises to Abraham and his seed ("which is Christ," and his faithful followers in all ages and nations) are one and identical; there is no difference: they belong not to this world of sorrow and death, but to the Canaan of joy and eternal life. The Old and New Testament church and covenant are one and the same, in Abraham and his seed. The identity of "the true hope of Israel," whether in Jews, or in Christians, may be inferred from the identity of the promises on which that hope rests, and of the King who gave and who will redeem the promises. We seem to have demonstrated the identity of the promises to Abraham and his seed "which is Christ," and to his people called in the New Testament, Christians, but in the Old Testament, Israel. We next observe this Identity in Messiah, the King of Jews and Christians. Abraham, "the father of us all," saw Christ's day, and was glad; (John viii, 56;) because in that day he will receive his inheritance of faith, and Israel will realize his hope. The King on the throne will in that day reward all his faithful, from Adam to the last man changed at the Lord's coming. The Jews acknowledge Messiah to be their Deliverer, their Lawgiver, and their everlasting King; 206 The Hope of Israel. [April, but they do not confess Jesus to be the Messiah, albeit, when he comes again they will cry: "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."-Is Christ divided? Is he the King of the natural Jews only? Does he speak a gracious promise to the circumcised only, when he says: "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;-their King shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them?" Micah ii, 12, 13. "The Lord shall utter his voice before his army, his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is very great and terrible; who can abide it?” Joel ii, 11. His army is not a carnal host of natural Jews; his camp is the camp of the saints; and the day of the Lord is the great day of judgment: who can abide it in the flesh ?" 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 judgment and justice in the earth: in his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up, and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven. them; and they shall dwell in their own land," Jer. xxiii, 5. Christians know who is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS;" that he is the King of Israel, and "the Saviour of all men," not specially of the Jews, but "specially of them that believe," 1 Tim. iv, 10. And were Messiah to reign over the carnal Jews without including Christians, then the Jews' hope, and the King of the Jews, would seem not to be Jesus of Nazareth, our hope and our King. But who that believes in the New Testament can believe this? Christ is not the King of the natural seed of Abraham at all: they are Ishmaelites, children of the Egyptian Hagar, a bondwoman; and, except they be born again, they cannot inherit with the sons of the free woman, which is Jerusalem above, the true holy land. Gal. iv. To that land Christ will lead his chosen and faithful, "the seed of the house of Israel," and they shall dwell in their own heavenly land. He is the King of Israel, and "the hope of Israel."—" And we declare unto you GLAD TIDINGS, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again," Acts xiii, 32, 33. By this word the Holy Spirit stamps the promise made of God unto the fathers with the seal of the |