nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known." (xxviii. 36.) This then clearly refers to that captivity when, "in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem and besieged it; and the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand." Dan. i. 1, 2. 2 Chronicles xxxvi. 6. 2 Kings xxiv. 14, &c. This part of the prediction had at that time its complete fulfilment; while it cannot at all apply to the captivity which afterwards followed their overthrow by the Romans; for they had then no king to be carried captive.

But we have also another distinctive mark by which the prediction in the above verse is fixed to the Babylonish captivity, and by which it is also rendered inapplicable to that which they afterwards suffered. They, together with their king, were at this time to be carried only into "a nation;" while the restoration promised in the conclusion of the prediction must refer to their subsequent dispersion, which is afterwards predicted. (xxviii. 64.) For it is a restoration "from all the nations," "from the utmost parts of heaven. (p. 29.) See also Jeremiah xvi. 14, 15. to the same purpose.

I would further observe, that the expression "if any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee," &c. implies that the return will not be of a part of Israel, but of all;-not one will be left behind. It is not, by any commentator that I know of, asserted, that the whole of Israel returned after the Babylonish captivity: they only contend for a part; but insist that that part may be considered as sufficient to justify its being viewed as the whole nation, forasmuch as the rest might have returned if they would. See also Isaiah xliii. 5-7, where every one of his, the Lord's sons and daughters, are to be brought from far, and from the ends of the earth.

But, farther than this, it is said, that after the return, spoken of in this prophecy, to the land of their fathers, the Lord "will do them good, and multiply them ABOVE thy fathers." On this subject Mr. Hirschfield, missionary to the Jews, says "The Jews never afterwards became so numerous as they had been under David and Solomon; though in the restoration they were to be "multiplied above their fathers." In connection with this passage, and in reference to the great increase of the Jewish people, consider the language of Hosea i. 10, 11.—“The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea,

* See his "Strictures on the past History and future prospects of the Jews." page 31.

which cannot be measured nor numbered,""&c. To which place may be added Isaiah xlix. 20.-"The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell."-And see likewise Jeremiah xxxiii. 22.

Mr. Hirschfeld further notices the sixth verse of this prophecy, where it is said "And the Lord thy God shall 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;" and remarks on it, that this circumcision of heart was certainly no characteristic of the nation in Stephen's time, since he addresses them: "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do ALWAYS resist the Holy Ghost." Acts vii. 51.

The next prophecy which I shall note is Isaiah xi. 11—16. The former verses are allowed to be descriptive of the millennium, or at least of the period of the glorious rest of the church, when "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb," &c. (v. 6.) "and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea;" (verse 9.) a period which certainly has never yet been witnessed. "And it shall come to pass in

that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again THE SECOND TIME, to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, &c. and from the islands of the sea;* and he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth, &c.""And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." In this remarkable passage I need only briefly point to two circumstances, which the words marked in italics and capitals will have already prepared the reader for. First, we can entertain no reasonable question whether the return from Babylon be meant: that was only the first time the Lord set his hand to recover his people; whereas this is expressly stated to be "the second time." Secondly, it is attended by a miraculous drying up of the streams of the Egyptian river and sea by a mighty wind;t and that we may not hesitate as to its literality, we are assured that it is to be in like manner that the same sea and the river Jordan were dried up when the people

* Mr. Scott says "All the regions separated from Asia are generally meant; and here the British isles are included."

† A similar prophecy is contained in Isaiah xxvii. 12.

came out of Egypt. Mr. Scott says on this place-"I presume not to prophesy from the prophecies; but the literal restoration both of Israel and Judah is clearly predicted."

In Jeremiah xxiii. 1-8, there is a prophecy in which mention is made of a gathering of the flock of the Lord, &c., from the north country, and from all countries whither they were driven. (v. 5, 8.) They are assured that they shall "fear no more" but Israel and Judah shall dwell safely." (v. 4, 6,) and this particular restoration and salvation is to be accompanied by a manifestation to them of the Redeemer-the "RIGHTEOUS BRANCH," who shall reign and prosper. (v. 5.) A writer in the Investigator of Prophecy (vol. iv. p. 225.) pertinently observes, that to get rid of the force of this prophecy with reference to to a future literal restoration of Israel it must be shewn that the BRANCH was manifested to Israel and Judah, at the time of the return from Babylon; and that that return was from the north country and from all other countries, whither they have been driven. If this cannot be done it must be shewn, that in the time of Christ, when the Branch did appear, there was a return from captivity of the character above mentioned; that the Branch then "reigned" over the house of Israel; and that Israel continued from that time to dwell safely and in their own

land.

Another prophecy of Jeremiah (chap. xxxi.) may next be appealed to. He prophesied just when they were filling up that measure of their iniquity which brought upon them wrath to the uttermost, and lived into the period of the Babylonish captivity itself. At verses 5, 6, however he says: "Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant and shall eat them as common things. For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion, unto the Lord our God.' Now Israel did not, at the first return, plant vines at Samaria: the people who inhabited there were Cutheans, under Sanballat, and were hostile to the Jews. (See Nehemiah ii. iv. vi.) And as the people who inhabited the territory of Ephraim were thus inimical to the Jews, so neither did they ever encourage any to go up to Zion; but on the contrary, they built a temple on Mount Gerizim, in opposition to the temple at Jerusalem. To this rivalry of the two places the woman of Samaria apparently alludes, John iv. 20. And as the circumstances just adverted to prove that the prophecy refers to some future period; so the planting vines at Samaria plainly bespeak that it is of a literal character. Moreover, at verse 12 it is said:-"They shall come and sing in the height VOL. II.-16

of Zion," &c.-"and, they shall not sorrow any more at all:" whereas their sorrows and troubles have been more abundant since their return from Babylon than ever they were before; and they have even yet a tribulation to go through, which will be without a parallel in the history of the world. See Daniel xii. 1.

I pass over, for the present, various prophecies contained in Ezekiel from chapters xxviii. to xxxix.-the four last of these especially, as the repetition of similar testimony will, I conceive, be unnecessary after what has been adduced. I will only here farther observe, that the division of the land, and the description of the cities and temple given in chapters xl. to xlviii. are quite different, as is universally admitted, from any thing which was accomplished after the return from Babylon; and therefore in the judgment of most it remains to be yet fulfilled. And there is another circumstance likewise worthy of notice, in regard to the temple, &c. described in Ezekiel, viz. that no individual has as yet been enabled to produce any thing like a consistent interpretation of it upon the mystical or symbolical principle. There are some things in that long description which appear to invite a mystical interpretation; but there are others which can in no wise be thus explained, and which commentators are consequently obliged to pass slightly over, or to leave them as they find them. The reader who wishes to see how completely all commentators have been at fault on this matter, need only turn to Mr. Scott's introductory observations on the fortieth chapter, and his subsequent treatment of particulars. We shall have occasion however to return to this subject presently.

Passing on to Hosea iii. 4, 5, we have the following prophecy-"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, 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." There are two points of considerable importance in this passage: viz. 1. The condition of Israel during the time of their affliction related therein. 2. The period of their deliverance from it. In regard to the first point it will be easy to shew that it was not their condition during the Babylonish captivity; and in regard to the second, that the period named is not that of their return from Babylon.

First then as regards their affliction: they are to abide many days without a sacrifice, image, ephod, or teraphim. Mr. Scott,

after rightly explaining their abiding without a sacrifice, thus proceeds: "They have also remained without an image, ephod, or teraphim,-without any of those idolatrous observances and apparatus, to which they were so generally attached when this prophecy was uttered." Notwithstanding the opinion of that able commentator, the sense here attached to the words is manifestly inconsistent with scripture. For the prophecy regards, not Judah in particular, but Israel in the general; and it is declared of them, when they should be scattered among the nations-"There ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." Deut. iv. 28, 29; see also Deut. xxviii. 36, 64, and Jer. xvi. 13. The termination of this affliction is evidently the same; viz. their seeking the Lord: but the affliction itself is so manifestly contradictory to Mr. Scott's interpretation, that we are compelled to seek a meaning of the terms image, ephod, and teraphim more according with the description of their condition in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. Jerome and Grotius render the word nay by altar, instead of image, and they contend that the word teraphim, (as does Calvin) is one of a middle nature, and may signify the cherubim from whence came the answer of God. The Septuagint version renders the passage-ουδε οντος θυσιαστηρίου, ουδε ιερατείας, ουδε δηλων or, in some copies, nos-which is literally, without an altar, without a priesthood, and without manifestations. This consists with their being without a sacrifice; all which is spoken of in scripture as a judicial infliction; whereas to be without idolatrous worship is no affliction, but on the contrary, to be given up to it, is the mark of God's great anger. See Rom. i. But the house of Israel was not, strictly speaking, in this plight during the Babylonish captivity. They were indeed removed from their temple and altar; but they had prophets among them, as Daniel, Ezekiel, Obadiah, and Jeremiah into a considerable part of it; and very extraordinary manifestations of God in visions to the two former of these prophets; as also of his power and mercy toward them shewed by his dealings with Esther, Mordecai, Daniel, &c. by whose means he protected them and caused them to enjoy much favour, and their religion greatly to increase. It was not till after the return from Babylon that those who remained in captivity lost entirely those advantages here named; so that the best of them, who practise not idolatry, are without any manifestation of God's being among them; and the generality of the ten