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Messiah's personal reign upon the earth, and over the race of man still continued in the flesh. two examples must suffice.-Chapter xxxiv. "I will save my flock, and they shall be no more a prey."

"And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them."-" And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing.”—“ And they shall be no more a prey to the heathen."—" But they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.”—“ Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God, and ye my flock, the flock of my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God."-Chapter xxxv. contains the judgment of Mount Seir, and it is said "when the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate." Various passages might be adduced from the two following chapters: these are selected-" I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel." "And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one Shepherd."—" And they

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shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their childrens' children for ever, and my servant David shall be their prince for ever."-" And I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore."

"My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore."

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The latter chapters of Ezekiel which describe the temple and the apportioning of the inheritance, speak so plainly of Messiah's personal reign, as prince in the midst of his people, that the words can hardly admit of any other interpretation, and if other Scriptures did not make it manifest, that during this reign nations and people would be continued in the flesh, these chapters alone would be sufficient to establish the point. To trace the several passages would extend these quotations to an inconvenient length, the reader is requested, therefore, to examine the chapters for himself. He will find the Lord declares :-" the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of

Israel no more defile; neither they, nor their kings by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places."-"Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.""Then said the Lord to me; this gate shall be shut,. it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.-It is for the Prince, &c.""Ye shall divide it (the land) by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you: which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country, among the children of Israel: they shall have in heritance with you among the tribes of Israel.”

It will be necessary to consider the prophecies of Daniel more at large in a subsequent part of this inquiry, and for the present it is enough to point out the few passages following, as illustrative of the point under consideration: In the days of these kings (the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire resolves itself) the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed."-" And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, (people, strangers to God's covenant) but it shall break in pieces, "and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall

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stand for ever." Dan. ii. 44.- "Behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven,"—" and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him."-"The kingdom and 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. The last chapter declares this shall be when Michael the great Prince standeth up for his people : and the prophet is comforted with the assurance, that when this period arrives, he, Daniel," shall stand in his lot."

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The prophet Hosea declares, "the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterwards 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." Hos. iii. 4, 5.

Joel says,

"The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and

the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of

his people, and the strength of the children of Israel: so shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.”—“But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation; and I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion." Joel iii.

It is time we should now proceed to the examination of the New Testament Scriptures: and therefore the abundant testimony of Amos, of Obadiah, of Micah, of Nahum, of Habakkuk, of Zephaniah, of Haggai, of Zechariah, and of Malachi, must be passed over, with a request to the reader, that he will search and examine these prophecies for himself:-he will find in them plain and decisive testimony upon the point before us, and it seems necessary only to remind him, that Zech. xiv. declares that the feet of the Lord shall stand upon the Mount of Olives in that day; and Malachi iii.-that the Lord, the angel of the covenant, shall come suddenly to his temple, and sit there as a refiner's fire.

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