IN the wonderful providence of God, that land, which is the centre of all lands; which was anciently so abundant in cattle, and so full of inhabitants, is now comparatively destitute of both. The Lord hath removed men far away, and there is an utter forsaking in the midst of the land. But He who hath thus accomplished so far his threatened punishment upon backsliding Israel and treacherous Judah, hath equally foretold their restoration, the restoration of both Israel and Judah, and of Israel first: and that restoration shall not be to spiritual blessings alone, although without these the other cannot truly be enjoyed. He will sow the house of Israel and the

house of Judah, not only with the good seed of the word, which is indeed of paramount importance, but He will sow them also with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. Even this shall come to pass as well as the other, notwithstanding human unbelief, and any unfavourable appearances in the past or the present. That which is appointed shall, in the course of God's good providence, most assuredly take place.

The Shepherd of Israel seemed to have utterly forsaken his flock, and entirely left them to their wanderings and dispersion: But not so; He watched over them still; He was correcting them in their wanderings, and

disappointing them in their plans of opposition to his goodness, in order that He might work for them good in their latter end. The dispensations of his providence, however painful, have all been tending towards the benefit of those who have been rightly exercised thereby; and shall be consummated in glory and blessing, full and everlasting.

As the Wonderful, the God of Providence, He watched over "to pluck up "his people, even the whole house of Israel, that He planted in the good land He had promised to their fathers. It was with a mighty hand that He brought them out of Egypt, and cast out the nations before them, and gave them to inherit a land flowing with milk and honey. But they forgat the hand that fed them, and misused the favours he bestowed upon them: so He plucked them up, and cast them far off among the Gentiles, and dispersed them throughout the countries; and they were to appearance lost to that land, and even to themselves; and so have they remained until the end of the seven times, during which Israel was to be outcast from the land, and Judah in painful subjection to the Gentiles.

As the Counsellor, the God of Redemption, also, He hath been watching over them "to break down."

He

hath broken down the middle wall of partition that stood between those that were cast afar off among the Gentiles, and these, the Jews, that were left near. The ordinances which were commanded to be observed, according to the covenant which was made with their fathers when they came up out of Egypt, have been removed. There has, for about eighteen centuries, been no opportunity of fully attending to them, even by those who were the most inclined to trust in them.- Having rejected Him who is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, the Jews have, in the providence of God, been deprived of all national ground of trusting in their

own righteousness, according to the law. May they soon see for what purpose it is that they have been thus dealt with; and know the kindness of our God, in breaking down that wall which they would have made a wall of separation, not only between themselves and the Gentiles, but between Moses's disciples and the Redeemer of Israel.

As the Mighty God, the God of Creation, also, He hath been watching over them "to throw down" the images, the work of men's hands, which not only by ancient Israel were set up, but by their modern descendants, called Christians. Along with their idols, how utterly cast down, have become those idolaters, professing Christianity, in the very land of Israel itself! They also have been cut off, or are trampled under foot, by the proud Mahommedan oppressor; who was given a commission, not only to throw down the idols of the heathen, but to pour contempt upon the shame of those who profess to have salvation through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; but whose trust is not in "the Mighty God" who made heaven and earth; but in a god which themselves have made-a wheaten god-a wafer the work of men's hands,-before which they bow, and upon which they call for deliverance: which, in the mass, is said by the Romanists to be offered up for them in sacrifice—a sacrifice for the sins of both the living and the dead! After which, this god is swallowed by them as is a morsel of bread. This deep degradation hath not only been the casting down of nominal Christians in the land, but of many nations out of it. Again and again hath the Mighty God visited this insult to his divine majesty, with the throwing down of our own nation, even as He hath honoured our open protest against all such abominations, by exalting us, since that protest, above all the nations of the earth. May God forbid that our fall should be with Babylon! Certain it is that the idols He will utterly abolish. May our experience

in the past be for safety in the future!

He who promised to be as a Father to Israel, hath yet been watching over them, as if "to destroy" even his firstborn Ephraim, and make all the memory of him and his companions to perish. They were carried away into a land of forgetfulness. They have been sought for, and could not be found; or if it was thought they were found, as in the North American Indians, or the Nestorians, it was as perishing from off the face of the earth -as being manifestly in a state of destruction. The hope of finding the lost children of Rachel, the fatherless, who were to find mercy in the everlasting arms, hath ever, as it was approached, fled from the grasp of the anxious inquirer: or, if it could satisfy the individual discoverer, it could satisfy but few beside. The Jews were known, but evidently under severe rebuke; and as perishing, both in the land and among the Gentiles, in much misery, and generally in deep disgrace, with, seemingly, no smile of their Heavenly Father shining upon their weary way. The people bearing the name of Israel have not known the love of Him who said, "I am a Father to Israel;" and the people of whom the everlasting Father saith, "Ephraim is my first-born " have been called "the Lost!"

The Prince of Peace, the King of Salem, hath also seemed to be, as the God of Providence, watching over only "to afflict," and that the very capital of his expected kingdom.Truly Zion hath been afflicted and smitten evermore.-Of all cities, it hath, perhaps, the least seen that which is expressed in the name Salem, Peace. What affliction from without, and mutual destruction from within, were there at the time of its being besieged by the Romans! And then again how entire was its destruction by the Persians! The Christians, as they were called, had only time after that destruction to prepare it as a prize for the Saracens; and then came the Crusaders, establishing their h

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kingdom of Jerusalem: since which it has once and again been lost and won by the kings of the south and the north; and now the place appointed to be the throne of the Lord, is still in a position the most critical. The oppressor is the judge-the hand to defend, is that which would spoil her. Her inhabitants are of too heterogeneous a character to give any great promise of internal prosperity or peace; and there is as little of it from without. Plunder, oppression, and strife, have been fast desolating the land, and wearing out the inhabitants.

Thus did the Lord pluck up the whole house of Israel, break down the Jewish economy, and cast down the idols. Thus hath the name of Ephraim perished among the heathen, out among whom they were cast; and thus has the place of the name of the Lord of hosts been of all places the most afflicted evermore. But is it to continue so always? No. The mystery of all this wondrous working is to be disclosed. It is to be seen that the plucking up of Israel was, that, being planted in other lands, their seed being in many waters, they might spread out unto all the ends of the earth, and fill the face of the world with fruit.The breaking down of the Jews, and depriving them of the means of observing that ceremonial law, in which even the disciples of Christ were too disposed to trust, and the dispersing them among their brethren who had been cast afar off, was that He might make of the twain one new man, so

making peace. The throwing down of the idols, and therewith of idolatrous Christian confederacies, whether in the east or the west, has been that Israel might exalt their King, the God of heaven and earth; and might, with Him, be exalted-Searching into His works, in place of worshipping their own, they were to acquire power for the production of works of usefulness: "He hath shewed His people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen."

The making of the name of Ephraim to perish, the depriving them of

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their crown of pride,their presumptuous glorying, as being the first-born, upon whose head-upon the crown of whose head, the blessing was to fall, was, that they might, in all humility as common Gentiles, and as having no confidence in the flesh, take refuge in Christ, and find their title to blessing only in Him to whom all praise is due. And the afflicting of Zion as in rebellion against her King, or as seeking refuge under other lords, makes more manifest the truth of our Messiah's claim to the throne of his father David; and the folly of refusing to allow that claim, either on the part of Jew or Christian. And the contrast, of that afflicted state of Zion, to her condition as inhabited by a people waiting for the coming forth of the King, and presenting unto Him their willing homage, and prayers for his return, will bring out into still more striking manifestation the sons of the Living God, as witnessing of his grace and his glory, in appointed time and place, the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion.

God hath indeed wrought wondrously in accomplishing the threatened judgments; and this he gives as a pledge that the promises will be fulfilled with equal verity and fulness of accomplishment; so that, however wondrous the things may be which He hath promised to do for his people in their latter end, we need not doubt of their literal fulfilment. In that land which hath been so long lying waste, the promise shall be found good to the people that were supposed to be lost, Joel ii. 26. "And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be ashamed." Yea, and better than all, the fulness of the blessing shall be poured upon the whole body of the people, as truly as on the few disciples upon whom the Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost. Many dark days have come since; but all these were foreknown and foretold. The desolations are accomplished: this cannot be denied. As undeniably

must the promise stand sure," So will I watch over you to build and to plant, saith the Lord."

Then the sin of Backsliding Israel, in seeking to be like the nations around them, will no longer be visited upon their posterity, as being left undistinguished among the nations: but "All that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed the Lord hath blessed!" The sin of treacherous Judah, in denying their King, and through that denial courting the favour of a heathen monarch, will no longer be visited upon their children, by their being dealt with treacherously by all the heathen powers, among whom they have been wandering in judicial blindness. Israel shall be acknowledged of the Lord, and Judah shall acknowledge their King and this shall be in Zion. "He will in this mountain destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken." So shall it come to pass that, "In those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge." But still there shall be no cause for presumptuous rebellion against the divine government:

-The individual sinner shall be punished, although his posterity shall escape. Sin shall be immediately punished in the person of the guilty, so that it will not contaminate the nation, nor be propagated from sire to son, as before-"But every one shall die for his own iniquity." So will He purge out the sinners from among them. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.' As truly as the Providence of our God hath proceeded according to the word in the former dispensation, so will it in that which is to succeed. Israel then will live as immediately under the eye of their God.

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is, and which was, and which is to come; the Source and Giver of life; "The Lord is his name." ― But how is the Blessing to be obtained? How are the Seals to be opened? How the Book to be unclosed, in the reading of which the blessing is more especially promised? It is neither by indolent waiting, nor by anxious study, of the word itself; and far less, the writings of fallible men. The Lord hath prescribed the way. "Call unto me, and I will answer thee." There must be equally an earnest calling unto the Lord, and a careful attention to the answer he vouchsafes, in whatever way He is pleased to speak. There must be simplicity of mind in seeking, first, the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. So will he fulfil his word, "and shew thee great and mighty," or hidden, "things, which thou knowest not." We must be convinced of our own previous ignorance if we would really have the teaching of God; and of our own weakness, if we would see the might of God put forth in our deliverance and blessing. "The meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his way."

What immediately follows appears to be in the order of the Seven Seals already dwelt upon, pages 25-56.

In order to enter into the mystery of Divine Providence, and see the appropriateness of the language used in divine revelation, it is necessary to understand, how God might be the God of Israel, even when destroying the Jews: who had magnified themselves against Israel, rejoiced in their expulsion from the land, and exclusion from the covenant mercy promised to the fathers. Let us clearly distinguish between Israel and Judah (the inhabitants of Jerusalem) when we read such words as these: "For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the Kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword. They come to fight with the Chaldeans; but it is to fill them with the dead bodies

of men, whom I have slain in mine anger, and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city." Thus, in the appointment of God, the city, as possessed by the Jews, was given to the spoil, and the people to the sword. And this destruction came upon it in their hands, not only from the Babylonians, but still more cruelly from the Romans, whose sovereignty they preferred to that of their rightful King, whom they delivered up to be crucified.

But as truly as all the threatened judgment hath come upon the Jews, will God, as the God of Israel, accomplish the promise to Jerusalem, ver. 6: "Behold I will bring it health and cure." He, the good Physician, hath come, and been rejected of Jerusalem; but he is not to be turned back from his purpose. He died that we might live; and he is exalted, " to give repentance to Israel and the remission of sins:" and through Him, the great Redeemer, our most gracious Saviour, the Salvation shall be enjoyed by his people Israel, and this will be manifested even in Jerusalem. The Lord will do it, as He hath said, " And I will cure them." Then will the vail which hath been spread over all nations be removed-then will the book be opened, as here it is said, " And I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth." Then will be the time of Israel's Salvation: of which Salvation He who hath come to wash us from our sins in his own blood, and to make us unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, will be seen, as indeed the cause. This is written in his very name Jesus-He shall save his people from their sins.(Compare herewith the First Seal, pages 25-29.)

Had

Second-The return of Israel's captivity is recognised to be to the enjoyment of peace, ver. 7, as before intimated in the Second Seal. only the captivity of Judah been spoken of, the promise might, by some, have been regarded as fulfilled in the Jews' return from Babylon. But