means of their preservation; for the interests of the various princes were so opposed to each other, that when one persecuted, another favoured, and granted them an asylum. Hence it is manifest, that their dispersion among so many nations is not a sign that God hath cast them off entirely, but, on the contrary, is the strongest apparent proof, that they are under the immediate providence of God, who carefully watches over and preserves them, amidst the numerous enemies that surround them, till the coming of the TRUE MESSIAH, when they will be all gathered together, and return to their own land, where they will serve God in truth and sincerity, as written in the law which God commanded his servant Moses. This testimony of a learned and pious Jew is curious and valuable. And we have only to regret, that he was unable to distinguish "THE TRUE MESSIAH" in the person of OUR LORD JESUS, between his first advent in humiliation and suffering, and his next, in triumph and glory, as foretold by Moses and all the prophets, Luke xxiv. 25-27.-May this work, under GOD, contribute to open the eyes of his nation!

III. OF THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS.

This also is clearly foretold by Moses.

Levit. xxvi. 44.

"Nevertheless for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am THE LORD THEIR GOD," &c.

Deut. xxx. 1. "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,

2. "And shalt return unto the LORD THY GOD, and shalt obey his voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart and with all thy soul;

3. "That then THE LORD THY GOD will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee; and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither THE LORD THY GOD hath scattered thee:

4. "If any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee.

5. “And THE LORD THY GOD will bring thee unto the land

which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.

6. And THE LORD THY GOD will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD THY GOD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul: THAT THOU MAYEST LIVE” [or inherit eternal life,] Luke x. 25.

Here the restoration of the Jews to their own country is plainly predicted, at the destined end of their captivity. But it should seem, that their conversion to CHRIST, is to be the preliminary condition of their acceptance with GOD, for so long as their nation continues in a state of rebellion against CHRIST, they are not worthy to be redeemed.-And in conformity with Moses, OUR LORD declared to the unbelieving Jews, " Lo, your house [OF THE LORD] is left unto you desolate: for I say unto you, ye shall not see ME henceforth, until ye can say, [with hearty repentance and true faith,] Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD," Matt. xxiii. 38, 39.

The following reflections, from an excellent French work, Principes de la Foy Chretienne, Tom. I. c. 16, are selected from a copious extract, translated by West, in his evidences of our Lord's resurrection, p. 402.

"The Jews, punished and dispersed, bear witness to JESUS CHRIST. The Jews, recalled and converted, will render Him a testimony still more awful and striking. The Jews, preserved by a continual miracle, that they may preserve to JESUS CHRIST the stock and succession of those who shall one day believe in HIM, bear witness to Him continually.

"Had they been only punished, they would have proved his justice only: had they been only preserved, they could have proved nothing but his power: had they not been reserved to worship Him one day, they could not have proved his mercy and veracity, nor have made Him any reparation for their outrageous crimes [in rejecting and crucifying Him.]

"Their dispersion proves that He is come, but they have rejected Him: their preservation demonstrates that He hath not rejected them for ever, and that they shall one day believe in Him; and they declare by both, that He is the Messiah and the promised SAVIOUR: that their miseries proceed from their not having known him; and that the only hope they have left, is, that they shall one day come to the knowledge of Him."

"The change will be in their persons, and not in his religion,

that will remain what it is, but they will then begin to see it. JESUS CHRIST will take away the veil that is upon their eyes, but He will be the same: He will cure their deafness, but He will speak the same things:" but as Moses himself foretold, "GOD hath not yet given them a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day," Deut. xxix. 4. And the observation of Paul is still true, that "partial blindness hath befallen Israel; nor shall it be entirely removed till the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in," with their conversion, Rom. xi. 25.

IV. OF THE PUNISHMENT OF THEIR FOES.

Jacob, in his prophecy, figuratively foretold the retaliation of divine vengeance upon the persecutors of the Jews, Gen. xlix. 11. Balaam concisely foretold it, in his last prophecy, Numb. xxiv. 24; and Moses more plainly:

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Deut. xxx. 7. And THE LORD THY GOD will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and upon them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.

8. "And thou shalt return * [from thy captivity] and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his conmandments, which I command thee this day."

But it was reserved for the ensuing Ode, to describe these judgments in all their terrors.

V. THE DIVINE ODE, OR MOSES' SONG.

These historical prophecies of Moses, growing clearer and brighter towards the close of his life, are crowned by a poetical composition of the most transcendent excellence; worthy indeed

• Jeremiah appears to have unfolded this prophecy in the following:

"Fear not thou, my servant Jacob,

Neither be dismayed, Israel:

For lo, I will bring thee safe from far,

And thy seed from the land of their captivity,

And Jacob shall return, and be at rest;

He shall be secure, and none shall make him afraid.

"Fear not then, my servant Jacob,

Saith the Lord; for I am with thee:

Wherefore I will make a full end of all the nations

Whither I have driven thee;

But I will not make a full end of thee,

But will correct thee in measure,

And not make thee altogether desolate," Jer. xlvi. 27, 28.

of its author, THE GOD OF ISRAEL: who dictated it to Moses, shortly before his death, and commanded him to teach it to the children of Israel," That it might be a witness for HIM against them," in future times, "when many evils and troubles should befal them, for breaking his covenant:" "For," added THE LORD, "It shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed."-" Moses, therefore, wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel:" By whom it is still rehearsed, above three thousand years since; and shall be to the end of time, Deut. xxxi. 16–22.

XXXII. 1. Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,

5. Their own iniquity hath corrupted his children, [now] not his ‡;

A perverse and crooked generation !

Isaiah has imitated concisely this noble exordium:

"Hear, O Heavens, and give ear, O Earth, For THE LORD speaketh.

I have begotten and brought up children,

The original,

And they have rebelled against Me," Isai. i. 2.

3, (Tsur,) usually signifies a rock, and is figuratively applied to GOD, as expressing his stability and immutability, and the security of those who are under his protection, as in verses 15 and 37, so finely expressed by Isaiah,

"Trust ye in THE LORD for ever,

For in ONE AND THE SAME LORD is the rock of ages," Isai. xxvi. 4. But it is here, and ver. 18, rendered "the Creator," by the Arabic Version, and KTIOTηy, by the Septuagint Version of 2 Sam. xxii. 32, and by Theodotion here λaorny, of the same import: which agrees better with the context. In this sense it may be derived from the verb, which signifies to "cast," 1 Kings vii. 15; or to "form," Jer. i. 5. The Septuagint Version here, and ver. 18, renders it "God," (Otov,) which I have substituted, ver. 31.

This translation is supported by the various reading of the Samaritan Text, which gives, “they have sinned [they are] not his, sons of corruption,” and which was evidently the reading of the Septuagint, rendering ἡμαρτωσαν, ουκ αυτή, τεκνα μωμητα. Doctor Kennicott, in the General Dissertation to his Collations of Hebrew MSS. Vol. II. p. 31, § 72, has shewn how the present Masorete was easily derived from the Samaritan, by transposition of letters; from which it does not differ materially in this translation.

II. 6. Do ye thus requite THE LORD,

O people foolish and not wise!

Is not He THY FATHER, who got thee,
Who made thee, and who formed thee?
7. Remember the days of old,

Consider the years of [past] generations,
Ask thy father, and he will shew thee,

Thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8. When THE MOST HIGH divided to the nations their settlements,
When He separated the sons of Adam ;

He assigned the boundaries of the peoples [of Israel *]

According to the number of the sons of Israel:

9. For the portion of THE LORD is His people,

Jacob, the lot of His inheritance.

10. He found him in a desert land,

In a waste howling wilderness;

He led him about, He instructed him,
He kept him, as the apple of His eye.
11. As the eagle stirreth up his nestlings,
Hovereth about his brood,

Spreadeth about his wings,

Taketh them up,

Carrieth them upon his shoulder;

12. [So] THE LORD alone did lead him,

And with HIM was no strange God [coadjutor.]

13. He made him mount upon the heights of the land,

To eat the produce of the fields;

He made him suck honey out of the rock,

And oil, out of the flinty stone.

14. Butter of kine, and milk of sheep,

With the fat of lambs, and of rams,

Of Basan's breed, and of goats:

This insertion of the parenthetical words [of Israel,] derived from the succeeding verse, furnishes a plain and rational sense of one of the most embarrassed and most contested passages in the whole poem; signifying, that the promised land was allotted to the twelve tribes of Israel, as being descended from his twelve sons; each of which, from their extraordinary population, might be considered as "a people" in itself; (and to the Ephraimites represented themselves to Joshua, xvii. 14–17;) while the aggregue composed" his people," the most highly favoured of all the nations of the earth, with whom they are contrasted.

+ This admirable similitude of the parent eagle training his young nestlings to fly; first “ stirring them up,” or rousing them from the nest; then "hovering about them," to watch and encourage their timid efforts: " spreading abroad his wings," to receive them when drooping; "taking them up, carrying them on his shoulder," to ease them; when wearied and exhausted by unusual efforts, is probably painted from the life, with so much circumstantial imagery, from the scenes which Moses might often have witted in the deserts of Arabia Petræa.

This description of the Hebrew bard, far exceeds in simplicity, the classical, of the training of the young Alpine eagle, to which Horace elaborately compares the education of young Drusus, (Livia's Son,) by Augustus; Qualem Ministrum, &c. Od. IV. 4.