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the great desert, crossing the gulf of Suez, striking the Nile, or as it is called in Scripture, "the great river of Egypt," about twenty miles above the city of Cairo, and a little below Atfieh, then running down the Nile to the Mediterranean sea.

Now that, as clearly pointed out by God himself, is the extent of territory to be possessed by Israel when the covenant with Abraham is fulfilled, and when the Son of the Highest, seated upon the throne of his father David, shall reign over the house of Jacob. It is verily a "large land ;" and this we might have expected it would be from the covenant, and the declarations of God concerning it, from the people who were to inhabit it, and from the fact of it being "Immanuel's land." On the north from the Mediterranean sea to the river Euphrates is one hundred miles; on the south from the Nile to the Persian gulf eleven hundred miles; and from north to south five hundred miles; making an area of three hundred thousand square miles. This is a territory greater than any kingdom or empire in Europe, Russia alone excepted. It contains more square miles than the combined territory of the ten kingdoms of Europe, Prussia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, Wurtemburg, Denmark, Sardinia, and Greece. Or it is as large as all the eastern, middle, and half the southern states of our country. Or it is only one third smaller than all our western states. Comparisons like these give us some idea of the vast extent of the land of Israel; and

when we look at it by such comparisons, we cannot fail to see the truth of the Bible statement-it is "a large land."

"The Lord formed Israel for his glory, and chose them as his peculiar people; and peculiar too is the land which he assigned them, even as respects its borders. The Mediterranean, the Red sea, and the Persian gulf form on the west, the south, and the east borders of a land which, but for these inland seas, would be wholly encircled by Asia, Africa, and Europe, and shut out from all direct communication with the Pacific and Atlantic, and the lesser oceans of the globe. The river of Egypt to the Mediterranean, and that sea from the mouth of the Nile to the estuary of the Orontes, and the Euphrates from the foot of Amanus to the Persian gulf, leave not the smallest portion. of the west side or of the east side that is not actually or virtually a navigable coast, to the extent on both sides of two thousand miles; while on the north the intermediate barrier of Amanus, at the breadth of less than one hundred, renders the land a garden inclosed."

From its geographical position, the land of Israel seems the very centre of the earth. Perhaps there is no land on the face of the globe so surrounded by seas and navigable rivers, which are doubtless God's divinely-prepared highways, not only to carry his peculiar people, the people of the covenant, thither, when the time of their gathering from all lands comes, but also to carry afterwards the converted nations,

when they shall go up to Jerusalem from year to year to worship before the Lord the King. From every land, and the islands of the sea, from the rising sun to the farthest west, these highways of waters make easy access and entrance into that land; and these, much as they may seem trodden now, in the bustle of commerce, are all waiting for the multitudes of travellers yet destined to throng them, their faces all Zionward, when the enraptured cry from that God-honoured and inhabited city shall meet them.

"From every land they come;

To see thy beauty, and to share thy joy.”

But this "good and large land," a garden inclosed and peculiarly accessible on every side and at every point, and Israel's peculiar inheritance, is not all that shall be theirs, or under their peculiar government, or subservient to them. The surrounding countries, which of old were full of their enemies, shall be inhabited only by their friends; and they, by God's special authority, shall rule over these nations, and they shall be their willing and delighted servants. Instead of the Pharaohs, or any like them, being kings of Egypt, as in the days of old, the princes of Israel, and they only, shall rule there; and this will add a tributary territory to their land of one hundred and fifty thousand square miles. The kingdom of Mesopotamia too, stretching from the Euphrates to the Tigris; and of

Assyria, extending from the Tigris to the mountains of Media; and from Armenia or the Black sea, south to the Persian gulf; and again from the mountains of Media on to the Caspian sea, shall have no king to rule over them, but the divinely-appointed and anointed of Judah and David's princely line, the princes of Israel. All these and other vast kingdoms or empires shall be entirely under Jewish sway, and yield fealty to them and to Him who shall sit upon Israel's throne. They may have their kings, but the princes of Israel, the plenipotentiaries of him who is the Prince of Peace, and the Father of the everlasting age, shall rule over them. All these lands, as well as the land of Israel, shall be under the sceptre of Immanuel; and they shall bring their wealth and their treasures to him. Oh, how vast, how magnificent this kingdom! What a beautiful development of the riches of the goodness and munificence of God! How glorious and extensive the kingdom to be possessed by his people, according to the ancient covenant, and reigned over by his Son, the raised up seed of David, when he shall sit upon his Father's rebuilt throne, and reign over the fully gathered house of Jacob!

According to this, then, the kingdom of Israel shall not only be large, but the people of Israel shall be chief, supreme among the nations. As they were once supreme by the special favour and mighty exalting power of God, though now rejected, despised, and down-trodden in the dust, so shall they be again; but

their next supremacy shall far surpass their former. There they shall be the highly honoured and greatly blessed nation of the great King, whom all the nations of the earth shall honour and serve; the rulers that shall exercise a divine and righteous authority over all countries; and the light that shall enlighten all lands. That they shall occupy this high and unrivalled position through the exalting power and ever abiding presence of their Lord the King, is clearly, though not extensively nor minutely, set forth in scripture. It is taught in passages like these: "Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despise thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (Is. lx. 11-14). “And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed" (Is. Ixi. 9). "At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord" (Zeph. iii. 20). “And

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