32

blood be in His sight. He shall live (for ever is understood,) and unto Him shall be given of the gold of Arabia. Prayer shall be made ever unto Him, and daily shall He be praised. His name shall endure for ever: His name shall remain as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in Him! All nations shall call Him Blessed!' Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things; and blessed be his glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory!' Amen! amen!

6

The exact harmony subsisting between the prophets Isaiah and David, and the direct allusion to the promise made by God to the patriarchs, with which the latter concludes, in the foregoing psalm, must satisfy every attentive reader, that they are both treating of one and the same Person and events, and that each is foretelling His advent, in whom "all the nations of the earth should be blessed!" Both these prophets proclaim the Messiah as a King, a Judge, and as a Saviour. Both declare his human nature, by terming him a "child," and a "son;" both designate him as the harbinger

and author of "peace;" and both these prophets assert, in the plainest language, his divinity; for Isaiah calls the Messiah "Immanuel," and the " Mighty God," and David avers that the dominion of this " King's Son" shall be universal and eternal, and that he shall receive the tribute (which only God may claim) of everlasting “ prayer” and “ praise !” But this wonderful doctrine rests not on the declarations of David and Isaiah alone. It pervades the whole scheme of revelation, and will become more and more apparent the further we proceed. The divinity of the Messiah is so cemented with the entire system of God's declared will, that in removing this corner stone," the sacred temple built by the prophets and apostles is not only defaced, but actually destroyed!

Nahum i. 15.-713 years B. C.-Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows; for the wicked shall no more pass through thee, he is utterly cut off!

Micah iv. 1, 2, 3.-But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be

pool, and the thirsty lands springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes! And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness.' The unclean (i. e. the wicked) shall not pass over it. The way faring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

ST. MATTHEW, 11th chapter, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th verses. Now when John the Baptist had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him," Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered and said unto them, "Go and shew John those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them; and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me!!" i. e. who shall not reject him, for the Lord hath declared that "the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish-shall utterly be wasted!”

Same chapter. No lion shall be there,

nor any ravenous beast shall go up

thereon, it shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

It is hardly necessary to observe that by the lion and ravenous beast, is signified the spirit of violence, &c. in opposition to the spirit of Christianity, which is meekness and love.

(Continued.) And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads! They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away!"

Isaiah xxxii. 1-3, 13-20.--Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, (i. e. wrath of God,) and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of waters in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land! There is a remarkable resemblance between these predictions of the prophet Isaiah, and the whole of the 32nd Psalm of David. Directly alluding to the Messiah, the former says, And a man shall be as a hiding-place,"

&c. the latter addressing the Supreme Being, uses the same expression-" Thou art my hidingplace."

Both are speaking of the pardon of sin, and of the blessedness of the redeemed. "Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverunce," exclaims the Psalmist, " and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy," saith the Prophet.

(Continued.) And the eyes of them that

see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken, (i. e. obtain a saving knowledge and perception.) Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city ; because the palaces shall be forsaken. The multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.

The desolation of Jerusalem foretold.

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be