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but to seek them in Jerusalem. The legitimate masters of Judæa should be seen in their own land, slaves and strangers; they should be seen awaiting, under the most cruel and oppressive of all despotisms, a king who is to work their deliverance. Near the temple, of which there does not remain one stone upon another, they still continue to dwell; and with the cross as it were planted upon their heads, and bending them to the earth, still cling to their errors, still labour under the same deplorable and affecting infatuation. The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans are swept from the earth; and a petty tribe, whose origin preceded that of these great nations, still remains unmixed, among the ruins of its native land. IF ANY THING AMONG NATIONS WEARS THE CHARACTER OF MIRACLE, THAT CHARACTER IS HERE LEGIBLY IMPRESSED.

SECTION IV.

THE DIVINE INTENTIONS RELATIVE TO THE

JEWS.

GIVE a description of the ascertainable intentions of divine Providence relative to the Jews.

ALTHOUGH with the design of a work which professes to be an epitome of the history of the Jews, it is inconsistent to discuss at length the question of their probable destiny, yet a very few observations upon this most interesting subject will not be inappropriate, nor, it is trusted, unacceptable, in concluding the volume.

As the dispersion of the Israelites subsequent to the Babylonish captivity, was evidently rendered subsidiary to one of the most important objects in the moral government of God, so it may be concluded, not only from analogy, but from infallible testimony, that their dispersion now, is mysteriously and effectually subordinate to the accomplishment of a design, the most momentous which the mind of man can conceive. Although a large portion of the Jews returned after the captivity to Jerusalem, yet it is evident that a

very considerable number remained in the provinces of the East; and from this, and other causes which cannot now be elucidated, shortly prior to the incarnation of Christ, there was scarcely a single region in the known world, in which they were not found, in civil and military stations, in the pursuits of commerce and of gain. That their religion, their manners, and perhaps, their arts, excited the contempt, and sometimes the fury, of the people among whom they resided, and that they frequently had to endure the grossest indignities and the most cruel barbarities, is declared by the testimony of history; but at the same time, in the Roman empire more particularly, numerous edicts were issued in their favour, and the shield of the imperial power protected them from the violence and malignity of their enemies. Of this dispersion and preservation, what was the result? It was, that many of the heathen were brought to perceive the abominable absurdities of their polytheistic superstitions, and the infinite superiority of the Mosaic representations of the character and attributes of God. "All this," as the most eminent ecclesiastical historian of modern times justly observes, "appears to have been most singularly and wisely directed by the adorable hand of an interposing providence, to the end that this people, who were the sole depository of the true religion, and of the knowledge of the one supreme God, being spread abroad through the whole earth, might be every where, by their example, a reproach to superstition, contribute, in some measure, to check it, and thus prepare the way for that fuller display of divine truth, which was to shine upon the world from the ministry and gospel of the Son of God."

And has the second dispersion of the Jews no similar design? Shall the unparalleled miseries which they have suffered for eighteen hundred years have no appropriate termination? Have they been preserved, as evidences, in every country, of the miraculous interposition of God on their behalf, notwithstanding all their obstinacy, all their wilful blindness to the testimony of their own Scriptures, all their multiplied and deep-died crimes, for the accomplishment of no object, corresponding with that wonderful series of providential dispensations, which has been maintained,

without interruption, through every age, from the destruction of their city and the conflagration of their temple, to the present hour? It is true, that their dispersion and their preservation constitute a standing proof of the divine mission of the Redeemer, by the accurate fulfilment of his own predictions relative to their condition subsequeut to his crucifixion; but has this been all the intention of the Lord of Providence in the dispensations of his government towards this unhappy race? and may not confiding faith and animated hope, encouraged by promises which must be fulfilled, look to something beyond this, to events which are yet to evolve, the most surprising, the most sublime, the most glorious that ever excited the interest, the astonishment, the admiration of the world?

Proceed with this illustration.

Just as the Hebrews were originally separated from all people to be the depositories of divine truth relative to the Redemption of the world, whose revelation was the great object of the Levitical, as well as the Patriarchal, dispensation-just as they were preserved, whether slaves in Egypt, wanderers in the wilderness, rebels and idolaters in Canaan, captives in Babylon, or persecuted after their restoration to Jerusalem, to subserve the fulfilment of the promises made to their ancestors, relative to the appearance of the great and glorious Deliverer of the world-so they have been distinguished from every nation, and preserved notwithstanding unremitting, and universal, and sanguinary persecution, to furnish, when God's own time has come, the most illustrious manifestation of divine grace, the most resplendent triumph of Redeeming love, which earth has ever witnessed, or heaven has ever praised. Wonderful will be the manifestation of Infinite Mercy, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in; when ruthless savages and roving barbarians shall be brought to the cross of Christ; when from the frozen shores of Greenland to the flowery islands of the Southern Ocean, from the meridian round the globe, the songs of salvation shall ascend from countless multitudes of immortal beings, emancipated from spiritual thraldom and blessed with the knowledge of Redemption;-but how much more wonder

ful, when the JEWS so miserable, so obdurate, so infatuated, so wedded to the most monstrous and wicked delusions; who for ages have resisted every demonstration of their wickedness and folly, which could be furnished by their own condition, by the fulfilment of their own prophecies, by the Providential and Moral Government of God; who have so long retained and exemplified the very same detestation of the claims of the immortal Immanuel, which prompted their ancestors to fill up the measure of their iniquities by nailing him to the accursed tree,-when the JEWS with "weeping and supplication" shall be brought again to the house of their fathers, to the cross of the Saviour, to the throne of Jehovah! How much more wonderful when THEY shall "look upon him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn;' and when in every country where their wretched race is found, the voice of their penitence and praise shall be heard! Nor is this a dream of enthusiasm, a romantic fiction of the excited imagination. For even to them, the words from the excellent glory have been addressed, and the prediction SHALL be accomplished, "I will bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen......And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled, and ye shall loathe your selves in your own sight, for all your evils that ye have committed. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God."

*

It must be further observed, that the Sacred Writings clearly intimate, that the Jews as a people will be restored to their own land, and that their voices will be heard from the plains and hills of Palestine celebrating the praises of their Redeemer. By what agency, and in what manner, this final restoration shall be accomplished-whether it shall precede, or accompany, or succeed their conversion-and by what con

Lev. xxvi, 40-45. Deut. xxx. 3-6. Isa i. 26, 27. x. 20-22, xi. 11-14. lxii. Jer. ii. 18-23. xvi. 14-18. xxiii. 3-8. xxx. 18-22. xxxi. 1-9, 31-33, 1, 4-20. Ezek, xi. 13. xx. 34-44. et all peg.

sequences it shall be followed as to the actual circumstances and government of the Jews-are questions which can only be solved by time, and by the full development of the mysterious purposes of God. In such a conclusion however to their eventful annals, there is something inexpressibly affecting and sublime. After ages of suffering and crime, in the remotest countries on the surface of the globe, brought back again, under the guidance of Heaven, amidst the congratulations of an exulting universe, to their own land-the land where Abraham worshipped; where the Patriarchs dwelt; where Joshua fought; where David reigned; where Prophets foretold the most distant events of time; where the awful symbols of the presence of the Invisible were displayed; where the Son of God was born, where he lived, where he was crucified, where he destroyed the power of death, where he dispensed the mysterious influences of his Spirit, and commenced that mighty moral revolution the infinite consequences of which can never be estimated, and shall never be revealed, until the tremendous judgment-day shall dawn-In that land, the wanderers restored to their home-the prodigals to the bosom of their father-the impenitent to the mercy of their Redeemer-the accursed to the blessing of their God.

Thus the destiny of the Jews shall be fulfilled; thus their salvation shall be accomplished; thus their history shall be closed.

O THAT THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL WERE COME OUT OF ZION! WHEN THE LORD BRINGETH BACK THE CAPTIVITY OF HIS PEOPLE, JACOB SHALL REJOICE, AND ISRAEL

SHALL BE GLAD.

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