Immanuel, the Shiloh to whom fhall be the gather ing of the converted nations. Amos ix. 11, &c.] MICAH thus fpeaks of the fecond coming of the Meffiah to do this ftrange work as Lion of the tribe of Judah: Hear all the people, hearken, O Earth, and let the Lord God be witness against you from his holy temple: Behold the Lord will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth: The mountains fhall be molten under him as wax before the fire, and the valleys fhall be cleft. Mich. i. 2, 4. But this terrible judgment shall begin at the Houle of the Lord, even at Zion and Jerufalem. Hear ye Heads of the Houfe of Jacob, that pervert all equity, and fay, Is not the Lord among us? No evil can come upon us! Zion for your fake, fhall be plowed as a field, and Jerufalem fhall become heaps. Mic. iii.

11, 12.

When the Lord's people fhall have born his indignation, Shiloh will gather the purified remnant of them, and use them as his glorious inftruments for the converfion, or the punishment of the wick. ed: I will furely gather the remnant of Ifrael, I will put them together as the flock in the midst of the fold. The breaker [the Bruifer of the Serpent] is come up before them; their King fhall pass before

them

This breaker is, by the confeffion of the Jews, the title of the Meffias. So the Author of Sepher Abchath Ruchal, in his defcription of the coming of the Meffias maketh ufe of this place. And the fame appeareth further by that faying of Mofes Haddarfhan in Berefni Rabba, The Plantation from be low is Abraham, the Plantation from above is Mefliah, as it is written," The breaker is come up before them &c." So he on Gen x1. 9. Again the fame Hurejhit Rabba, Gen. xliv. 18. When fhall we rejoice? when the feet of the Shechinah fhall stunil upon the mount of Olives; and again, When? when the captiv s hall afcend from Hell (death) and Shechinah in the head, as it is written, Mic. ii. 13. Th.ir King fshall pifs before them. and the Lord in the head of them. Pearfon on the Creed. Art. 6th on Chrift's Afcenfion.

them, and the Lord [Jehovah] on the head of them, to redeem them from the hand of their enemies. Mic. ii. 12. iv. 10.

The Meffiah's ftrange work in the Valley of decifion is thus defcribed by this Prophet: Many nations are gathered against thee, O Zion, who fay, Let her be defiled: But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counfel; for he fhall gather them as the fheaves into the floor: Arife and thresh 0 Daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people. Mich· iv. 11, 13.

After this day of vengeance, the days of refrefhing fhall come, and they are thus foretold by Micah, who had the brighteft difcoveries of the Glory of Shiloh, and of the gathering of the people unto him, after the destruction of the antichriftian powers. But in the last days, faith that Prophet, the Mountain of the Houfe of the Lord fhall be ftablished in the top of the mountains: people fhall flow unto it, and many nations both awed by the Lord's tremendous judgments, and encouraged by his offers of grace and pardon) fhall come, and fay, Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law [of the fpirit of life in Chrift Jefus making men free from the law of fin and death] fhall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Ferufalem [rebuilt.] And He [Jehovah Shiloh] fhall judge among many people, and rebuke ftrong nations afar off, and they fhall beat their fwords into plow-fhares, and their fpears into pruning hooks: nation fhall not lift up a fword against nation, neither fhall they learn war any more: But they fhall fit every man under his vine, and none fhall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hofts hath spoken it: and THE LORD fhall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever. Mic. iv, 1, 7.

E 3

That

That the Lord Jehovah, who fhail thus reign in mount Zion, when all fpeais fhall be beat into plow-fhares and into pruning hooks, is our Melchifedeck, the King of Salem, the Solomon of the Chriftian church, the Prince of peace, whofe name is called the mighty God, by Ifaiah, and of whofe Government and peace, upon the throne of David, there fhall be no end, can be proved even to a Jew by the ollowing reafons: (1) This divine King is described, as doing the things which characterize the Meffiah, namely bruifing the Serpent, deftroying the wicked, gathering Ifracl, and reigning over the nations: for unto him fhall the gathering of the people be. (2) Micah calls him the Ruler of Ifrael, the Meffiah, and defcribes his human and divine nature, as clearly as docs Ifaiah. Thou Bethlehem, though thou be little among the thoufands of Judah yet out of thee fhall come forth He that is to be Ruler in Ifrael, [here we fee the Child born unto us in Bethlehem, whofe goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting: [and in thefe laft words we behold the eternal generation and Divinity of the Son of God.] Mic. v. 2. And that Herod himself, with the Jewish Priests and the Scribes, made no doubt but this prophecy related to the Meffiah, is evident from the account given by St. Matthew, for when King Herod had heard that the King of the Jews was born, and when he had gathered the chief Priests &c, by quoting this very prophefy of Micah, they proved to him, that the Meffiah, he whofe goings have been from everlafting, was to be born at Bethlehem.

The Prophet HABBAKUK, in that fublime Hymn, called his Prayer, has many expreffions, very descriptive of the days of vengeance. God came from Teman (fays he) and the holy One from mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praife. Before him went the

peftilence,

peftilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He flood and meafured the earth: he beheld and drove afunder the nations, and the everlafting mountains were fcattered, the perpetual hil's did bow: his ways. are everlasting. I faw the tents of Cufhan in afflic tion and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. The mountains faw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water paffed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The fun and moon flood fill in their habitation. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wenteft forth for the falvation of thy people, even for falvation with thine anoint ed. Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked.' And as the Prophet confiders these defolating judgments as being preparatory to the falvation of GoD's people, fo fpeaking in the name of the whole church, he describes the greatness of that falvation, when he fays, a few verfes after, Although the fig-tree fhould not bloffom, and there fhould be no fruit in the vine; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the GoD of my falvation. The Lord God is my ftrength and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me walk upon mine high places.' For, as he affures us in the preceding chapter, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea, a paffage which contains a moft glorious teftimony to the days of refreshing, during which, as Ifaiah bears witnefs, the people fhall be all righteous, the work of his hands, and the branch of his planting, that he may be glorified.

Zephaniah is very exprefs upon this fubject. Having defcribed, at large, in the firft and fecond Chapters of his Prophecy, the ruin that fhould come upon Judea, and the neighbouring coun

tries,

tries, he proceeds, chap. iii. 8. to foretell the vengeance that should come upon all nations. Wait ye upon me, faith the Lord, until the day that I rife up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may affemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth fhall be devoured with the fire of my jealoufy. Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to ferve him with one confent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my fuppliants, the daughter of my dif perfed fhall bring mine offering. The remnant of Ifrael fhall not do iniquity, nor fpeak lies; neither fhall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they fhall feed and lie down and none fhall make them afraid. In profpect of this glorious time, the, Prophet calls upon the church under the ancient name of Zion, Jerufalem and Ifrael, to break forth in praise to Jehovah the Redeemer, who will then be indeed Immanuel, God with us. Sing, O daughter of Zion: Shout O Ifrael: Be glad and rejoice with all thine heart, O daughter of Jerufalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments: He hath caft out thine enemy: The King of Ifrael, even Jehovah, is in the midft of thee thou shalt fee evil no more.

In

that day it fhall be faid to Jerufalem, fear thou not and to Zion, Let not thine hands be flack. The Lord, thy God in the midft of thee is mighty: he will fave: he will rejoice over thee with joy: he will reft in his love: he will joy over thee with finging. Behold at that time, adds the Lord, I will undo all that afflict thee, and I will fave her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out: and I will get them praife and fame in every land, where they have been put to fhame, At that time I will bring you again, even the time that I gather you, for I will make you a name and a praife among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, faith the Lord. Now,

Sir,