ceeded from a divine impulse, an unseen agency acting upon the minds of that people, preparing them for their return to the land of Israel. With so much to favor the idea of their being reinstated in the ancient Canaan, can we believe otherwise, than that the event will, ere long, be fulfilled?

CHAPTER IX.

CONDITION OF THE JEWS WHEN RESTORED TO

THEIR LAND.

DEEP is the curse that has rested upon the descendants of Abraham since their rejection of the Savior of the world, and during these centuries of their continual unbelief. The terrible afflictions which God foretold, through Moses, as recorded in the 26th chapter of Leviticus, and 28th of Deuteronomy, and those denounced by the prophets, and by the Redeemer himself, have been fulfilled in them already, for nearly eighteen hundred years. Awful indeed has been this long continued curse, exceeding the distresses experienced by any other people, as their sin surpassed the sins of any other. So, when they shall cease from their trangressions, penitently humble themselves and confess the Messiah, acknowledging and proclaiming him as their king,

as the "blessed, coming in the name of the Lord!"-as the curse will be removed, and as their devotedness will doubtless be deep and ardent, as their rebellion has been aggravated and stubborn, so may we well conceive that their blessings will be great and abundant-that they will then be greatly favored, as they have been severely frowned upon. But we are not left merely to infer this, by reason: it is foretold in the Scriptures-" And I will bring a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountain; and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell therein. And Sharon shall be a field of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me."-Isa. 65: 9, 10. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper-in his days shall Judah be saved, and Israel dwell safely."-Jer. 23: 5, 6. "And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good. And my tabernacle shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.-Jer. 32: 38, 40. Ezek. 37: 27. "And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And the tree of the field shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in the land. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen; neither

shall the beasts of the field devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land: I will feed them in a good pasture; upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good field, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel."-Ezek. 34: 2529, and verse 11. See other passages relating to their prosperity :-Jer. 30: 17-21; 31: 1, 4, 7, 12, 13, 24; 33: 6, 7, 16. Ezek. 36: 28-30. Hos. 2: 14–23. Zeph. 3: 14-20. Zech. 2: 10-12; 8: 3, 8.

No doubt there is much that is figurative in these texts, and they may, to some extent, relate to the reign of the Messiah in the New World. But we must suppose a portion of them have reference to the prosperity of the Jewish people in the latter days.

CHAPTER X.

DEEP DEVOTEDTESS OF THE JEWS WHEN RESTORED, AND THEIR THOROUGHNESS IN

UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICING

THE GOSPEL.

WE have briefly noticed, in a preceding chapter, that the descendants of Israel, when they come to acknowledge Christ Jesus as their Messiah, will be characterized by ardent piety and unreserved obedience to his will. Besides the passages we there quoted, declaratory of their deep penitence, repentance and humility, we might cite many which seem specifically to foretell their entire devotedness, and ardent zeal, when they shall be restored to the land of their fathers. In looking forward to that day, we may imagine ourselves as hearing them say:

"0 Lord, I will praise thee! though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me!-Behold, God is my salvation." Isa. 12: 1, 2. "Praise the Lord of hosts! for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth forever. "Jer. 3: 11. "They shall return to me with their whole heart."-Jer. 24: 7. Returning in this spirit, after all they will have experienced in their long banishment, they will no

more rebel against their God and Savior-no more refuse ready and thorough obedience to his commands.

They will be eminently holy, consecrated to the Lord by a deep work of grace wrought in their hearts. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. After these days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."-Jer. 31: 31-33.

They will be converted and brought into the kingdom of the Redeemer at the period so distinguished for reformation and holiness, considered in a former chapter, and will consequently receive the influence from the spirit and light of that reform and thorough piety, in addition to the favoring circumstances which we have noticed, and may further notice, as peculiarly pertaining to them. Broken-hearted on account of their sins, as so strikingly represented in the passages we have quoted on that point, especially that in the twelfth chapter of Zechariah, they will be in a situation to receive the gospel, not only in its first principles, but in the perfectness of its com plete system of righteousness, in its deeply cast roots, its heaven-towering and world-overspreading branches. They will be "good soil," into which the seed of the kingdom being received, it will bring forth its hundred fold. Fully consecrated to Christ and the interests of his kingdom, and possessing an ardent temperament, they