to hear if it does speak figuratively, it employs plain and obvious figures, the purpose of which is to illustrate and make clear, and not to mystify.

That what we affirm is true may be seen by the prophecies of the first advent, which, fulfilled as they were with a wonderful literality, should make us wise in regard to the future. Let the following serve as examples:

The messenger.

The virgin mother.

Mark i. 2-8.

Mal. iii. 1.
Gen. iii. 15;

Isa. vii. 14.

...

...

Matt. i. 18-23.*
Matt. xii. 46;

John vii. 5.

The other children of the Lord's Ps. lxix. 8. †

mother.

The riding into Jerusalem.

The thirty pieces of silver.

In the prophecy of Isa. vii. 14, the Authorized Version obscures the meaning by omitting the article; for we should read, "Behold, the virgin conceiving." The same mistake occurs in the quotation in Matt. i. 23, but is corrected in the Revised Version. We scarcely need to say that the article is of the utmost importance, since it points back to some particular virgin who must have been indicated by a previous revelation, and so connects Isaiah's words with the primeval utterance respecting "the seed o fthe woman." For that unusual expression evidently implies that, just as sin came into the world through the woman alone, so far as earthly agencies were concerned, so the Deliverer should be introduced by woman; in other words, that our Lord should be born of a virgin.

In this prophecy the expression, "My mother's children," precludes all attempts to show that the Lord's brethren were either His cousins or His half-brothers. Without doubt James and Joses and Simon and Judas (Matt. xiii. 55) were the literal brethren of the Lord, and it would never have occurred to any one to deny so plain a fact, had it not been for the wish to substantiate idolatrous theories respecting His mother, and to identify her with Isis, the mother of Horus, and yet the ever virgin.

The list might be greatly extended, and there is no reason to doubt that the prophecies of the second advent will prove to be as literal as those of the first.

From this consideration, and from the example given above of our Lord's way of dealing with Scripture, we would suggest the following method of interpretation.

In any prediction of the Old Testament, regard that which has been exactly fulfilled at the first advent as already past.

Apply all else to the times of the second advent, as literally as the case will allow.

By way of example we may cite the words of Isaiah: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder." Now the child was born, and the Son was given, at the first advent; but the government did not then devolve upon Him, for He was cut off and there was nothing for Him. He left our world as

*In the passage of the twenty-second Psalm-" They pierced My hands and My feet-the word (akin to 2, ) is found, which signifies to dig or bore through, and is, therefore, most appropriately used of nails. But in Zech. xii. 10, the verb is 27, which means to pierce with a sword or spear.

a nobleman going into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. At the second advent, therefore, will the government be placed upon His shoulder. It is only after the fourth beast has been slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame, that the Son of man shall be brought to the Ancient of days, and invested with dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom.*

So in the thirteenth chapter of Zechariah, the seventh verse refers to the first advent; but the eighth and ninth to the second, for the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus resulted in the dispersion of the whole Jewish nation, not in the deliverance of onethird of them.

If, then, we apply this process, of which our Lord Himself gives us an example, the Bible becomes a plain revelation, and is no longer a tissue of enigmas. Its every page sparkles with glory, and it is found to be filled with disclosures and instructions which. Paul might well compare to gold, silver, and precious stones.

THE RETURN OF THE JEWS TO PALESTINE.

Such, then, is the outline of God's dealings with the Jews, as it was revealed to Daniel. For four hundred and eighty-three years His Spirit strove with them in their own land, and, at the close of that appointed time, Messiah the Prince appeared, and they rejected Him. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Then He also rejected

them, and cast them out to endure the curse uttered by Moses.

Anon they will return, and place themselves under the protection of the last head of the fourth Gentile empire. And when he makes his covenant with them, then may the world and Satan know that but seven short years remain for the indulgence of unbridled sin. At that time the great body of the nation will be in unbelief, and will, therefore, share in the madness of the world, and wonder after and worship the beast. And of the small number who do fear God, few, if any, will know the Lord Jesus; for, according to Zechariah, neither the house of David, nor the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will find out the fountain that is opened for sin and for uncleanness, until they have actually beheld the face of Him Whom they pierced.*

That they will rebuild the temple is implied, as we have already seen, in the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel, and so it is also in the sixty-sixth of Isaiah. But the latter passage reveals to us the spirit in which the restored exiles will undertake the work, and the Lord's indignant rejection of that which is done by proud and self-willed sinners, who choose their own ways, and know nothing of the broken and contrite heart in which alone He delights.

At the same time there is a recognition of some few who will tremble at the word of the Lord, and whose brethren will hate them and cast them out for His name's sake, while they hypocritically say, "Let

Zech. xii. 9—xiii. 1.

the Lord be glorified." These afflicted ones are strengthened for their brief trial by the significant words, "But He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed."

When the temple has been thus erected by the unsuspecting Jews, all will be ready for the fearful scenes which are to close the dispensation, and which are especially foretold in the sermon on the Mount of Olives, and in some of the chapters of the Apocalypse. And with a brief comment on the first of these prophecies, or rather, on that part of it which concerns our subject, we will conclude what we have to say respecting Hebrew predictions.

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

Careful readers will have noticed considerable variation in the reports of this memorable discourse as given by Matthew and Luke. Such differences are, however, perplexing only at first view: to those who can search out their meaning, they are not merely intelligible, but deeply instructive; for we have but to keep in mind the main object of each Evangelist, and all will be clear. Now Matthew wrote his gospel especially for Jews, and to set forth the Lord Jesus as their King; while Luke points out Christ as the Son of man, and is the evangelist of all converts who, being in Christ, are neither Jews nor Greeks.

Many traces of these diverse aims may be discovered. For instance, the object of the genealogy in Matthew is to prove our Lord's title to the crown of Israel. It, therefore, first shows Him to be a