hills; and all nations (or, Micah iv. 1, all people) shall flow unto it."-Isa. xxv. 6, "In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things," &c.—Isa. lxv. 9, "I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains." Can any other events be here predicted than the triumphs of religion; the resort of all nations to "Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem," the rich repast of gospel-blessings, and the consummation of prophetic visions, when the Lord shall arise, and inherit all nations, and the uttermost parts of the earth become His possession?

"ALL NATIONS."

Much stress has been laid on this and similar expressions, as demonstrative that the Babylonian Captivity could not have been alluded to in certain predictions. Even, if this were true, it would not follow that a literal restoration must succeed the present dispersion; but that it is not true, the following passages, I think, sufficiently establish. Nehemiah i. 8, 9, "Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou

commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: but if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants, whom Thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee," &c. &c.

Zech. ii. 6, 7, "Ho, ho, come, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon." Whatever other applications these passages may admit of, it is certain they were applied, and that by the authority that inspired them, to the Babylonian Captivity.

Zech. vii. 13, 14, The prophet, reproving the captives for their sins, and stating their sins to be the cause of their captivity, says

thus: "Therefore it is come to pass, that as he (the prophet) cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: but I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not: thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned; for they laid the pleasant land desolate.”—Again, chap. viii. 7, 8, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem."

66 NO MORE"-" FOR EVER."

› Much stress has also been laid on these and like expressions, as conveying the notion of perpetuity; but with how little reason the following will prove:

Hosea i. 6, "I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but will utterly take them away."

Amos v. 2, "The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise."

Zech. xi. 6, "For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord;

but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them."

A literal and unqualified interpretation of any one of these passages destroys the doctrine of a literal restoration at once; but as the subsequent verses prove that the two first passages must not be taken literally, I shall only observe, that as the third seems to have been uttered in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and

the

present dispersion, it affords presumptive evidence, in connexion with other circumstances, that a literal interpretation would be a correct one; and that, consequently, the Jews will never be restored again to their own land. Literal interpreters may, at least, receive a caution from these passages when they are considering Zech. xiv. 10, 11, and similar declarations, "All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto

the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine-presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.”

Exod. xii. 24, The Jews are commanded to observe the passover "for ever."

1 Kings viii. 13, Solomon says, “I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever."

But the close of the Jewish economy put an end to the duty of observing the passover, and witnessed the departure of the Lord from Jerusalem as His peculiar dwelling place. Had not the promises of perpetual peace and residence in Palestine, to literal Israel, the same limitation? See also Isa. xxxii. 14.

Yours, &c.