horn iron, and thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat ia pieces many people. (Mic. iv. 11, 13.)

After this day of vengeance, the days of refreshing shall come, and they are thus foretold by Micah, who had the brightest discoveries of the glory of Shiloh, and of the gathering of the people unto him, after the destruction of the antichristian powers. But in the last days,' saith that Prophet, the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains; people shall flow unto it, and many nations [both awed by the Lord's tremendous judgments, and encouraged by his offers of grace and pardon) shall come, and say, 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 spirit of life in Christ Jesus making men free from the law of sin and death) shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he [Jehovah Shiloh) shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into ploughsbares, and their spears into pruning-hooks : Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more : But they shall sit every man under his vine, and none shall make them afraid : For the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it : And the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever.' (Mic. iv. 1, 7.)

That the Lord Jehovah, who shall thus reign in mount Zion, when all spears shall he beat into ploughshares and into pruning-hooks, is our Melchisedec, the King of Salem, the Solomon of the Christian Church,' the Prince of Peace, whose name is called the mighty God, by Isaiah, and of whose governmeut and peace, upon the throne of David, there shall be no end,' can be proved even to a Jew by the following reasons : (1.) This divine King is described, as doing the things which characterize the Messiah, name17, bruising the serpent, destroying the wicked, gathering srael, and reigning over the nations: For “unto him shall the gathering of the people be.' (2.) Micah calls

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him the 'Ruler of Israel,' the Messiah, and describes
his human and divine nature, as clearly as does Isaiah
• Thou Bethlehem, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth
he that is to be Ruler in Israel, [here we sce the child
horn unto us in Bethlehem,] whose goings forth have
been from of old, from everlasting :' And in these
last words we behold the eternal generation and Divinity
of the Son of God. (Mic. v. 2.) And that Herod him.
self, with the Jewish Priests and the Scribes, made no
doubt but this prophecy related to the Messiab, 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
Priest,' &c. by quoting this very prophecy of Micah,
they proved to him, that the Messiah, he ? whose
goings forth have been from everlasting,' was to be
born at Bethlehem.

The Prophet Habakkuk, in that sublime hymn, called the his prayer, has many expressions, very descriptive of Marine the days of vengeance.

• God came from Teman (says he) and the Holy One from mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his the on praise. Before him went the pestilence, and burnini che coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measure our the earth: He beheld and drove asunder the nations and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the per ty petual hills did bow: His ways are everlasting. I sam the tents of Cushan in amiction : And the curtains (la the land of Midian did tremble.--The mountains sas thee, and they trembled : The deep uttered his voici; and lifted up his hands on high. The suu and moc stood still in their habitation. Thou didst marker through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the Heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvatie of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointe Thou didst wound the head out of the house of time wicked.' And as the Prophet considers these desolatil ing judgments as being preparatory to the salvation to be God's people, so, speaking in the name of the wheel of

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church, he describes the greatness of that salvation, when he says, a few verses after,' • Although the fig. tree should not blossom, and there should be no fruit in the vine ; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy iv the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hiuds' feet, and he will make me walk upon mine high places.' For, as he assures us in the preceding chapter, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,' a passage which contains a most glorious testimony to the days of refreshing, during which, as Isaiah bears witness, the people shall be all righteous, the work of his hands, and the branch of his planting, that he may be glorified.'

Zephaniah is very express upon this subject. Having described, at large, in the first and second chapters of bis Prophecy, the ruin that should come upon Judea, and the neighbouring countries, he proceeds, (chap. iii. 3,) to foretel the vengeance that should come upon ail nations, "Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey : For my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce auger : For all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring nine offering. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found

in tbeir mouth : For they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.' In prospect of bis glorious time, the Prophet calls upon the church ander the ancient name of Zion, Jerusalem, and srael, to break forth in praise to Jehovah the Redeem

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salem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments :
He hath cast out thine enemy: The King of Israel,
even Jehovah, is iu the midst of thee : Thou shalt see
evil no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem,
Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thine hands
be slack. The Lord, thy God in the nidst of thee, is
mighty: He will save : He will rejoice over thee with joy ;
he will rest in his love; he willjoy over thee with singing.
Behold at that time, (adds the Lord,) I will undo ah
that aflict thee, and I will save her that halteth, aud
gather her that was driven out; and I will get them
praise and fame in every land, where they have been
put to shame. At that time I will bring you again, even
the time that I gather you, for I will make you a name
and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn
back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.'
Now, Sir, who is this King of Israel that is in the midst
of us and is mighty, and who declares he will save,
but the Word made flesh, that dwelt among us, aud
came to save his people from their sins ?'
Zechariah speaks to the same purpose.

In the second chapter, having mentioned the vengeauce that should be taken upon the Babylonians, and other nations, that had spoiled God's people of old, an em: blem of the wrath that will be poured upon the modern Babylon, he describes the days of refreshing in the following words, "Sing and rejoice, 0 daughter of Zion. For, lo! I come, and dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord : ['This seems to refer primarily to the coming of Christ in the flesh:] Aud many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, (viz. the Gentile nations,] and shall be my people. And I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion, in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again ;' which plaiuly foretels the conversion of the Jews, and their restora. tiou to their own land. And, perhaps, the following words, ‘Be silent all flesh before the Lord, for he is raised up out of his holy habitatiou,' may be intended

að au intimation of the conversion of all mankind, their attendance upon the Lord in his ordinances, and their worshipping himn in spirit and in truth.

Malachi, also, the last of the Prophets, foretels, and that with great clearness, this two-fold work of the Messiah. Having pointed him out as the Lord that should come to his Temple, the Messenger of the Corenant, in whom (to be shortly revealed) the pious Jews delighted, rejoicing, like faithful Abraham, in the foresight of his day;' he next informs us, what would be the effect of his manifestation in our flesh. But who,' says he, ‘may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth ? For he is like refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a retiner and purifier of silver, [and by the spirit of judgment, as well as spirit of burning,] he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.' Theo, the times of refreshing shall succeed the days of vengeance, 'and the offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in the former years. For while the Lord

near to judgment,' and is a 'swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless. and that turn away the stranger from his right, and fear not the Lord;' they that fear him 'speak often one to another, and the Lord hearkens and hears, and a book of remembrance is written for those that fear the Lord and think upon his name; and they shall be pine, saith the Lord, in the day when I make up my ewels. Then shall ye turn and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.' And he speaks pore clearly still in the next (the last) chapter. He irst describes the days of vengeance. • Behold the Cay cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the zoud, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble :

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