reality of it comes in the day of the first resurrection and the coming down of the New Jerusalem from on high to the earth. Meanwhile, that the church continues in labour and conflict is manifest from all the Scriptures, and particularly from those seven promises of the Spirit to the seven churches, Rev. ii. iii. which are all constructed so as to present the hope of rest and rejoicing at the day of the Lord's glorious appearance. And if I be asked, at what time the labourers in the vineyard have the reward, I answer by referring to three passages in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The first (xiv. 13) shews it to be at the harvest of the earth, when the wheat is gathered into the garner of God; and before the treading of the wine-press (verse 18), which is the destruction of Edom, the apostate Gentile church, Isai. Ixiii. xxxiv. The second (xvi. 15) shews it to be before the seventh vial, wherein is filled up the wrath of God, and Babylon is clean destroyed, and the world shaken out of its place. The third (xix. 14) shews that the saints are gathered into heaven before the action of destroying the beast and the false prophet. That this is the time of the saints' rest is confirmed by what is said, 2 Thess. i. 7: " And to you, who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, &c." If I err not, it is the same rest with him which is referred to, Isai. xxviii. 12, as the subject of Messiah's preaching; which also he himself in the days of his flesh set forth, with distinct allusion to this prophecy, Matt. xix. 28-30. And for the place of this rest, I believe it to be the New Jerusalem, which cometh down from heaven, whereof such glorious things are spoken; where Christ sitteth until his people be made willing, Psalm cx., and then he comes in the glory of his power. The same is declared of Mount Zion and his temple, Psal. cxxxii. 8, 14, and so also Isai. lxvi. 1; in the one place directly, in the other by implication. There is a depth in the last of those passages into which I see my way only dimly: it seems to intimate some erroneous intentions of the restored Jews to constitute for God a rest with which he will not be satisfied, but doth destroy by his own glorious appearing under the pretence of God's glory, they cast his faithful ones out; but he turns their glory into shame, when he appears himself with the true glory, the very place of his rest. Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed" (Isai. lxvi. 5). This pseudo-temple, this false temple service, this fallacious rest, is destroyed: "A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord, that rendereth recompence to his enemies" (ver. 6). And then follows, upon his personal manifestation, the birth of the whole nation, the manifestation of

all the multitude of her saints: "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God" (verses 8, 9). And through the remainder of the chapter is the delight and beauty of the whole earth described in glorious terms: the rest, the true city of rest, which remaineth for the people of God; the Sabbatism, the keeping of a Sabbath, which yet abideth this weary and way-worn world. Oh! when I think upon the fulness of Divine truth which the interpretation of this single verse hath yielded to us, I am very sorry for the multitude of my brethren who will not study prophecy. Ah me! they know not what loss they suffer. Any one strain of prophecy understood, is the whole purpose of God understood. And I think further, that I have been directed of God to begin my labours in prophetic interpretation with this glorious prophecy of our Immanuel. O my God, how sweet is thy service! how precious is thy word!-Let us press onward: it is a glorious occupation to travel in his word.

Ver. 11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea."-Here now is the second and the successful effort of God to gather his people; when, after the rest or session at the right hand of God is concluded, his people are made willing in the day of his power. This "second time" implies a first time, when he had set his hand to the same work but not accomplished it. That we are right in interpreting this former effort of our Lord's coming in the flesh, we appeal to the xlixth and xliid chapters of this Prophet, as explained above. It is, moreover, virtually implied in the preceding verse, where the Root out of Jesse, which is the name of his humility, is represented as standing for a sign to Israel at the time, and during all the time, that the Gentiles gather under his wing. But it is no longer the lowly and contemptible root of Jesse-the netzer, or abominable branch-but Adonai, the plant of renown, the upbearer of the government. This is a very remarkable transition, which is made from the lowly branch of Jesse, the name which hath kept possession of the Prophet's mind throughout this chapter, to the Adonai, Jehovah of hosts; which name was there dropped, and is now taken up again. In the last two verses of the former chapter, where he is exhibited as the hewer down of Lebanon, he was denominated Adon-Jehovah-Sabbaoth; and now that he comes

into powerful action again, he resumes his name of strength, Adonai, the same name which is given to him upon his ascension into glory, in that Psalm which we have so often referred to: "The Lord (Jehovah) said unto my Lord (Adonai)" (Psalm cx. 1); and again (ver. 4), " Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek. Adonai at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath." (See Morning Watch, No. IV. p. 587.)The same contrast may be observed in the liiid chapter of Isaiah between the style of the first two and the last two verses thereof; and also, as hath been said, in the parts of the xliid and xlix th chapters. Let it be also borne in mind, that in this very prophecy he is set forth, first as "a stumbling-block and a rock of offence" to his people, then as having a seed of children given to him, and with them resting, and waiting, and looking unto the Lord till he cease to hide his face from the house of Jacob. On these accounts, I have little doubt, though I know not any interpreter to favour me, that the action-which is thus introduced, "The Lord will add the second time his hand "-hath a retrospect to the endeavour which he once before made as the Root of Jesse. And to this agreeth that parallel between Him and Moses, whereon Stephen insisteth so largely in his apology, Acts vii. Moses made an ineffectual, and then an effectual, endeavour to deliver his brethren. And perhaps, also, the notice taken, in the same most ingenious apology, of Joseph's being known to his brethren the second time, hath reference to the same truth which is now under consideration,-that it is upon the second endeavour that the people are to be gathered to Shiloh. The action is described by these words, "to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left." It had been already declared in the prophecy (x. 20-23), that a remnant should remain from the consumption that was decreed, and that they should return unto "the Mighty God," which is one of the names of the virgin's Child. Moreover, we have also been informed (viii. 21, 22) in what darkness and misery they should pass the long period of their rejection, while God hid his face, and their Messiah waited till the times of the Father should be accomplished. And now we have the particular prophecy of their recovery, and restoration, and triumphant entering into their land.

II. And, first, we have the places out of which they shall be gathered, "Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.' Whether these places be connected in the sentence with the word "recover," or with the word "left" (and the Jewish commentators, who should best know the structure of their own language, are of different opinions), it maketh no difference as to the interpretation; for where they are found left, thence must they be re

covered. It will be proper that we should define geographically the situation of these places. Assyria, so named from Asshur, the son of Shem, is the region upon and beyond the Tigris, of which Nineveh was the capital; whither God's people were led captive at different times, and at length all the ten tribes, as is set forth 2 Kings xvii. 6. Egypt, or Mizraim, named from the second son of Ham, is the region watered by the Nile, and especially the lower part of that region. Pathros, the place next mentioned, is the Upper Egypt, or Thebaïs; so named from the Pathrusim, descendants of Pathros, one of the sons of Mizraim (Gen. x. 13, 14). So that by these two, Mizraim and Pathros, we have the whole territory described, which is now called Egypt from two words signifying the isle or land of Coptus,' the father of the Caphturim, mentioned as above (Gen. x.), whereof a trace still remains in the name of the aboriginal people, which is Copts to this day,-AiCophtus, Ægyptus, or Egypt. These two countries of Assyria and Egypt are frequently joined together, when the restoration of Israel is mentioned as in the following passage (Isai. xxvii. 13), “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem;" and in this passage (Hosea xi. 11), "They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord." We may not doubt, therefore, that from beyond Egypt in the south-west, and Assyria towards the north-east-that is, somewhere out of Africa and out of the north of Asia-shall God's people be brought back in the great day of his power. It hath sometimes occurred to me, that the reason why Africa, the land beyond Egypt, and China (perhaps the land of Sinim, Isai. xlix. 12), are by God's providence sealed up from our knowledge, may be, that his people, the Ten Tribes, are there, who must continue lost till they come forth as from their graves. For, in the historical symbols of Scripture, the ten tribes do shadow forth the saints in their graves, who at the first resurrection shall re-appear; while the two tribes do set out the dispersed church under the bondage of the mystical Babylon. To hide his people, would be a sufficient reason for which only these two parts of the world should remain undiscovered.-Concerning Cush, there is some difficulty to know whether it be Ethiopia, that lies above Egypt on the Nile, or the country in the neighbourhood of the Garden of Eden, which the river Gihon did water, the country still known by the name of Cushistan, one of the eastern provinces of modern Persia, the same with Susiana. The learned and accurate Dr. Wells hath gone far to set this matter at rest,

and to prove that the descendants of Cush, the eldest son of Ham, planted themselves along the north of Arabia, and not in Africa or Ethiopia, to which perhaps some of them might afterwards pass over; and he shews that the land of Cush, so frequently translated Ethiopia, ought to be understood of Arabia. And that the country along the Persian Gulf, on both sides of the Euphrates, was denominated Cush, by whose sons it was peopled, and generally all Arabia. Of the soundness of his proofs for this point I have no doubt. This, the fourth place mentioned in our text, therefore, we must consider as Arabia, with that part of Persia which lies along the east of the Persian Gulf.-Elam is the country adjoining to Susiana, and which is sometimes in Scripture made to include Shushan, the capital thereof (Dan. viii. 2). It is frequently coupled with Media: "Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media" (Isai. xxi. 2). And out of these two nations arose the Medo-Persian empire of Cyrus. Properly speaking, it lies above Susiana or Cush, between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, being the heart of modern Persia.-Shinar is Mesopotamia, the country situated between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, or Hiddekel, of which Babylon was the capital; whither the Jews were carried away captive, and where many of them abide unto this day: only a very small remnant having returned with Ezra and Nehemiah.-Hamath, as we have shewn (No. III. p. 334), is the region to the north of Canaan, towards Damascus and Syria. Now that a great multitude were carried away captive to Damascus, we are expressly informed, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5.-Beside these places we have no other specified by name; but there is added this inclusive expression," and from the islands of the sea." This form of words, as hath been shewn by the learned Mede in his discourse on Gen. x. 5, doth signify in Scripture, not islands only, but all those places which were not wont to come to Egypt or Palestine otherwise than by sea-that is, the countries of Europe and the Lesser Asia; which were peopled by the sons of Japheth: wherefore Tyrus is called "a merchant of people for many islands," Ezek. xxvii. 3; and Joppa, 'a haven, an entrance to the isles of the sea,' 1 Mac. xiv. 5. And in our Prophet (xl. 15), where he saith, "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing," he certainly means the vast tracts of country which lay around the then known and civilized nations, whom God regards as "a drop in the bucket; yea, the isles as a very little thing." These, therefore, include all the exterior parts of the world beyond the bounds of the nations enumerated, especially Europe and Asia Minor, where the Jews are dispersed abroad in such great numbers.What, then, doth this enumeration amount to, less than that from Asshur and the region beyond Asshur, in the north-eastern parts of Asia, and perhaps America which doubtless was chiefly peopled thence; from Egypt, and