needful a little further to prove. This will clearly be ascertained from Zech. xiii. 8, 9:-" And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people and they shall say, The Lord is my God."

This prediction has been by most writers referred to the calamities inflicted on the Jewish nation by the Romans. But it is perfectly clear that such an application is erroneous; for any person at all acquainted with the moral state of the Jews, from that period down to the present, cannot fail to know that the concluding emphatical expressions never yet have had their accomplishment; consequently, the sufferings referred to must be future. This will still more plainly appear from the information he gives us concerning the city of Jerusalem, (chap. xiv. 1, 2,)"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity."

Here we may observe that, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, all the surviving inhabitants went into captivity; but in the event here predicted, one half only will suffer that affliction. It is obvious, then, both from the nature of the circumstances, and also from the connexion, that it refers to times and events that are yet future, and certainly coincides with the affair of Gog.

These calamities will probably drive them at last efficaciously to call on the name of the Lord, and He will hear their prayer. Chap. xiv. 3, 4, "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives."

This exactly agrees with that which was delivered by the two heavenly messengers at the time of our Lord's ascension, (Acts i. 11,)"This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

The following places also probably refer to the invasion of Gog-any reader who wishes for further scriptural information may peruse them at his leisure-Isa. lxvi. 18, 19; Joel iii. 1, 2, 9-16; Micah iv. 11-13.

From several passages it appears that after this the re

mainder of the Jews and Israelites, which could not by human sagacity be known to be the seed of Jacob, will then, by some peculiar means, be discovered and gathered out of the countries where they had been living.

It is believed by many, and apparently with good reason, that there are at this day a great number of Jews in Spain, and some of them in high stations of life, who are not known to be Jews; and, probably, many of them do not even know themselves to be so. And it is very likely that multitudes of Israelites in the different nations of Asia are in a similar condition. The following text very probably refers to persons who will be found so circumstanced, (Jer. xvi. 16,) "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks."

In their journey to the land of Palestine they also will undergo a severe discipline, by which the perversely wicked will be purged from among them. This is definitely expressed by the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xx. 33-38,) " As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: and I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel."

On reading this quotation, the mind cannot fail to be impressed with the following deductions:-First, That there has been nothing in the dealings of the Lord with that people, since the delivery of those predictions, that can be considered as their proper fulfilment. Second, That very peculiar displays of the Divine power, in both mercy and judgment, will take place at the time of their accomplishment. Third, The clearness of the proof of the point in hand; namely, the punishments that will precede the renovation of the seed of Jacob.

To this time, also, refers the ultimate and principal fulfil

ment of the words of Moses, (Deut. xviii. 18, 19,) which are more emphatically expressed by the apostle Peter, (Acts iii. 22, 23,)"For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul that will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."

This passage is of very great importance for illustrating the subject. It decidedly proves that the prediction has never yet had its full or proper accomplishment. In the characters and offices which our Redeemer has hitherto sustained there has been only a very partial fulfilment of it. The instances in which any resemblance can be traced between Him and Moses, (excepting His human extraction, as being of the posterity of Jacob,) are chiefly of a spiritual kind. The principal and most prominent features in the parallel, such as being the Deliverer of His literal Israel from the land of their captivity; acting as their literal Ruler or Governor; and as a human Lawgiver;-these remain perfectly unaccomplished; but they will as certainly be exercised by Christ as they were by Moses. And with respect to the latter part of the prediction, "That every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people," meaning from among the obedient Israelites then in the flesh-we know that this has never yet taken place, either during our Lord's abode on earth, or in the course of His spiritual government since: but before the conclusion of the present aion it will as surely be accomplished as it exists now in the prediction.

Thus we plainly see that a terrible destruction of the incorrigibly wicked part of the Israelites will take place before, and in order to, their renovation.

There are several other portions of Holy Writ which appear particularly to refer to the second, final, and complete return of the Israelites to their own land. The following will suffice as a specimen :

1. Isa. xi. 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."

That this second return does not refer to that from Babylon of old as the relative first, is manifest from this consideration, that it was not from all those parts of the globe here enumerated

that that return took place. Therefore it must be their first future return from those parts, which is the antecedent to the second mentioned in this verse.

2. Isa. xlix. 20, 21: "The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?"

Israel, as a nation, is here represented as taking a view of the past destructions and desolations which she had endured, whereby the number of her children had often been very much diminished. A peculiar reference, perhaps, to their destruction by Gog, may be here intended, whereby the land of Israel will then have been greatly depopulated. But when the final return of the residue shall have been effected, it will be so full of inhabitants that there will be scarcely room for them. (Vers. 19, 20.) And the unexpected discovery (by the remnant that will have remained in the land) of such a multitude of their brethren, of whose existence they will probably have had no idea, will create that surprise, &c., which is so beautifully expressed in the passage.

3. Ezek. xxxix. 28: "Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.”

This portion is adduced as a proof that this will not only be the last, but that it will be also a complete return of every individual of the Israelitish race to the land of their fathers. When this shall have taken effect, their renovation will soon be completed.

III. That terrible scenes of destruction will, in like manner, precede the renovation of the Gentile nations.

A few passages will be sufficient to establish the certainty of this proposition:—

First. Those governments which will refuse submission to Christ, as King of the Jews, will be totally broken by their instrumentality.

1. Ps. ii. 8, 9: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

This prediction evidently refers to the time spoken of in Dan. vii. 14, 27, when the government of the whole world will be given to the Messiah, and afterwards to the renovated Israelites, subject only to the Redeemer. This is the purport of the former verse of the quotation. The latter verse expresses the destruction of the refractory governments which will oppose this decree of the Most High. And that this will be performed by the instrumentality of the Israelites, will appear from the following quotations :—

2. Isa. xli. 15, 16: "Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them."

The mountains and hills here represent the greater and lesser governments of the globe. The words may be understood in two senses: either, first, that the Israelites themselves, after their renovation, will be constituted or made this threshing instrument; or, secondly, the instrument may signify some very peculiar means that will be made use of by that people, under the Divine superintendence, for the destruction of their enemies, and whereby they themselves will be perfectly secured from harm. But whatever particular means or circumstance be intended, it will probably be of a nature, altogether unprecedented.

This awful affair evidently coincides with the work of the symbolic stone, Dan. ii. 34, 35, &c.

3. Isa. lx. 12, "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." The purport of this is so plain that no comment is necessary.

4. Isa. lxvi. 14-16, "And the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire, and by his sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many."

This passage plainly proves that the judgments which will be used in breaking the opposing governments, and for the destruction of the wicked in them, will be of a peculiar and miraculous nature; and from the concluding words we may infer that the destruction will be very extensive.

The same awful times and circumstances are referred to in5. Micah v. 8, 9, 15, "And the remnant of Jacob shall be