ing. Therefore, thy gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish: Yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." No such event has been yet. When this shall take place, all nations, all mankind, must belong to the church; for all others shall be utterly wasted. The same thing is foretold by the prophet Zachariah.*

The sixty-first chapter of Isaiah is on the same subject, and the sixty-second throughout. Upon such promises made to the church, she breaks forth into joy and praise, in the prospect of the good that is coming to her. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations." "For Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Go through, go through the gates; prepare you the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway, gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath pro*Chap, iii. 14, 19.

claimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them. The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."* "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. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream."§

In the prophecy of Jeremiah, the following passages are found, which predict the utter abolition of idolatry on earth, and the conversion of all nations to Christianity, which events have not yet come to pass "At that time they shall call Jerusalem (i. e. the church) the throne of the Lord (i. e. the Lord shall reign in and by it.) And all nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem; (i. e. shall become members of the church.) Neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart." They shall wholly renounce their idolatry, and all their wickedness. Thus shall ye say unto them; The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under those heavens. They are vanity and the work of errors. In the time of their visitation they shall perish "+ According to this proph

* Isa, Ixii. 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12. † Jer. iii. 17.

§ Isa. Ixvi. 8, 9, 10. 11, 12, Chap. x. 11, 15,

ecy, this will take place while this earth and the heavens remain, and therefore before the day of judg

ment.

man.

This subject is set in a very clear light in the book of Daniel the prophet. It is there repeatedly declared that the church or kingdom of Christ, shall be the last kingdom on earth; that it shall succeed four preceding monarchies, become great, and fill the world, and exist in a very happy and glorious state on earth. By the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and the interpretation of it in the second chapter of Daniel, the kingdom of Christ is set in this light. The image which Nebuchadnezzar saw represents four kingdoms or monarchies, viz.-1. The Babylonian. 2. The Medo Persian, or that of the Medes and Persians. 3. The Macedonian or Grecian. 4. The RoThese are all to pass away and be destroyed, to make way for a fifth kingdom, which shall be great, and fill the world; which is described in the dream, by the following words: "Thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them in pieces. Then were the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." This is interpreted by Daniel in the following words: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter." That this last

among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Olet the nations be glad, and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Then shall the earth yield her increase and God, even our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us;

and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

The seventy-second Psalm, the title of which is, "A Psalm for Solomon," contains a prophecy of Christ and his kingdom, of whom Solomon was an eminent type. The Psalmist looks beyond the type to the antitype, and says things which can be applied to the latter only, and are not true of the former, considered as distinct from the latter; which is common in the scripture, in such cases. Here it is said, "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. All kings shall fall down before him: All nations shall serve him. His name shall endure forever: His name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him: All nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen."

"Arise, O God, judge the earth; for thou shalt inherit all nations."*" In this Psalm, the rulers and judges among men are accused of unrighteousness, and condemned: and then the Psalmist concludes with the words now quoted, which refer to some future event, in which God should judge the earth, and inherit all nations, in a sense in which he had not yet done it. In the second Psalm, the heathen, i. e. the nations, all nations, are given to Christ for his inher

Psalm lxxxii. 8.

itance; and here the same thing is expressed, "Thou shalt inherit all nations." And by his judging the earth, is meant his reigning and subduing the inhabitants of the earth, to a cordial subjection to himself; which will be more evident by what follows, where we shall find the same thing predicted.

66

The ninety-sixth Psalm relates wholly to redemption by Christ; to the happiness and glory of his kingdom, and his reign on earth. "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: The world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved, he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad: Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." What is here foretold, is to take place before the end of the world, and the general judgment; and it relates to the whole world, all the earth and the nations in it; the kingdom and reign of Christ is to extend to all of them: And his coming to judge the earth, and the world in righteousness, intends his reigning in righteousness, and bringing all nations to share in the blessings of his salvation and kingdom. Agreeably to this, it is said of Christ, by Isaiah and Jeremiah, "Behold a king shall reign in righteousness. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteous ness in the land," or in the earth.*

Great part of the prophecy of Isaiah relates to the flourishing and happy state of the kingdom of Christ, and the prosperity of the church in the latter days.When he foretells the return of the people of Israel from the Babylonish captivity, which was a type of the

* Isaiah xxxii. 1. Jer. xxxiii. 15.

B