to take out of them a people for his name: which visiting was by the instrumentality of Peter, and is declared by James to comprehend the return of the lost ten tribes. How absurd are the carnal, literal views of prophecy, now so generally entertained, when viewed by this judgment of an inspired Apostle. James declares, that in visiting the Gentiles, God builded up the tabernacle of David. Impossible! say religious systems, Jerusalem was then, and is still, trodden under foot of the Gentiles.* James affirms, that in his day of the gospel administration, the ruins were builded up by him whose name was "the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in." I cannot believe it, cries the stickler for future fulfilments. James makes proof of his ministry, by shewing that the residue of men had sought, and were seeking, the Lord. This contradicts the evidence of our senses, replies one who is promoting Christianity (Judaism) amongst the Jews, and seeking for the lost tribes in the four corners of the earth. It is preposterous, say these, for James to preach the gospel after this fashion, for does not the prophecy of Amos, which he quotes, declare that the tribes shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them, and plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof, and make gardens, and eat the fruit of them? Such is a specimen of the absurdities of modern Christianity. As we have often said before, we repeat, "Let God be true, though every man be found a liar." 'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." The Lord's thought, we believe was, in this matter, the thought of James, and the Lord's way, was that described by him who proclaimed, "I am the way;" and who also, we conceive, proclaimed, "I am the resurrection and the life," in opposition to the carnal conceptions of carnal minds.

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Now, as with Peter's sermon in Acts ii., we instituted a comparison with his Epistle, so also here, in James' sermon, in Acts xv., we can follow the like method with his Epistle. We have proved from internal evidence, that Peter, the Apostle of the Circumcision, wrote for the especial benefit of the circumcision. The like proof appears in the Epistle of James. I need only quote the first verse,- "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." This is so plain, that there is no necessity to examine the greeting, to see if it sustain the address. There is one verse, however, which I may mention, the 18th, in which James speaks of himself and the brethren as "a kind of first fruits of God's creatures." The marginal reference to this verse, in the small Bibles, is Rev. xiv. 4, where we read,— These are they which were redeemed from among men, the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb." Who are these, and whence come they? "I looked, and lo a Lamb stood in Mount Sion, and with him an hundred and forty-four thousand, having his Father's name written on their foreheads." This is the possession of the mountains of Israel which was promised to the scattered tribes. Perhaps there is a connexion between James' first fruits and the three thousand devout Jews, out of every nation under heaven, who received the word on the day of Pentecost, when the law of the spirit of life went out of Mount Sion; and it may be, that there is some light thrown upon James, by what Peter said when he was preaching beside the

* See Note I.

H

beautiful gate of the temple,-" Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." And here let me observe, that the advocates of a personal second coming of Christ cannot maintain that this sending, mentioned by Peter, was personal and visible, for who of his audience saw him after his resurrection? Why, then, should not Peter's hearers have rejected such preaching as being contradictory to the evidence of their senses? And yet it was not so. Many of those which heard the word believed."

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I will now conclude the subject of the restoration of the tribes. I must believe, from the brief examination which has been made, that all restoration future is without Scriptural foundation; that it arises from the common error of all systems which deny a past second advent, the error of comparing spiritual things with natural. I believe, that when the Bible, which is the testimony of Jesus, speaks of a restoration, it means no more a literal and carnal restoration, than did Christ mean a literal and carnal second birth, as Nicodemus supposed, when he spoke of the regeneration. I believe that there is as much absurdity in the notions of those who are now ignorantly engaged in " promoting Christianity among the Jews," as there was in the notion of the master in Israel, when Christ said to him, "Ye must be born again." I do not doubt but the same surprise would be expressed by our present Jew restorationists, when told of a past spiritual second coming, as was expressed by Nicodemus when told of the second birth: "How can these things be?" Such a mistake as this of Nicodemus and the learned doctors respecting the first advent, and doctrines therewith connected, gives to me a plain and intelligible solution of the mistakes now prevalent, among the learned and the unlearned, respecting the second advent and its accompanying events. We are almost inclined to ask how it can be wondered at that the adherents to any of our religious systems should be ignorant of the spirituality of the second advent, when we see that those who sat in Moses' seat-those who had the law and the prophets read in their synagogues every Sabbath-day-those who were most intimately acquainted with the Old Testament prophecies — those against whom the reproach was justly urged, "Art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these things?" that these were, as all religious sects will allow, utterly ignorant of the character of the promised Messiah, and the nature of his kingdon. There is, to my mind, no comparison between the advantages of the Jews of Christ's day, to whom were committed the oracles of God, and those religionists in our day who read the Bible, in ignorance of the times and seasons: no comparison, I repeat, between the advantages of the two parties, so far as a right interpretation of the law and the prophets is concerned. Knowing the entire distinction between the two covenants, I cannot, from the Scriptures, believe that the restoration of the Jews was ever intended to refer to that Jerusalem of which Paul wrote, "Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children;" but I am persuaded, from inspired apostolic testimony, that the restoration was to Jerusalem of which Paul likewise wrote to the Galatians, "Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all," to which they were come, blessed with all spiritual

blessings in Christ Jesus. Knowing the difference between the law and the gospel, it is surely needless to tell a spiritually minded person that we do not imagine such an absurdity as a bodily movement, a flesh and blood restoration to an earthly, corruptible, defiled, and fading inheritance (for such it must be, according to modern doctrines of an end of the world), but as Peter writes to his strangers, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. They who are now called Jews, may go back to that which is now called the Holy Land, for they, like their forefathers, are still looking for a Messiah. In the lapse of ages such a thing may be, but this going back will never be as the people of God-is not spoken of in the Bible—is a matter upon which Scripture is altogether silent; in fact, we defy any man, or any body of men, to prove that Scripture says one word by way of prophecy of any historical event subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem.

One word more, and I leave the subject. While I believe the doctrine of a future restoration is an absurdity, yet, at the same time, I can respect the attempt at consistency made by the advocates of such restoration, when compared with certain classes of religionists, certain Calvinists, and others who disbelieve the future restoration, and yet hold that the second advent is not past: who maintain that when Christ said, "These be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled," he included the restoration of the Jews, and excluded the resurrection of the dead, or the end of the world. This is miserable inconsistency, and reduces such systems far below the level of those which they are so prone to condemn and hold up to ridicule — ridicule, however, of none but the very few who are equally inconsistent, and labouring under a similar infatuation. I could have desired to insert in this place a diagram of the restoration of the tribes, which would have proved the view I have taken so plainly, that a child might understand it, and thereby confound the views of those who are looking for a restoration yet future. The diagram, however, would render the present little work too expensive for its purpose, and, as I may perhaps, at some time, devote a volume to the subject of the restoration in its relation to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, the diagram may for the present be excused.

I return now to the 10th chapter of Ezekiel, from whence this digression upon the tribes proceeded. In that chapter, as we have seen, the Apostles and their fellows are prophesied of under the figure of wheels. "It was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel, for the spirit of life was in them." I proceed to compare this with Daniel vii. 9, "I beheld, till the thrones were pitched down (till the judges sat, see Matt. xix. 28, compared with 1 Cor. vi. 3), and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire." This agrees with Ezekiel's vision, and the description given of the wheels in both prophets is much the same. “Wheels, as a burning fire," is Daniel's vision. "The spirit of life, or the living creature, was in them," writes Ezekiel; and explains, in his first chapter, "As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps."-(Ezek. i. 13, compared

Rev. i. 14-16, and i. 20.) For our present explanation of the burning fire, as applied to the angels of the churches, I may be permitted again to refer to Psalm civ., as prophetic of the ministry of reconciliation. "He maketh his angels winds, his ministers a flaming fire." This is paralleled in Daniel, "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." And having thus compared Ezekiel, Daniel, and David, we will bring the comparison to bear upon the day of Pentecost. The figure of fire is applied to the apostolic baptism, "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, being baptised of the Holy Ghost and fire."

Our next inquiry is into another comparison of prophecy with the events on the day of Pentecost, which will also further shew the correctness of the interpretation of "the wheels" which has been suggested. Daniel's vision of the wheels was connected with one who sat on a throne, like a fiery flame; so, also, Ezekiel's vision is connected with the same personage. "And above the firmament, that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, and upon the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above it."-(Ezek. i. 26-7.) Both prophets speak of a person in the throne. We search another prophet, and discover what is the name of the person. In Isaiah's 6th chapter, we read, "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up." The word "also," here connects the passage with what has gone before. We may look back till we come to the first verse of Isaiah's prophecy, where we read, "The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem," &c. Observe the words, "concerning Judah and Jerusalem." Suppose we read them in the two opening verses of the second chapter, "The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass, in the last days.' What is the inference from this? That the last days concern Judah and Jerusalem, and are not the last days of England, France, or of any country in America, which never could be included in the term "all the world" (empire), "Go ye," &c. They are last days connected with the sceptre departing from Judah, and a lawgiver from between his feet: last days, bounded by this express Scripture, "These be the days of vengeance, that all," &c. It was for these days, and it was in reference to Judah and Jerusalem, that Isaiah saw "the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up." This word "Lord," as here used, is in common characters; not so, however, in the fifth verse, where the prophet speaks of the LORD of Hosts. It need hardly be mentioned, that this latter is Jehovah's name, and that the former is the resurrection name of Jesus, as we shall have to shew presently, when we come to that part of the subject. We find, then, that he who sat upon the throne was Christ; but this is not sufficient of itself to establish the connexion between Isaiah's prophecy and those of Daniel and Ezekiel. However, the concluding portion of the verse in Isaiah vi. will supply the lack: 66 I saw also the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." What we are to understand by "his train," will soon appear, from a comparison of spiritual things with

spiritual.

The words, "his train," are rendered in the margin "the skirts thereof." This is opened up in Psalm cxxxiii. The first verse of that Psalm describes the blessing of brethren living in unity, or even together. This is explained by the observations offered upon the circumstance of the wheels being addressed only as one wheel; and no doubt but the prayer of Christ, "that they all may be one," is shadowed out here. The second verse enters into a description of the unity: "It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments." This verse is in connexion with the priesthood, and if the testimony of Jesus be the spirit of prophecy, then, from this mention of Aaron, we carry the fulfilment of this Psalm to times following the death of Christ, when he was priest by one offering of himself, once offered. Observe also, the word "head"-like the precious ointment upon the head. Is there here no intimation of the Head and Saviour of the body, which is described in the first verse to be brethren in unity, and in the present verse under the figure of "the skirts of the clothing?" We must remember Paul's question, " Is Christ divided ?" and the answer, "As the body is one, so also Christ;" and recollect also, that believers were kings and priests in apostolic times. The last verse of the Psalm bears out all that has been said, "As the dew of Hermon, that descended upon the mountains of Zion." This is paralleled in Hosea's prophecy of the restoration of the tribes, I will be as the dew unto Israel""There the Lord commanded the blessing, life for evermore." This is paralleled by Isa. ii. 3, "out of Zion shall go forth the law," not the ten Sinai commandments, but the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

Such, then, is the comparison which we have instituted between four prophets. We have established that they all speak the same thing, and that their prophecies must be fulfilled at the same time. We will now, in due order, proceed to investigate their fulfilment from the Apostolic writings, having proved that they belong to a new covenant. We have recourse at once to the day of Pentecost, hoping to discover, in the records of that day, a revelation of the prophetical testimonies we have just been considering. The prophets, we are told, prophesied of grace that should come in gospel times. This reminds of a glorious passage in Peter's first Epistle. Peter speaks of salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, and says, "Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and THE GLORY that should follow." (1 Peter i. 10, 11.) Searching!' And does not this agree with Christ's word to his disciples, "Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them?" And do not both scriptures agree with what we read in Corinthians, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him?" This is a quotation from Isaiah; but, saith the Apostle, "God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." Thus we see a beautiful correspondence with Peter's saying, Unto whom it was