and fill the whole earth;-and, in our context, it is the same kingdom of which David (meaning Christ) will be our king forever. Hear further: "Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above," (these certainly look like gospel blessings,) "blessings of the deep that lieth under," (yes, Christ says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,") "blessings of the breast and of the womb." Again, Christ says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." I will here remark, that the same blessings which Jacob gave to Joseph are in substance repeated to Ezekiel, and afterwards promised by Christ to gospel penitents. Also, let me turn your attention to Moses' blessing Joseph, Deut. xxxiii. 13-17: "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him who was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh." Here we have the gospel blessings again brought to view, in Moses' prophetic blessing of Joseph; all things in heaven and in earth are given into his hands, or placed upon his head. This reminds us of the blessings of Christ, Eph. i. 10, "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather in one (kingdom) all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him." How exactly do these blessings agree:

Joseph pushes the people together to the ends of the earth; Christ gathers them in the fulness of time at the end of this dispensation.

This is sufficient for my purpose, to show that Joseph is a lively type of Christ, and that in Christ both sticks would be united, and Judah's rod (or stick) swallowed up in the Shiloh when he should come; and then there would be but one stick unto the ends of the earth, and then would our spiritual Joseph push the people together, and to him would the gathering of the people be. "And I will make them one nation, in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all." This king can be no less than our spiritual Joseph, and his kingdom was typified in the stick of Joseph, as Jacob said in his blessing of Joseph, "From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel." But you will ask, Why is Joseph's stick in the hand of Ephraim? I will answer you: Joseph's stick, or kingdom, was not yet made manifest, neither could it be while Judah's was yet standing;-as says Paul, Heb. ix. 8--15, Christ must first come, the mediator of the new testament, before the old could be done away, or immerged into the new. Therefore, when Ezekiel gave this prophecy, Ephraim was broken, and was not a people. See Isa. vii. 8. This was about 742 years before Christ, and Ezekiel's prophecy was given only 587, being almost a hundred years after Ephraim was no more a people. Of course, he was a fit type of the gospel church, who were not a people until Jesus came and took the stick of Joseph out of the hand of Ephraim, which then were not a people, and constituted a new covenant people, and made them sons and daughters of God. He then brake off all the dead branches from Judah's stick, and with the living branches under the old covenant, called in our text"the children of Israel his companions," he called in the Gentiles, which were not a people. Like Ephraim, they were scattered over the whole earth, in all the kingdoms of the world; the moths had eaten them, Hos. v. 12; they were unaccustomed to the yoke, Jer. xxxi. 18. "Ephraim has mixed him

self among the people; he is a cake not turned," says Hosea, vii. 8. That is, he is yet among the people, the Gentiles; they have not repented, they are not accustomed to the yoke, (the Jewish laws.) See Hos. viii. 12: "I have written unto him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing." Ephraim is a type, then, of the state of the Gentiles, when Christ came, and called in the believers among the Gentiles, immersed them into one body both Jew and Gentile, and they became one in his hand, that is, one kingdom, and both together constituted the whole house of Israel; that is, the seed of Christ, the companions of the spiritual Joseph. Hos. i. 9-11, has reference to this very thing of which I have been speaking, when he says, Then said God, call his name Loammi, (not my people ;) for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." That is, "They are not all Israel which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called." See Rom. ix. 6-27. You will there see Paul uses the same arguments as I have used, and for the same purpose, to show the union of the spiritual seed of Judah and Joseph, and who are the true Israel of God. But we will return to Hosea, 10th verse: "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place (Jerusalem) where it was said unto them, (Gentiles,) ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, (Gentiles,) ye are the sons of the living God;" at Jerusalem united with the stick of Judah, "it will be said," &c. "Then (at that time) shall the children of Judah (meaning the companions of Judah) and the children of Israel (the companions of spiritual Joseph, now called sons of God) be gathered together, (united into one stick, one government,) and appoint themselves one head, (Christ, for he is head over all things to the church,) and they shall come up out of the land, (out of all nations;) for great shall be the day of Jezreel," (the

meaning of which is, the seed of God.) I pray you, my brethren, study this prophecy of Hosea with this view; understand Judah as being the representative of the Jewish kingdom, and Joseph and Ephraim as representatives of the gospel kingdom, and its state; and if you do not find harmony and light in it, and many other parts and prophecies in the Bible, I shall be not a little surprised.

I will bring one more proof that Ephraim represents the gospel kingdom among all nations. See Gen. xlviii. 16-20: "The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shalĺ become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh." You see when Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, he blessed Ephraim, the younger, above Manasseh, the elder: "he (Manasseh) also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a fulness of nations.” This is plain and positive proof that Ephraim would be called the head or representative of the gospel seed, which Paul calls the "fulness of the Gentiles," and which Jacob calls "fulness of nations." Paul says, "So all Israel shall be saved," that is, when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Our text says, "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all

the house of Israel his companions." Here is the same fulness, the same all, and the same Israel, in one case as in the other.

II. I SHALL SHOW HOW AND WHEN THESE STICKS WERE UNITED.

They are united by Christ, are made one in his hand. John xi. 52: "And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad," evidently meaning Jews and Gentile believers. Again, John xvii. 22, 23: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me." Ezekiel says, verse 28, "And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel." Again, see 1 Cor. xii. 12: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, (one stick,) whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free." See Eph. ii. 14-16: "For he (Christ) is our peace, who hath made both (Jew and Gentile believers) one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, (Jew and Gentile ;) having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain (Jew and Gentile) one new man, (one stick,) so making peace;" that is, "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim."

In what manner are they made one? I answer, by being all born of one Spirit, having one Father and one mother. See Eph. ii. 18: "For through him we both (Jew and Gentile) have access by one Spirit unto the Father." The context says, verse 27, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." John i. 13: "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" and, "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Gal. iv. 26: "But Jeru