And again, ver. 20. But Judah fhall dwell for ever, and Jerufalem from generation to generation.

***********************

AMOS the Prophet lived in the days of Jeroboam, the fon of Joah, king of Ifrael, and prophecied about 787 years before Chrift.

V.

AMOS ix. II. In that day I will raife up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and will raife up his ruins, and I 12 will build it as in the days of old. That they may poffefs the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen which are called by my name, * faith the Lord that 13 doth this. Behold, the days come, faith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that foweth feed and the mountains fhall drop fweet wine, and all the hills 14 fhall melt +. And I will bring again the captivity

:

of my people Ifrael, and they fhall build the wafte cities, and inhabit them: and they fhall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof: they fhall also 15 make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I

will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, faith the Lord thy God.

The meaning here is, that they which are called by my name may poffefs the remnant of Edom, &c. and not the remnant of Edom, and all the heathen which are called by my name, as it may be understood from our tranflation.

+ Or be fruitful.

This

This Prophecy is fo exprefs and clear, that it wants no explanation. I fhall only observe, that the last verse proves the restoration here spoken of to be yet future.

HOSEA prophefied about the year 785 to the kingdom of Ifrael, in the days of the fame Jeroboam the fon of Joash.

VI.

HOSEA, iii. 4. For the children of Ifrael fhall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a facrifice, and without an 5 ephod, and without Teraphim. Afterward fhall the children of Ifrael return, and feek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.

The latter days, as I before observed, always fignify the latter ages of Christianity, or of the world, which forbids the applying this Prophecy to any former return. Befides, this Prophecy being spoken to the kingdom of Ifrael in particular, prevents the application of it to the return from Babylon, to which place they were never carried.

ISAIAH was the firft of thofe four who are called the greater Prophets. He prophefied in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Abaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, about the year 760 before Christ.

VII.

ISA. ii. 1. The word that Ifaiah, the fon of A2 moz faw, concerning Judah and Jerufalem. And it fhall come to pafs in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's houfe fhall be established in the top of the mountains, and fhall be exalted above 3 the hills; and all nations fhall flow unto it. And many people fhall go and fay, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways: and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion fhall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from 4 Jerufalem. And he fhall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their fwords into plow-fhares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation fhall not lift up fword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Notwithstanding that this Prophecy is in ver. 1. expressly faid to be concerning Judah and Jerufalem, yet almost all commentators have applied it to the establishment of the Chriftian church, which immediately followed the first coming of Christ, and its prevailing over the religion of the heathens. But in fact, thofe events do by no means answer to this prophetic description. For not to infift upon the time here specified, the laft days; when was it, fince this prophecy was delivered, that any nations of the world were fo peaceably inclined, as to beat their fwords into plow-fhares, and their spears into pruning-books? or that nation did not lift up fword against nation? nor learn war any more? On the contrary, has not this latter been the conftant practice of all nations?

and is it not so at this prefent time? This Pro phecy is therefore not yet fulfilled; but refers to that time, when the Lord fhall reftore his people Ifrael; and by taking both them and his whole church under his more immediate protection, and fubduing all their enemies, fhall cause mercy and truth to meet together, righteoufnefs and peace to kifs each other, and truth to flourish out of the earth, until the final period of all things.

VIII.

ISA. xi. 10. And in that day there fhall be a root of Jeffe, which shall stand for an enfign of the people; to it fhall the Gentiles feek, and his reft II fhall be glorious. And it fhall come to pass in that day, that the Lord fhall fet his hand again the fecond time to recover the remnant of his people which fhall be left, from Affyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cufh, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands 12 of the fea. And he fhall fet up an enfign for the

nations, and fhall affemble the outcafts of Ifrael, and gather together the difperfed of Judah, from 13 the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim fhall depart, and the adversaries of Judah fhall be cut off; Ephraim fhall not envy Judah, and Judah fhall not vex Ephraim.

This Prophecy is fo exprefs for a second reftoration of Ifrael (as appears by the 11th verfe) that if there were no other to be found, I think this alone would be enough to afcertain that event. Neither can it be truly afferted, that Ifrael has already been recovered a fecond time, or indeed

I

ever

ever recovered from all the places here mentioned. Besides, the words in that day do here plainly fignify a time yet future; because they refer to the kingdom of the branch out of the root of Jeffe, mentioned ver. 1. the peaceablenefs and happiness of which is defcribed in ver. 6, 7, 8, 9. by the wolf's lying down with the lamb, &c. which defcription, admitting it to be allegorical only, cannot, with any propriety, be applied to any ftate of Christianity that has ever yet appeared in the world. Neither do I fee how, or by what rule of interpretation, affembling the outcafts of Ifrael, and gathering together the difperfed of Judah, can be made to fignify collecting a church among the Gentiles, as fome commentators have supposed.

ix.

ISA. xxvii. 12. And it fhall come to pass in that day, that the Lord fhall beat off from the channel of the river unto the ftream of Egypt, and ye fhall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Ifrael. 3 And it fhall come to pafs in that day, that the great. trumpet shall be blown, and they fhall come which 'were ready to perifh in the land of Affyria, and the outcafts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerufalem.

The channel of the river here means the Euphrates; from which river to the Nile, or the river of Egypt, the Lord will expel the enemies of his people, and the children of Ifrael fhall be gathered one by one. As to the time, it will be when the great trumpet fhall be blown: which trumpet

C