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OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES,

ETC. ETC.

SECTION THE FIRST.

A RESTORATION OF THE JEWS TO THEIR OWN LAND, Previous to their general restoration, and to the coming of the Messiah in his glory.

IT has been observed in the Introduction, that in our looking forward to the great day of the Lord, of the few events foretold, and as yet unaccomplished, respecting which we may say, in the language of St. Paul, "For that day shall not come, except there come" this "first," one event that stands most prominent in the prophetic vision, is a previous return of some parts of the natural Israel, to the Holy Land, and their quiet settlement there : "When he shall have accomplished to scatter the

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power of the holy people," is indeed a note of time given to the prophet. Daniel.*

The great majority of the students of prophecy, whether they understand its language more or less literally, expect a final restoration of Israel to the land of their fathers, under a miraculous and most glorious dispensation of Providence.

This is the lofty theme of many of the scriptural prophecies. The attendant circumstances of this restoration, and the undoubted issue, are, from the descriptions of the prophets, so extraordinary and manifestative of the immediate interposition of the Deity, that we cannot mistake them; whether they form the undisguised subject of the divine oracle, or whether in its symbolical and typical style less important occurrences in the history of the church and of the world, are employed to shadow them forth to posterity.

But there are passages in Scripture which may lead us to conclude, that before this grand and final restoration, in which the power of the present Deity is so evidently displayed, there is to be a restoration of the Jews to the land of Palestine, a restoration of a more partial and confined character, not so astounding in the eyes of the nations as is implied in the descriptions above referred to, a restoration which perhaps may take its rise from events of no very extraordinary character, and may pass in the eyes of the world as no very unusual occurrence

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Daniel xii. 7. "In the completing" or finishing the dispersion of the holy people," (Sept.) shall all these wonders be completed, or finished.

in the political changes and renovation of nations: If Greece is to be restored as a nation, why not the common-wealth of the Hebrews? Nay, from so small beginnings may this prediction of holy scripture proceed to its full accomplishment, that the scoffers of these last days may for some time have to produce it as an instance, where as they will affirm a prophecy has led through the credulity of mankind to its own fulfilment.

I come to this conclusion respecting a previous, partial restoration of the Jews, from the fact revealed in prophecy: that, after their abode for some time, as it should seem, in their recovered country, they are the object of attack from their earthly foes. It is argued, therefore, that in the first "turning again of his hand unto this people," Jehovah cannot have so "laid bare his holy arm in the sight of the nation" as, at length, he is described as doing, to the entire discomfiture of all the enemies of his people. For although we know that the wonders wrought in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the Wilderness, after an interval of forty years, while Israel was concealed in the desert, were not sufficient to awe the warlike nations of Canaan into unresisting submission; yet, in the present improved state of civilized man, of the intercourse of nations, and intelligence of governments, it is not to be supposed that miraculous interpositions of Providence, surpassing in greatness-as according to the prediction they will surpass in greatnessthe wonders of the first Exodus, could have been already displayed in the restoration of this people,

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and the political rulers of the earth still count them as a common prey.

This, however, several prophecies predict to be the case. That, found in Ezekiel, ch. xxxviii. is very clear and express. There, after the period of Israel's restoration, their last great enemy is addressed in the following language :

Ver. 8. "In the latter days thou shalt come into the land, that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel, that have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them."—" Thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages: I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; to take a spoil and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places” that are now "inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land."

We have here a description of Israel, or of some portion of it, restored to their own land, after its long desolation, gathered from the nations, brought back from the sword that had dispersed them, and to a certain degree made to thrive and flourish in peace, on the site of their ancient inheritance. They have gotten cattle and goods;" but their prosperity is soon disturbed by the invading foe. This description by no means agrees with the view which the spirit of prophecy gives us of the eternal and undisturbed felicity of Israel, at the period of their grand final restoration. Hence I argue for the necessity of a previous restoration of the Jews to Palestine: brought about, indeed, by the same

Divine Providence, which his believing people will not fail to observe; but which will not have appeared in the eyes of nations, nor perhaps in the eyes of Israel themselves, as that manifest interposition of the Deity for which they look, according to the plain and unquestionable language of their prophets.

In the prophecy now before us, we discover that it is only in judgments afterward to be inflicted upon this last invader of their country, God declares,

xxxviii. 23. "Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah."

It is not till after a repeated description of this vengeance of the Almighty, that we read:

xxxix. 21. "And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them."”

Nay, it appears from the following verse, that this executed judgment has a similar effect upon restored Israel themselves, in making known their God unto them:

22." So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah, their Elohim, from that day and forward."

This declaration may well hold our minds in suspense, respecting the religious character of that first restored portion of Israel previously to this Divine judgment upon their invaders.

It appears to me also, that it is after the effect of this stupendous vengeance upon mankind and upon Israel-after Jehovah is made known, that the grand,

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