: therein for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”—Isa. xliv. 23. Rev. v. 13. The Prophet MICAH, who lived about seven hundred and fifty years before Christ, points out the very place where the Messiah should be born, and with his Manhood, declares his Godhead also: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, everlasting."-v. 2. -v. 2. Matt. ii. 4—6. His humiliation is likewise predicted: "They shall smite the judge of Israel with a upon the cheek."-v. 1. Matt. xxvii. 30. from rod JEREMIAH, who prophesied about six hundred years before Christ, foretold his advent in the flesh: "The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man."-xxxi. 22. Here Christ is evidently declared, according to the first promise, to be the seed of the woman, Luke i. 35, for the words of this prophecy imply a miraculous conception. The cruelty of Herod is also affectingly described: "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not."-xxxi. 15. Matt. ii. 17, 18. The Messiah is promised, as in Isaiah, under the similitude of a Branch: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch; and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."-xxiii. 5, 6; xxxiii. 15, 16. Rom. xi. 26.; 1 Cor. i. 30.; 1 John ii. 1. EZEKIEL, who is supposed to have been carried captive to Babylon with Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and who began to prophesy about five hundred and ninety-five years before Christ, spake of him under the character of a Shepherd, and under the title of David: "I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it."xxxiv. 23, 24. John x. 14-16. This blessed Shepherd has appeared. He now, through his Spirit and Word, feeds the souls of his chosen flock. He reigns in their hearts. He sits enthroned in their affections. He is David their prince, whose yoke is easy, and whose burden is light; yea, whose service is perfect freedom. Ezekiel, in unfolding the prophetic roll, presents to our view a most animating, consoling view of the future glory and blessedness of God's ancient people. Now, they are scattered and peeled; trodden under-foot, and despised; yea, a proverb of reproach and a bye-word among the nations:-Now, they are suffering the just reward of their continued rejection of Christ and his salvation. His blood is still upon them, and their children. The wrath of God is come upon them to the utermost. But, "Hath God cast away his people ?"* St. Paul replies: "God forbid." A glorious period is approaching, when the riches of sovereign grace shall be displayed before an admiring world, by the restoration and conversion of the house of Israel. For, thus saith the God of Abraham: "I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms, any more at all: neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their Rom. xi. 1. dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and I will cleanse them so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them: and they all shall have one shepherd : they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherever your Fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children, for ever; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover, I will make my covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people."-xxxvii. 22—27. What an overflowing of mercy is here. These precious promises, like showers of blessings, are in store, to refresh and fructify the now desolate children of Israel. How should Christians pray, that the veil may be taken away from the hearts of God's ancient people; that they may acknowledge Christ to be the Lord, their spiritual David, their promised Messiah, their almighty Saviour. Then will be realised the glorious view of the Apostle respecting the restoration and conversion of the Jews : “If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?"-Rom. xi. 12. "If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead ?"-ver. 15. "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."-vers. 25-27. Blessed Jesus, take "to thee thy great power," and reign as Lord Supreme.-Rev. xi. 17. Let thy kingdom come. DANIEL, who was carried captive with Jehoiakim to Babylon, and styled by the angel who appeared to him, "a man greatly beloved,"* told Nebuchadnezzar by divine revelation, that the kingdom of Christ would be established upon the ruins of earthly kingdoms, and should never be destroyed: "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, (viz., the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman,) and it shall stand for ever." -ii. 44. Rev. xi. 15. This great man also foretold the precise period when Messiah, the prince, should be offered up in sacrifice for the sins of the world. This period is now past, above eighteen hundred years. Hence, Jesus Christ, in whom all the prophecies meet, is proved to be the Hope of Israel. Thus wrote St. John: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true: and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."-1 John v. 20. Precisely at the predicted time, Messiah was cut off, but not for himself; the veil of the temple was rent in twain, signifying that the way into the holiest of all was now opened; and in about forty years afterwards, "the people of the prince," viz. the Roman army under Titus, came to destroy the city and the sanctuary with an overwhelming desolation. And yet, though no Messiah, as described by their prophets, has since appeared; though their second temple is destroyed; though the daily sacrifice has ceased; and though the genealogical accuracy of their tribes is lost; the Jews wilfully reject the counsel of God + Dan. ix. 26. * Dan. ix. 23. ; x. 11, 19. against themselves, and stand among the nations, as an abiding testimony to the truth of Scripture.— Luke xxi. 24.; 1 Thess. ii. 14—16. This is the remarkable prophecy : 66 Seventy weeks (or four hundred and ninety years) are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after three-score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."-ix. 24-27. Gal. iv. 4-6.; John xviii. 14.; 1 Pet. iii. 18. The Messiah himself, just before his crucifixion, prophetically enlarged upon the miseries of the Jewish people. And with wonderful compassion exclaimed: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."-Matt. xxiii. 37, 38. Who can read the fulfilment of these awful prophecies of Daniel and of Christ, as recorded by Josephus the Jewish historian, who was himself an eye-witness of the horrors which he relates; and not feel convinced that Jesus is the Prophet foretold by Moses, the Priest and King predicted by David, the Messiah described by Daniel. He came unto his own, and his own received him not; therefore, the threatening pronounced by the Almighty to Moses, was |