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

AMOS the Prophet lived in the days of Jem roboam, the son of Joash, king of Ifrael, and prophecied about 787 years before Chrift.

V.

AMOS ix. II. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and will raise up his ruins, and I 12 will build it as in the days of old. That they may possess 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 soweth feed: and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills

14 shall melt †. And I will bring again the captivity of my people Ifrael, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof: they shall 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 possess 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 translation.

+ Or be fruitful.

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

HOSE A prophefied about the year 785 to the kingdom of Ifrael, in the days of the same Jeroboam the son of Joash.

VI.

HOSEA, iii. 4. For the children of Ifrael shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a facrifice, and without an 5 ephod, and without Teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek 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 Chriftianity, or of the world, which forbids the applying this Prophecy to any former return. Besides, 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 first of those four who are called the greater Prophets. He prophefied in the days of Uzziab, Jotham, Abaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, about the year 760 before Chrift.

VII. VII.

ISA. ii. I. The word that Ifaiah, the son of A2 moz saw, concerning Judah and Jerufalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above 3 the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, 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 shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from 4 Jerufalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow-fhares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword 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 Christian church, which immediately followed the first coming of Christ, and its prevailing over the religion of the heathens. But in fact, those events do by no means answer to this prophetic description. For not to insist upon the time here specified, the last days; when was it, since this prophecy was delivered, that any nations of the world were fo peaceably inclined, as to beat their swords 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 constant practice of all nations?

and is it not so at this present time? This Pro phecy is therefore not yet fulfilled; but refers to that time, when the Lord shall restore his people Ifrael; and by taking both them and his whole church under his more immediate protection, and fubduing all their enemies, shall cause mercy and truth to meet together, righteousness and peace to kiss 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 shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his reft II shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the fecond time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Affyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands 12 of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Ifrael, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from 13 the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

This Prophecy is so express for a second restoration of Ifrael (as appears by the 11th verse) that if there were no other to be found, I think this alone would be enough to ascertain 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 signify a time yet future; because they refer to the kingdom of the branch out of the root of Jesse, mentioned ver. 1. the peaceableness and happiness of which is defcribed in ver. 6, 7, 8, 9. by the wolf's lying down with the tamb, &c. which description, admitting it to be allegorical only, cannot, with any propriety, be applied to any state of Christianity that has ever yet appeared in the world. Neither do I see how, or by what rule of interpretation, affembling the outcasts of Ifrael, and gathering together the dispersed of Judah, can be made to fignify collecting a church among the Gentiles, as fome commentators have supposed.

ix.

Isa. xxvii. 12. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Ifraels *3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Affyria, and the outcasts 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 shall be gathered one by one. As to the time, it will be when the great trumpet shall be blown: which