all, is an event yet far distant. At least a thousand years of peace and plenty shall intervene before all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and come forth-before the sea shall give up the dead which are in it— and Death and Hades shall give up the dead which are in them. This we hope to make more evident in the sequel.

2. After the awakening of these persons from the dust of the earth, some to inherit everlasting life, and some to suffer shame and everlasting contempt, the work of man's conversion will still go on. Some of the former class will, after their own resurrection, turn many to righteousness. This, we think, is the obvious meaning of the passage. But after the literal resurrection of all the dead, there will be no more preaching, no more exhortation, no more calling of sinners to repentance, no more conversion to God. He that is unjust then, will be unjust still; he that is filthy then, will be filthy still; he that is righteous then, will be righteous still; and he that is holy then, will be holy still. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first—then we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air-and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. iv. 15-17.)

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On the same occasion, though subsequent in the order of time, the wicked will also receive their final doom. For, says the same Apostle, (2 Thess. i. 6-10,) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revcaled from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."

3. This partial and figurative resurrection of which the prophet speaks, will also happen when the dispersion of the Jews shall have been accomplished, and at the close of three and a half years, or one thousand two hundred and sixty days of prophetic time. "And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto the heaven, and swear by him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished."

But the angel defines two other periods of time, which, if reckoned from the same chronological epoch as the first, which seems most probable, will terminate, the one thirty and the other seventy-five years after this partial revival from the dust of the earth, and more than a thousand years before the literal and final resurrection of all the dead. The former seems to mark the era when many of the Israelites will begin to comprehend the principles and purposes of the remedial economy; and the latter, the commencement of a period distin

guished for all that renders life desirable. "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." For then the sanctuary shall be cleansed; then an angel shall lay hold of the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bind him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he may deceive the nations no more till the thousand years be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season, before the dead shall arise, the judgment sit, and the books shall be opened. From these premises, we therefore conclude, that the words under consideration do not refer to the literal resurrection of all the dead, nor even to the final resurrection of all the Israelites, but to a previous event in the fortunes of this wonderful people.

To determine what this event is, we have only to refer to some other inspired witnesses, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Some of its antecedents have, we think, been clearly ascertained. From the prophetical order of events, and, as far as we can judge, also from the chronological, it appears that the Ottoman empire will first fall--that Michael will again stand up in behalf of the scattered tribes of Israel-that many nations will join in conflict over the ruins of fallen Turkey-that every Israelite who can trace his genealogy to the father of the faithful, will be emancipated-and that next in order will occur this great revival from the dust of the earth. From the last clause of the seventh verse, it also appears, that it will happen immediately after the consummation of the dispersion of the holy people. "And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." These words seem to imply that God has assigned a limit to the present dispersion and captivity of the twelve tribes-that at the close of this period, having been emancipated through the agency and intervention of Michael, there will be a very general revival of this down-trodden and oppressed people, which will finally result in their complete reunion-and that this revival, with respect at least to chronological order, is identical with their awakening from the dust of the earth.

This seems to be a fair and impartial exegesis of the words of Daniel; and we now propose to sustain it by evidence that we hope will be satisfactory to all. That many of the dispersed Israelites will be emancipated, reanimated, and brought back to Palestine, is, we think, probable for the following reasons— I. They still cherish a most ardent desire to inherit the land of their fathers. The following brief extract is taken from an appeal made to the Jews on this very subject, in 1840, by a learned son of Abraham: "The day of the Lord will appear; his wrath rests not for ever on the unhappy seed of Abraham! For ages he has led us through the wilderness of privation and woe; but the trial is coming to an end. Already dawns the day of redemption from the East, from the land of our fathers, the loss of which we weep with tears of blood. Our inheritance, rent from us by the destroying sword of the Romans, laid waste aud desolate by inundations of Arabs, Seldshucks, Mongols, and Osmans, is expecting its lawful possessors to rise, from annihilation, to the eminence which David, the ruler of Jerusalem and Damascus, once conferred upon it.”

These words do not express the hope of an individual. The feeling is very general. Mr. Buchanan says, "That wherever he went among the Jews of Judea, he found memorials of their expulsion from Palestine, and their belief of a return

thither. Though they have seen the temple twice, and the city six times destroyed, their confidence is not abated nor their faith gone. For eighteen hundred years, the belief has sustained them—without a king, a prophet, or a priest -through insult, poverty, torture, and death; and now, in the nineteenth century, in the midst of the march of intellect, and, what is greater, in the far greater diffusion of the word of God, both among Jews and Christians, we hear a harmonious assent to the prayer that concludes every Hebrew festival, ‘The year that approaches, O bring us to Jerusalem?" "No matter," says Mr. Wilde, in his Travels in Palestine, "no matter what the station or the rankno matter what, or how far distant the country where the Jew resides, he still lives upon the hope that he will one day journey Zionward. No clime can change, no season quench that patriotic ardor with which the Jew beholds Jerusalem, even through the vista of a long futurity. On his first approach to the city, while yet within a day's journey, he puts on his best apparel; and when the first view of it bursts upon his sight, he rends his garments, falls down to weep and pray over the long-sought object of his pilgrimage, and with dust sprinkled on his head, he enters the city of his fathers. No child ever returned home, after a long absence, with more yearnings of affection; no proud baron ever beheld his ancestral towers and lordly halls, when they had become another's, with greater sorrow than the poor Jew, when he first beholds Jerusalem."

These extracts show that at least "many" of the Israelites are ready to rise from the dust, or, in the strong language of the Leipsic Journal, to "rise from annihilation," to return to Palestine and take possession of the holy land and holy city, just as soon as God in his providence shall give them an opportunity. And that this opportunity will soon be afforded them, is rendered highly probable from the fact that the power that now hinders, will soon be taken out of the way that the same heavenly messenger that led their hosts out of Egypt and out of Babylon, will again stand up in their behalf-and that there is, even now, in all Protestant nations, a growing disposition to sympathize with the Jews and to favor their return to the land of Canaan.

II. Palestine, by divine right, belongs to the Jews. To Abraham and to his seed was it given for an everlasting possession (Gen. xiii. 15, and xvii. 8.) The Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Egyptians, Syrians, Romans, Saracens, Seljukians, Mamelukes, and Ottomans, have, therefore, all been usurpers. But the last of these are rapidly declining; and in a few years, they will be like the nations that God once destroyed before the children of Israel. Hence it is reasonable to suppose, that Palestine will then revert to its rightful owners; for our Saviour certainly assigns a limit to the period during which Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles (Luke xxi. 24.)

We might farther multiply probabilities, but it is unnecessary. The following testimony from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Ezekiel, is, we think, altogether conclusive on this point. We first quote from the evangelical Isaiah (xi. 10-12), "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 rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

From these premises it appears—

1. That there was to be a second gathering together of the Israelites.

2. That it would not be merely from Babylonia, and perhaps from some of the adjacent provinces, as was the case with the first return under Zerubbabel, but from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the Mediterranean; or, in general, from the four corners of the earth.

3. That it is to happen while the root of Jesse, or the Messiah, shall stand up as an ensign for the people; or at some epoch of the Christian era. But this epoch has not yet arrived; Israel is still scattered to the four corners of the earth, and will remain so tili the Ottoman power, and all other hindrances, shall

be taken away.

Still more conclusive and satisfactory is the testimony of Jeremiah, (xxiii. 3-8) -“And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and I will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them, that shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. 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 the name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North country, and from all countries whither I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land.” There is here, as well as in the extract from Isaiah, an evident allusion to the conversion of the Israelites to Christianity. But the Prophet also as clearly teaches, that they will first be gathered out of all countries into their own land— that this deliverance will be even more memorable than their exodus from the land of Egypt-and that it will take place sometime during the reign of Him who is called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Corroborative of this are the concluding verses of the prophecy of Amos :Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel-and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them--and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof-they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their own land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God."

If anything more is necessary to prove that the children of Israel will again be restored to their own land, it may be found in the thirty-sixth chapter of Ezekiel. It consists of two parts: the first fifteen verses are an apostrophe to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the depopulated cities of the land of Canaan; and the remainder of the chapter is an address to the dispersed Israelites. In the former, the Prophet speaks of the reproach and the insolence of the heathen, who have had possession of the promised land-their merited and certain punishment-the reversion of these mountains and valleys to their legitimate owners-their subse

quent fruitfulness and permanent settlement. It is, therefore, evident that all this relates to the future; and that these hills and mountains, brooks and vales, will yet be taken from the Turks and restored to Israel for an everlasting possession.

From the latter part of this very interesting chapter, it appears that the children of Israel were removed from Palestine and scattered among the heathen on account of their multiplied sins and transgressions--that even since their dispersion they have continued to profane the name of the Lord-that they will, nevertheless, for the glory of God, beʼgathered out of all countries, and brought again into their own land-and that both they and their land will be afterwards regenerated, and become to the surrounding heathen a demonstration of God's special providence and righteous government in the affairs of men.

We need scarcely say, that this part of the prophecy is also yet unfulfilled. No one, acquainted with the history of the twelve tribes, can refer it to the past; nor can it relate exclusively to their future introduction into the Christian church. This event and their return to Palestine, are clearly distinguished by many infallible criteria. Hence we conclude, that the children of Israel will yet arise from their present degraded and wretched condition, and be gathered out of all countries into the land which God gave to Abraham and to his posterity for an everlasting possession.

It now only remains to inquire whether this general revival of the children of Israel, antecedent to their return to Palestine, is the same event as that which Daniel describes under the figure of a resurrection from the dust of the earth. As to the propriety of thus applying the metaphor, we think there can be no controversy. It is fully sustained by the usus loquendi, ancient and modern, sacred and profane. Every Christian is a resuscitated man. He has died to sin and been buried with Christ in baptism, wherein he has also been raised with him to walk in newness of life.

"Buried in sorrow and in sin,

At hell's dark door we lay;
But we arise, by grace divine,

To see a heavenly day."

In like manner, every individual and national change from extreme weakness and degradation to a state of great prosperity and influence, is, in the popular style, called a resurrection from the dust, from the grave, or from annihilation, according to the circumstances of the case, and the emotional temperament of the writer. This figure has been very often applied to the Jews, by writers of all classes. W. C. Taylor, LL.D. M.R.A.S. of Trinity College, Dublin, in his Manuel of Modern History, says, "The fanatics who were preparing to march to the third crusade, (A.D. 1188,) butchered all the Jews they met with in Germany and Italy, and similar barbarities were exercised in this and other countries, so that the annihilation of the devoted race seemed inevitable; but this, like other storms, passed away. After a while, the Jews again rose from the dust, some returned to their ancient habitations, and others pushed forward into the then almost unknown regions of Poland, where they at length became, and still continue, a very influential part of the population." If, then, the revival of a few Jews in Western Europe, can, with propriety, be called a resurrection from the dust, how much more applicable is this metaphor to a revival which will result in the full restoration of ten or fifteen millions of this dispersed,