vided amongst them; and the measure of the City was round 18000 Measures, and the Name of it, The Lord is there, Ver. 35. This has not yet happen'd, for only two Tribes return'd after the Babylonish Captivity; and the Tribes did not poffefs the Land in that manner, nor were govern'd by Kings, but for the most part by the High-priest.

Zech. 10, v. 6. I will strengthen the Houfe. of Judah, and fave the Houfe of Jofeph, (i. e. the ten Tribes) and I will bring them again to place them, and they shall be as if I had not caft them out.

Ver. 7. And they of Ephraim (the ten Tribes) fhall be like a mighty Man.

Ver. 8. And I will hifs for them, and gather them, for I have redeemed them.

Ver. 9. And they shall remember me in far Countries, and they shall live with their Children, and turn again.

Note, That Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi prophefied after the Return of the two Tribes, whofe Return is describ'd in Chap. 8. of Zechariah.

Malachi, Ch. 3, Ver. 17. And they shall be mine, faith the Lord, in that day when I make up my Fewels, and I will spare them as one spa

reth his Son.

Ver. 18. Then shall ye return, and discern betwixt the Righteous and the Wicked.

Chap. 4, Ver. 2. But unto you that fear my Name Shall the Sun of Righteousness arife, with healing in his Wings.

Efdras,

Efdras, Book II, Ch. 13, contains a particular Account of the Return of the Jews from their Captivity; as the Angel interprets the Vision.

Ver. 25. The Man coming from the midat of the Sea.

1

26. The fame is he whom God the Highest hath kept a great feason, which by his own felf fhall deliver his Creature.

32. Then fhall my Son be declared, whom thou faweft as a Man afcending.

35. And he fhall ftand on Mount Sion.

36. And Sion fhall come, and shall be fhew'd to all Men, being prepared and builded, like as thou faweft the Hill graven without Hands.

39. And whereas thou faweft that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him,

40. Thofe are the ten Tribes, which were carried away Prifoners out of their own Land, in the time of Ofea the King, whom Salmanasar the King of Affyria led away captive; and he carried them over the Waters.

46. Then dwelt they there umil the latter time; and now, when they fhall begin to come, 47. The Highest shall stay the Springs of the Stream again, that they may go through.

49. And when he hath deftroy'd the multiude of the Nations that are gather'd together, be fhall defend his People that remain.

Note, St. Jerome, in his Comment on Ezekiel, acknowledges, that the Jews in his time believ'd' the ten Tribes fhould return to a glorious Jerufalem, and there ufe Circumcifion, offer Sacrifices,

and

and obferve their Sabaoths; and he confeffes that many Christians held the fame. So did Tertullian, in his Book de Spe Fidelium; and Lactantius, in his Inftitutions, lib. 7; and Bp Victorinus Pi&avienfis, in his Expofitions; and Severu, in his Dialogue he call'd Gallo; and both Irenæus and Apollinarius. Tho' St. Jerome thinks the 31ft Chapter of Ezekiel fulfill'd in the Coming of Chrift, yet he seems to doubt of it, in these words: Aut certè in fecundo complenda credimus, quando in fua majeState dominus apparebit, & fubintraverit plenitudo gentium, ut omnis Ifrael falvus fiat.

I will next give the Sibyls Defcription of the Return of the Jews, but will firft advife the Reader to confult Mountague's Acts and Monuments of the Chriftian Church, who afferts, That the Romans collected the prefent Oracles, and digefted 'em into Volumes, and these the Fathers quoted; and from thence Virgil and Cicero had the Notion of a new World, and the Restoration of all things, and of a King to come from Heaven. He fays, the Erythrea calls her felf Nupon, that is, a Woman or a Maid defcended of Noah's Blood; and she was from Sem, who outliv'd Abraham, about whose time she might live: Some of the Sibyls liv'd before most of the Prophets, but thofe of Cumana and Hellefpontica later than almost all the Prophets.

Bellarmin allows the Sibyls, and St. Jerome thinks they had the Gift of Prophefie for their Virginity; and all allow, that out of Judea there were many Prophets, as Job, Ba

laam,

Sibyl. Orac.
Lib.2, P.198

Orac. lib. 3. P. 269.

P. 273.

laam, &c. Clem. Alexandrinus fays, the Sibyls
Books foretell things to come. Hyftafpes
was in the time of Cyrus, and he writ in
plain terms concerning the Son of GOD.
Trismegiftus fpeaks of the Trinity, and he
was an Egyptian Prince and Priest.

Tum quum bis femitribubus conflatus ab ortu
Adveniet populus, populumq; requiret Hebræum
Cognata ftirpis, quem perdidit Affyriorum
Impetus, illata gentes ita clade peribunt:
Poftremo rurfum vehementibus imperitabunt
Hebræis, fidis, electis, fub juga miffis
Ut prius

Zechariah's Defcription of the Siege of Ferufa-
lem, where Gog is deftroy'd; and a second
Siege, where the City is taken.

Et tunc fole Deus regem demittet ab alto
Qui totam terram diris recreabit ab armis,
Occifis aliis, aliis in fœdera jun&tis :
Atq; iterum magni florebit amata Dei gens,
Divitiis, auro, atq; argento, purpureoque
Ornatu, tellufque parens gaudebit, & æquor,

Plena bonis

The state of the Jews after the destruction of the Gentiles, who befieg'd them after their

return.

Interea magni proles fecura tonantis
Circum adem vivent, & lætabuntur in illis.
Tunc omnes pariter fabuntur infula & urbes
Quanto illos adamet Deus immortalis amore.
Tunc dulci incipient meditari carmine laudes.
Rev. ch. 15, mentions the Jews as finging upon
their return.

Verum cum bellis jam Perfica terra carebit,
Et pefte & gemitu, tunc illo tempore vivet
Fudeum dium genus, & cælefte, beatum,

Qui terræ mediis habitabunt manibus ufque ad
Foppen.

Then Chrift appears, as in Zechariah, And they
look on him whom they pierced, and mourn.

Exiftetqz olim quidam vir ab æthere præftans,
Cujus frugifera diftendit in arbore palmas,
Optimus Hebræus, ------

Et modulata facris dicent tibi carmina linguis,
Igneus exiftet vero de nubibus æther,

Nec fatio prorfum fiet, nec aratio, donec
Norint mortales numen, quod cuncta gubernat,

Eternum.

This is the Converfion of the Gentiles by their
Deftruction, Zech. ch. ult. The Earthquake
is afterwards describ'd, as in Zech,

peribitis ergo

Motibus everfa terra.

Nam Deus omnipotens fceleratos eruet omnes
Fulgureque & tonitru.

Parce o omniparens tenera terræ & feraci
Judea magna, tua quò decreta feramus.
Ut videant omnes divino munere primam
Mortales hanc effe, Deo præcellere dante.
Solus enim præfens, claudet munimine tutos
Ardentiq; velut muro, circumdabit igne,

Sibyl, Orac.
Lib. 5.

Revelat. Ch. 15, Ver. 2. And I saw a Sea of Glafs mingled with Fire, and them that had gotten victory over the Beast stand in the Sea of Glafs, having the Harps of God.

Ver. 3. And they fang the Song of Mofes, and the Song of the Lamb.

Ver. 5.