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and the wine, and the oil, the young of the flock, and of the herd, but that God may be honoured in all the earth, and especially in the place of his appointment, then shall all things be added unto them.

The Lord calls attention to what he here declares; and well may those who have ears to hear, reiterate the call, to "Behold" this avowal of the divine purpose. It is a thought which few of the disciples of Christ seem as yet to entertain, that they should be engaged in any such work as that which the Lord hath here described. Many seem to think that the Lord hath so utterly forsaken the place of the soles of his feet, as that he has little or no regard to what may Le done there; as that He will no more make it the place of his throne, and the place where He will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever; As that our King, the son of David, according to the flesh, will not sit upon the throne of his father David, according to the promise. They seem to regard as a command the prediction of our Lord, "The time cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." That certainly was not a general command with regard to mount Gerizim or Jerusalem. He himself frequented Jerusalem after that saying, even although it cost him his life, and he told his apostles not to depart therefrom, until they were endued with power from on high. Nor were his disciples to desert that city, until they saw it encompassed with armies, and when their numbers could of course only aggravate the horrors of the siege. The words of our Lord as to the cessation of spiritual worship, of the worship of the Father, on his Holy Mountain at Jerusalem, were most certainly not intended to convey a command to those who are everywhere to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting. They contained a prediction which has been most literally verified. The Mahommedan worship, which alone is tolerated on the site of the temple at Jerusalem,

most pointedly denies that God is a Father. The Father hath not there been worshipped in any way, neither on Gerizim have men been worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. But is this state of things always to continue? No. The Lord, having found what he hath been so long seeking-a people to worship Him in spirit and in truth, the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.

There are others who admit that the word of prophecy will be found literally true-that God will at length accomplish his promising word with respect to Jerusalem. But they say that all this will be after the Lord's second advent-that what we regard as the sign of his coming, the preparation of the bride, will not be before the return of the bridegroom-that the place of his feet is not to be preparedthat Jerusalem, whom He will choose again, is not to make herself readythat his people will not, and should not, wait for him at the place appointed that they should rather flee away from Zion than seek to comfort her. But did not the disciples already flee out of Jerusalem? And has not Jerusalem been trodden under foot of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled? And is not the word clear and uniform, that at the end of this long desolation, so soon as the people should come to a knowledge of themselves, and of the occasion of their being cast out among the Gentiles, whilst the vilest of the heathen would be given to dwell in their empty heritages, they should begin to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and to seek her good? Jerusalem is directed to loose herself from the bands of her neck. She is to be instrumental in her own release; Zion is to put on strength; Jerusalem is to put on her beautiful garments, and become "the Holy City," through the being active in her own purification, and glorious preparation for the coming of her Lord. It is of the Lord's power and holiness, that she is to be made pure and glorious It is

through the redemption which is in his blood, that she is to be lifted up; but still the command is, that she raise herself up: and the Lord's complaint is, that after she hath wrung out the dregs of the cup of trembling, there is none that taketh her by the hand, of all the sons that she hath brought up. But this reproach, upon the many who have been begotten again, by the word which proceeded from Jerusalem, shall not always continue:

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Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers, and they that made thee waste, shall go forth of thee, Lift up thine eyes round about, and see! all they gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doth."

These, that thus first assemble are not unbelieving Jews, but the believing children of Joseph, clothed with the righteousness of the Redeemer of Israel, the Lord our righteousness.The Lord by Ephraim, as found in Him, will build up the walls of Jerusalem, and gather together the outcasts of Israel. These shall be assembled to that manifestation of those sons of the Living God, which, as the stones of a crown, the preparation for the crowning of the King, shall be lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

Then shall that be, which evidently has not yet been: but which, as evidently, is to be, upon the very spot the Lord did of old choose. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord."

It

is to be built "to the Lord." He has expressed his desire with regard to it; and his people will enter into his desire.

It was his desire that a throne should be placed for him in the most holy place in the temple, which was accordingly built unto his glory. It is now his desire that Jerusalem itself should be prepared as a throne for the God of the whole earth; that it should be built for his glory; and then, as truly as He filled the most holy place with his glory, as sitting upon the mercy seat, will He fill the earth with

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his glory, while his visible presence shall abide over Jerusalem, when the new Jerusalem shall descend out of heaven from God.

The Jerusalem upon earth, which man is to build unto the Lord, is sufficiently distinguished from the Jerusalem above, which the Lord Himself hath built. This will come down from heaven, whilst that has to be lifted up, as being built upon her own little hill; the localities of which are given with such particularity, as to prevent any mistake with regard to the place designed. It is to be built "from the tower of Hananeel;" which appears to have been on the northeast corner of the city," to the gate of the corner north-westward : : but it is not to stop there: "the measuring line shall yet go forth over against, upon the hill Gareb," encompassing Goath, which is supposed to be Golgotha, the place where the Lord lay;

-where was laid the foundation stone. The stretching out of the city is thus to be westward. And, as to the south side, "the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields, unto the brook Kidron, shall be holy unto the Lord."

It does not seem that men will account any of this portion their own, but the Lord's. It will be for the Lord's service. Unto his glory the city is to be built: for the entertainment of strangers, for the relief of the poor and needy; for the sheltering of the widow and the fatherless; for the centralization of all means, which the Lord hath given, or may give, for doing good unto all as we have opportunity, is this spot to be consecrated unto the Lord. The Lord intends, that on this mountain a feast should be made for all people. And He hath given directions, saying, "When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; but thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." This advice remains to be followed; and when it shall be followed by the Lord's people, in and

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from all parts of the world, contributing, as to the Lord, and in his sight, for this manifestation of the power of redeeming love in the place appointed, then shall they be blessed, and then shall be the recompense in the resurrection of the just. May they lay this to heart! May those who profess to be the disciples of Jesus think of how he hath fed, and clothed, and visited, and comforted them; and go and do likewise, and that in the very place where he shed for them his blood to redeem them, and to procure for them all the blessing they enjoy or can hope to possess; so shall He soon come and say unto them, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."-" Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Built up thus in charity, upon that Foundation of our faith, in the blessed hope of the resurrection of the saints, and the glorious return of our Lord, Jerusalem "shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever." The nations may rage, and the people may imagine a vain thing; the kings of the earth may combine, and the

rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed: but He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the "Lord shall have them in derision." Then shall the word be found true, "Whosoever shall gather together against thee, shall fall for thy sake." Think you that He will not avenge His own Elect, which cry day and night unto Him, when they are thus found obedient unto the voice of their Lord, in the place of his appointment? Though he hath borne long with them in their backwardness to obey his so-plainly-revealed will, or rather with their blindness and deafness to his word and working: yet I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless-although the command is so clear, and the encouragement so great, it may still well be asked, When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith in the earth? Men have said, He will not. But the Lord hath not answered so. And we see that He hath directed far otherwise; and His promise is to a people that shall wait for Him at Jerusalem. And our undoubted duty is to follow the mind of God as revealed; so shall we find the promise sure.

LET us now briefly recapitulate. After the Bequest the witnessing of Judgment and Mercy, in the commencement of Jer. xxxi., we saw, in the first seven particulars, correspondent to the Seals, v. 8-22, that Israel, in their utterly lost condition, was described in the centre, whilst He, in whom he has salvation, is the subject of the first and the last of these particulars.— On the contrary, in the last seven particulars, xxxi. 2-26, which describe the Heir, Christ's oneness with his people is the subject of the centre one. Next to that in the third de

scription, v. 10-14, and fifth, v. 18-20, we have the identification of scattered Israel, and the recognition of the lost son Ephraim. Outward from thence we have the place in which they shall be found, and the principal way of their return pointed out; and first and last we have all the families of Israel, and the houses of Joseph and of Judah gathered into one. The Lord is then the glory in the midst of Israel, and a wall of fire around them.

The Bequest having been fairly made out, and the Securities produced,

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and the heir in Christ, together with his circumstances clearly indicated, the God of Israel has, as we have seen, added his Name in all its fulness.

First, God is distinctly presented to us, ver. 27—30, as the God of Providence; who hath indeed dealt wondrously with Israel. Of Him they have often sung—

"God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform."

Not

He hath been ever watching over Israel and over Judah, to disappoint them in all their waywardness and wanderings; that they might he taught to seek their rest only in Him. only has He watched over them; He will also do so in the future; but for a purpose very different, even to build and to plant them; and He will change even the great laws of his providence, so that they shall no longer be in danger of suffering for the transgression of their fathers; but every one shall be dealt with as his individual case demands.

Secondly, God is presented as the Counsellor, ver. 31—4, as in the fulness of His compassionate regard, counselling as to the most effectual good for both Israel and Judah: by the blood-shedding of the Lamb of God, a full atonement has been made: and thus it is said, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Thus shall they no more be called "Lo Ruhamah;" the Lord will fully have mercy upon them, upon both Israel and Judah.

But although Judah, or a remnant of Judah, has remained in the view of the world, Israel has been to appearance so entirely lost, that the Lord is pleased to reiterate his promise again with regard to this house, and that in the strongest manner, in the two succeeding paragraphs: the first, as before, regarding their existence as his people, and the second his having mercy on them: thus reiterating the two names

by which he calls them in Hosea, Ammi and Ruhamah.

Thirdly, the Most High, the Lord of Hosts, presents Himself, ver. 35, 36, as the Creator, the Mighty God, who upholds creation; who controls alike the heavenly bodies in their regular courses, and the raging deep in its wildest commotion. He whose power doth accomplish all this, gives his word, that the ordinances whereby all in heaven and on earth is moved, shall as soon depart from before him, as Israel shall cease from being a nation before him for ever.

Fourthly, in ver. 37, we are reminded of the extent of the divine compassion, of the love of Christ; the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of which, passeth knowledge. The height of heaven may as soon be measured, or the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, as that the mercy of the Lord, towards the house of Israel, can be exhausted—as that he will cast off all the house of Israel, for all that they have done. He is the everlasting Father, whose mercy towards His children is unceasing, everlasting. The house of Israel hath been esteemed, if not utterly cut off as a people; yet at least cast away, and utterly left in heathen darkness, in some obscure corner of the earth: but it is not so. Although they have been called Lo-Ruhamah, he has had mercy upon them still. He hath ever been sending after them the messages of his love, although they were so slow to listen to his fatherly voice.

Fifthly, He is the King of Jerusalem, the city of peace—Peace it will pre-eminently enjoy, as being peculiarly the Lord's. It is to be built to Him. It is to be holy unto the Lord: and being established thus, in righteousness, and built up in his love, it shall now abide; and not as hitherto be trodden under foot by every passer by. "It shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever."

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The most enlivening promises, respecting the great restoration of Israel, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, were given in circumstances well calculated to teach the important truth, that the prophecy came not according to the will of man, but holy men of God spake as moved by the Holy Ghost. Jerusalem, as we are told, ch. xxxii. 1—5, was besieged by the King of Babylon's army; the prophet had himself, for declaring the word of God, been shut up in the court of the prison: He had thus in his own case sufficient proof of the guilt of the city; and of how much it merited the punishments with which it was threatened. He was, moreover, assured that the siege would be successful; that even the King Zedekiah would be led away captive to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was greatly exasperated against the Jews, and there was no outward security that the destruction of the Remnant, by the Babylonians, would not be as complete, as appeared to have been that of the great body of the tribes of Israel, by the Assyrians. In such circumstances the purchase of land near Jerusalem would seem not to be an act prompted by human wisdom. Yet then it was that the word of the Lord, ver. 7, 8, came unto the prophet, saying, "Behold Hanameel, the son of Shallum, thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.

The announcement of this business appears to have surprised even the prophet himself; hut when Hanameel actually came to him, uttering the words which had been predicted, then he knew that he had not been mistaken, but that this was actually the word of the Lord, which was thus confirmed to him by fact. He acted accordingly; going through the forms of purchase; as if the Land were free to be possessed, and as if he were free to enjoy the inheritance he redeemed, ver. 9—12. "And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open. And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel, mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the hook of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison."

Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer, He hath not only redeemed for us the lost Inheritance, but He hath redeemed us for himself, with his own blood. Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich. He hath done all things according to the law. The Land of promise belongs to our Lord, not only