came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them." (xxxvii. 7, 8.)

The work, therefore, is not yet done: we have the form of godliness, but not the life and power of it; and, in order that this may be communicated, the prophet is commanded,

2. To pray for the life-giving influences of the Holy Spirit. "Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Gon, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." The wind, we know, is an emblem of the Holy Spirit, and, indeed, the same word is used, in the original Hebrew, to express the wind, breath, and the Spirit. (ver. 14.) To prophesy unto the wind, therefore, can signify nothing else but to pray for the Spirit, whom the Lord hath promised to put within the people of Israel, (xxxvi. 27,) but with the express declaration, (ver. 37,) "Thus saith the Lord GOD, I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." And when that prayer is earnestly offered up, in faith and obedience, it shall also be abundantly answered. "So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." "Ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live." (xxxvii. 10, 13, 14.)

We understand, then, from this vision, that the means to be used for the spiritual conversion of the whole house of Israel are, The Preaching of the Word, and Prayer for the influences of the Spirit;-the very means which the London Society is now using, and in the use of which they earnestly call upon all Christians to unite with them. The event is plainly and faithfully promised; the means to be used are appointed. Let us, therefore, arise and be doing, "For thus saith the LORD; Sing with glad. ness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel." (Jer. xxxi. 7.)

On the foregoing scriptural statement it may be necessary to offer a few remarks:

I. With the Restoration of the Jews to their own land, the London Society have no concern. That is left to be brought about in God's own time and way. Their con

cern is only with the spiritual welfare of these outcast and perishing sinners. But it was needful, in taking a Scriptural view of the question, to insist upon the prophecies of their restoration,-because these are usually connected with the prophecies of their spiritual conversion; and they serve distinctly, to determine and limit the reference of those prophecies to Israel after the flesh, and to a future period of the Church's history.

II. Neither have they any immediate concern with the connexion between the promised conversion of the Jews and the subsequent conversion of the world. It does not, and cannot, affect their plans: nor are they concerned to show, in what manner the blessings promised to Israel will operate in conveying such abundant blessings to the Gentiles. But they desire that the Scriptures should be justly and soberly interpreted; and that so much of the Divine plan as is plainly revealed, should be clearly understood and humbly acknowledged, to the glory of His wisdom and His grace. Only it may be remarked on this head,

1. That the connexion between these great events implies, that the conversion of the Jews is an event exceedingly to be desired by the Gentiles; an event which they ought not to regard with jealousy and ill-will, but to look forward to with special rejoicing. This also is agreeable to the representations of the Scriptures, which frequently call upon the Gentiles, in express terms, to rejoice in the mercies bestowed upon Israel.

And, 2. That this connexion sufficiently accounts for the weight and importance attached in prophecy to the conversion of Israel, and for the vast multitude of passages in which it is referred to. The event is glorious and important, not only for itself, but still more on account of the glory which will follow, and which will be introduced by it. It is, probably, a neglect of this important connexion, which has induced Christians in general, to consider many of these passages as too glorious to refer to a single people, few in number;

—and they have, therefore, been accustomed to apply them altogether, in a spiritual and figurative sense, to the Church at large, without considering, in the first instance, their proper prophetic reference to Israel after the flesh.

III. In reading the prophecies with a reference to the Jews, it is needful to distinguish between those which were fulfilled at the time of their restoration from Babylon, and those which were yet to be accomplished. Some have been disposed to limit all the prophecies, relating to their restoration to their own land, to that period of their history; and, hereupon, have taken occasion to reason away, as unfounded, all our hopes, not merely of their future restoration, but of their conversion also. The following marks are, therefore, to be attended to, which will generally enable the ordinary reader to distinguish those prophecies, which have yet to receive their full accomplishment.

1. Sometimes the glorious terms, which are used upon this subject, sufficiently declare that some far greater event than the return from Babylon is intended. For that was only a restoration of a small number of the people, from a single country, and under many circumstances of poverty, oppression, and lasting distress. This is apparent from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and also from the subsequent history of the Jews, as collected from uninspired sources. No doubt some of the prophecies were then expressly and literally fulfilled: but an attentive consideration of the general strain of prophecy will convince us, that, with respect to most of the passages, the restoration from Babylon was nothing more than a pledge and earnest of the far distant, and far more glorious restoration, which was specially in the mind of the Holy Spirit. That restoration, therefore, is not properly to be considered as a fulfilment of those prophecies at all, but only as a gracious encouragement vouchsafed us, to stimulate and confirm our hope of their fulfilment.

2. Accordingly, when peace and safety are promised in connexion with restoration, we may surely affirm, "This prophecy has never been fulfilled." For example, it is written, Ez. xxxiv. 28, "They shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid." This is not true if referred to any period of their past history. From the restoration

from Babylon, till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Jews were always an oppressed and tributary people, surrounded by powerful enemies, dependent upon different heathen governments for support, and harassed with many invasions. The Scripture, however, cannot be broken; and we look forward to a real and positive fulfilment of every promise, which has not been clearly, and according to a fair and judicious interpretation, fulfilled already.

3. The promise of perpetual possession of their land, is equally, and even more obviously, decisive; as when it is said, They shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein 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.—And I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them FOR EVERMORE." (Ez. xxxvii. 25, 26.) This was, evidently, not true of the restoration from Babylon;-for, after a few hundred years, the temple was utterly destroyed by the Romans, the Jews were cast out from their own land in a more fearful manner than before; and, ever since, they have been outcasts and wanderers on the face of the whole earth.

4. It is evident, that the Ten Tribes have never yet been restored. Whenever, therefore, the promise extends to Ephraim or Israel, in connexion with, and as distinguished from Judah, we may rest assured, that a future, and not any past, restoration is spoken of. Upon this point the whole passage Ez. xxxvii. 15-22, may be considered, in which the future union and restoration of Judah and Ephraim is first symbolically represented, (ver. 15-17,) and then clearly predicted, (ver. 18-22.) With this may be compared Jer. xxxi. 15-31. But nothing can be more clear and decisive than Isa. xi. 12, 13, "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. 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."

5. A restoration from all countries is sometimes em

phatically promised. "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. (Is. xi. 11.) "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the LORD liveth, which brought up, and which 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." (Jer. xxiii. 7, 8; see also xxxii. 37,&c.) The former restoration was almost exclusively from Babylon and Chaldea.

6. Sometimes we meet with a promise of a better state than any former. The promise, "I will cause to return the captivity of the land, AS AT THE FIRST, saith the LORD," (Jer. xxxiii. 11,) has never yet been fulfilled: still less the express declaration, "I will settle you after your old estates, and will do BETTER unto you than at your beginnings." (Ez. xxxvi. 11.) This could never be said of the restoration from Babylon, in respect of either spiritual or temporal things. It remains, therefore, to be accomplished in the future restoration of Israel.

7. Nor can any thing be more decisive of the reference of a prophecy of the restoration of Israel to events yet future, than its connexion with promises of universal spiritual conversion, and a life of godliness, under the government of David their King. To Him it is promised that they shall return, after their present dispersion. (Hos. iii. 4, 5.) And it is very evident, that to His government they have never yet submitted. Nor was it possible that these promises should be fulfilled, till after the mystical David, there spoken of, had been revealed-that is, till the time of the Christian dispensation ;-during which it is clear, that, thus far, there has been neither spiritual conversion, nor restoration, of the Jews as a nation. They continue, to this day, in obstinate rebellion against that King: but we wait for a time, when "they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from