shall even now be too narrow, by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away."* Such are the consolatory assurances of Jehovah to his people; while widowed Zion, seeing her long estranged Lord returning to her, and her children coming from from afar, and gathering around her, lifts up her eyes with mingled astonishment and adoration, and exclaims, "Who hath begotten me these?" "What hath God wrought?" Manner and circumstances of their conversion. "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born.”† "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east, and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." * Isaiah xlix. 14-16. + Zech. xii. 10. "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem." "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one."* That the Jews, thus converted, will become the great missionaries to the whole world, seems to be clearly inferred from the following passages:— “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation."+ “Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord. Men shall call you the ministers of our God."‡ "In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." § Who so fit to proclaim the glad tidings of the Gospel, as the illustrious monuments of its transforming power and grace? From what lips can divine truth flow more persuasively, than where the heart is overpowered with gratitude and love? Scattered, too, as they are among all nations, their conversion will consequently exhibit so universal a spectacle of the power, faithfulness, mercy, and *Zech. xiv. 4. 8, 9. + Exod. xix. 6. § Zech. viii. 23. love of God-it will afford so unequivocal a confirmation of the truth of prophecy, and of the wonderful dealings of Providence towards this remarkable people; that all men, as if with one common voice, shall exclaim, that the Lord he is God, and bow down in praise and adoration before him. An impulse shall be given to the world beyond what it hath ever experienced before; while the Jews, the distinguished monuments of saving truth and mercy, and acquainted, as they are, with the manners, languages, and habits of every country, shall be eminently qualified as missionaries for the propagation of the Gospel throughout the world. The holiness and blessedness of the Church, resulting from the conversion of the Jews. "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise." "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." "Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified."* * Isaiah lx. 18-21. LECTURE II. ON THE PRINCIPLES OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION. BY THE REV. T. R. BIRKS, A.M., FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CambrIDGE. HABAKKUK II. 2. "And the Lord answered and said unto me, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that may run that readeth it." he Ir is a solemn and instructive emblem, by which the Apostle St. Peter describes the word of prophecy, as "a light that shineth in a dark place." The present world, we are thus taught, and experience confirms the truth, is like a troubled and trackless ocean. It is a place which sin has filled with confusion, and buried in gloom. history is one perpetual round of strife, and war, Empires may rise and and tumultuous violence. Empires may Its perish; generations may come and pass away; but |