faith JEHOVAH unto me, I will fit ftill (but I will "keep my eye upon my prepared habitation)-as the "parching heat juft before lightning; as the dewy "cloud in the heat of harveft.-For afore the harveft, "when the bud is coming to perfection, and the blof"fom is become a juicy berry, he will cut off the use"lefs fhoots with pruning hooks, and the bill shall take away the luxuriant branches. They fhall be left to"gether to the bird of prey of the mountains, and to "the beafts of the earth: and upon it fhall the bird of

66

66

prey fummer, and all the beafts of the earth upon "it fhall winter. At that feafon a prefent fhall be "ledde to JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, a people dragged

away and plucked, even of a people wonderful "from their beginning hitherto; a nation expecting, "expecting, and trampled under foot, whofe land "rivers have spoiled, unto the place of the name of "JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, MOUNT SION." Ifa. xviii. 1-7.

These swift meffengers are the fervants of JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, for it is HIS MESSAGE they are employed to deliver, and it is to the Jewish nation to whom they are fent; but does it not seem to be inferred that Ephraim, and the tribes of Ifrael his fellows, are the chief objects TO WHOM this meffage is fent? The meffengers are described as swift meffengers, failing rapidly upon the furface of the waters to execute their commiffion; does this comport with exertions AT HOME? By no means; it does not comport with any interference with those of Judah, and the children of Ifrael his companions,

companions, who refide in the land from which the meffengers fet out, or in any of the neighbouring states; THEY are in poffeffion of the Books of Moses and the prophets, in which the glad-tidings of their restoration are amply detailed. Thefe ever have been in the time of their adverfity, and are to this day their treasure, their comfort; they REMEMBER JERUSALEM, Pf. cxxxvii. 5, 6. and when the fervants of God "take pleasure in her stones, and "favour the duft thereof," it is a fign that the Lord is about to "arife, and have mercy upon Zion:" it is a fign" that the time to favour her, yea, the SET "TIME is come," Pf. cii. 13, 14. for HIS EYE is fixed upon his PREPARED HABITATION! Ifa. xviii. 4. But it is not fo with Ephraim, and the tribes of Ifrael his fellows, they are as it were cur OFF, they have LOST THEIR HOPE, Ezek. xxxvii. 11. and are not in poffeffion of the Books of Mofes and the prophets, which I firmly believe thefe fwift meffengers are ordained to deliver unto them; but it is evidently a long voyage that these meffengers. of JEHOVAH will have to take to execute their com miffion,

As to the queftion where this land lies, which is thus described as "fpredding wide the fhadow of its "wings;"" accuftomed to fend meffengers by fea, ❝even in bulrufh-veffels upon the furface of the "waters;" the learned bishop thus expreffes himself: "It is my opinion, that the time for the restoration "of the Jews is no otherwise defined than as THE

contend that although this 18th chapter of Ifaiah defcribes a people destined to be the inftruments of "Providence in the restoration of the Jews; it de"fcribes that people only by certain characters, "which have actually belonged to different people

in different periods of the hiflory of man, and "leaves it undetermined to what people, among the "various nations of the earth, thefe characters may "belong, when the time fhall come for the accom"plishment of the prophecy; and I contend that it

is a matter equally undetermined, from what place "the reftoration of the Jews will begin." Page 16. And again, in page 45: "The country, therefore, to

which the prophet calls, is characterized as one, "which, in the days of the completion of this pro"phecy, fhould be a GREAT MARITIME and " COMMERCIAL POWER, forming remote

alliances, making diftant voyages to all parts of "the world, with expedition and fecurity, and in the "habit of affording protection to their friends and "allies. Where this country is to be found, is not "otherwife faid, than that it will be REMOTE "FROM JUDEA, and with respect to that coun"try, beyond the Cufhæan ftreams."

It is, therefore, only by the events predicted in this chapter BEGINNING TO BE ACCOMPLISHED, that we can form any decifion as to the land from whence thofe fwift meffengers will be fent. It is a queftion of vaft importance, whether the events predicted in this chapter are not now actually in fulfilment: the learned bifhop defcribes the lopping and pruning

pruning mentioned in the 5th and 6th verfes as à judgment upon the Christian church. Page 84.

In

the latter ages, after a long fufpenfion of the visible "interpofitions of Providence, God, who all the "while regards that dwelling-place," (EVEN ZION, HIS PREPARED HABITATION) "which he "never will abandon, and is, at all times directing "the events of the world to the accomplishment of his own purposes of wisdom and mercy; imme"diately before the final gathering of his elect from

the four winds of heaven, will PURIFY his "CHURCH by fuch SIGNAL JUDGMENTS as fhall roufe the attention of the WHOLE WORLD, and in the end ftrike ALL NA"TIONS with RELIGIOUS AWE." Page 88. Surely there hath been an awful vifitation upon the nations profeffing the Chriftian religion, in almoft an uninterrupted fucceffion for the last twenty years. The pruning hook and the bill have been employed to leffen the number of our branches.

It is WANT OF FAITH that makes all things appear gloomy around us; and on and on the contrary the firm BELIEF in God's moft holy word, in which the reftoration of Ifrael is fo amply difplayed, is that light that will difpel this darknefs: "Arife, fhine;

for THY light is come, and the glory of JEHOVAH "is rifen upon THEE. For, behold, the DARK"NESS fhall cover the earth, and GROSS DARK"NESS the people: but JEHOVAH fhall arife upon "THEE, and his glory fhall be seen upon THEE.

And the GENTILES fhall come to THY light,

"and

and kings to the brightnefs of THY rifing." Ifa. lx, 1-3.

If we have FAITH to believe, that fhortly previous to the second advent of our Lord, when he will come to reftore again the kingdom unto Ifrael, Acts i. 6. "there fhall be figns in the fun, and in the moon, and "in the ftars; and upon the earth distress of nations, "with perplexity; the fea and the waves roaring; "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking

is

after those things which are coming on the earth," Luke xxi. 25, 26. we fhall, I think, be induced to conclude that the awful judgments which have prevailed against the Chriftian nations, are the commencement of that lopping and pruning defcribed in the 18th chapter of Isaiah; is there not fome comfort to be derived from the reflection? I conceive there great comfort to be derived from it, to those who can in fpirit and truth repeat that prayer which our bleffed Lord hath taught us: " Our Father which art ❝ in heaven, hallowed be THY name, THY "KINGDOM come, THY will be done in "EARTH as it is in heaven." The means that will be employed to effect it, is the preaching of the Gospel with "POWER FROM ON HIGH," Luke xxiv. 49. "This GOSPEL OF THE "KINGDOM fhall be preached in ALL THE "WORLD, for a witness unto ALL NATIONS; "and THEN fhall the end come." Matt. xxiv. 14. It is therefore manifeft, from the words of our bleffed Lord, that there will be a great outpouring of the spirit (as declared by Joel the prophet, Joel ii, 28—32.)

and