grace and of supplications, is a figure. All of these are figures, and of such a nature as not to be misunderstood. They express unequivocally the idea of conversion, a blessing which our Second Section proves to be also the subject of abundant promises in which no figure is used. Why, then, must the promises of the coming of the Lord be also supposed to predict what is thus so fully and plainly declared? There is no need for the assumption. In most cases, it can only create a mere redundancy of expression, and it is altogether inconsistent with the language of many of the predictions in which that coming and presence are announced.

"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." Is. xii. 6. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and The Beloved their King; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Hos. iii. 4, 5. It has been a literal " king" and "prince" that the children of Israel have so long been without, and this want is to be supplied by " The Beloved" himself becoming "their king." This prediction contains also a distinct promise of their conversion, for they shall then "fear the Lord;" and this shall be "in the latter days."

"Behold the Lord God wu r. Come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." Is. xl. 10. "And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed." Joel ii. 27. "So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.... but Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that 1 have not cleansed; for the Lord dwellelh in Zion" Joel iii. 17, 20, 21.

On this subject, instead of connecting and comparing Scripture with Scripture, in order to obtain its combined evidence, it has been more usual to assume that Christ will not reign personally upon earth, and then to endeavour by any means to explain all these passages, as they individually occur, consistently with the views entertained. Even with this resolution it must occasionally prove difficult really to believe that some of the preceding promises mean nothing more than the universal prevalence of holiness, and the greater effusion of the Holy Spirit, while the Redeemer still remains in heaven. And if such an accommodation prove inadmissible, as an explanation of declarations so explicit as have been already quoted, there are others which still less admit of any spiritual interpretation. In a most important and interesting prediction clearly referring to future times, the prophet Isaiah says, "Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the t'gyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will 1 give over into the hand of a cruel lord -, and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts. .. .In that dny shall Egypt be like unto women; and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking ot the hand of the Lord of Hosts which he shaketh over A. ... In that day shall there be an altar to the L-otd m the midst of the Land of Egypt, and a plilar at t\ve V^aer thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a ^^^ .:»£., a witness unto the Lord of Hosts, in the land oV ^°^ej. for they shall cry unto the Lord because of t^i a Great sors, and he shall send them a Saviour, rf One, and He shall deliver them. And the be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians she Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice

stood in their natural sense, the lion and the leopard, the wolf and the bear; the ox, the cow, and the calf; even the asp and the cockatrice are all transformed with ease: and, however disimilar in their natures and habits, all become men of holy character and harmless dispositions. Consistency would require that the little children too, whether weaned or only at the mother's breast, for whom these animals will, by the predicted change, be rendered safe play-mates, should also be made to grow to the perfect stature of harmless manhood. The circumstance of children being introduced into the prophecy, and that in contradistinction both to lions and lambs, to leopards and kids, is additional proof that both are to be regarded in their natural sense, if either be. The whole circumstances form evidence sufficient to prove, (should the language of such predictions require confirmation,) that upon the natures of the Inferior animals, a great, a miraculous change will be effected at the Millennial Day.*

SECTION XI.

'THE REDEEMER'S MILLENNIAL REIGN. It has already been seen, from some of the preceding passages, that during this period of uninterrupted felicity, the kingdoms of this world will be under the Redeemer's sway. By his sufferings and death he has purchased redemption for his people, and in our nature obtained from the Father a promise of the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. We see not yet, indeed, all things put under him: but Jehovah has declared his decree, and will in due time carry it into execution.

It is not the object of the present Section to prove Christ's stay on earth during the Millennium. This being the subject of the following Section, we confine ourselves at present to the selection of passages in proof merely of the Saviour's Millennial reign. This is explicitly declared in those which follow: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." Dan. ii. 44. "I saw in the night visions; and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages,should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed .... And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom Under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." Dan. vii. 13, 14, 27. In these verses we have declared the future setting up of a heavenly kingdom—a kingdom established by God himself, and which "shall not be left to other people." Though celestial in its origin, and having its government committed to the Son of Man, and administered by His saints, it is still on the earth, being "under" the heaven. It is, however, universal, being "under the whole heaven," and includes "all dominions." The time of its establishment and the manner of Christ's coming are here also introduced, but these being subjects of future consideration, we do not now advert to either.

This is a theme very frequently touched, and not unfrequently dwelt upon by all the inspired bards. In the following Psalm, as in many others, it has blended with it the Restoration of Israel, whose song of triumph on that occasion it evidently is: "0 clap your hands all ye people, shout unto God with the voice of triumph; for the Lord Most High is terrible: He is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, [Israel,] and the nations [by whom they have been oppressed] under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, [alluding probably to the New Division of the Holy Land,] the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. [His triumphal approach.] Sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding, [an exhortation to which more attention ought to be given;] God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the. God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted." Ps. xlvii. The restoration of Israel appears to be expressed in these "princes" being "gathered together." The term "Israel," which signifies " a Prince with God," was given to Jacob when, at Peniel, "as a prince he had power over the Angel and prevailed." This name was afterwards applied to his descendants, "the people of the God of Abraham," the "princes," apparently, in the above psalm, which clearly refers to Christ's Millennial Reign.

God is pledged in covenant to David to give this kingdom to his Seed, Christ: "I have made a covenant with my chosen ; 1 have sworn unto David my servant, Thy Seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations .... Also I will make Him,

my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His Seed shall endure for ever, and His throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for