missioned to take in some way the oversight thereof, and to see to it that the rules which God had laid down should not be departed from, and that nothing contrary to them should be introduced. While he was perfect he walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, but iniquity was at last found in him. The opinion is very generally held, that pride was the sin whereby Satan fell (1 Tim. iii. 6), "Not a novice, lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil;" and with this ver. 17 agrees, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." But his pride must have manifested itself outwardly, as Eve's unbelief and pride did in eating the forbidden fruit. How it thus manifested itself, however, we are not informed here, unless the first clause of ver. 16 be understood as referring to its manifestation, inasmuch as it appears to assign the reason why he was cast as profane out of the mountain of God, and destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire. The words, "thou hast sinned," which are quite general, and convey no specific information, may be regarded as assigning that reason; but it seems most natural to regard the rest of that clause, as well as the first clause of ver. 18, as referring, not to Satan's first sin, but to the wickedness of the complete antichrist; while in the two latter clauses of ver. 16 Satan himself is addressed, and the punishment of his first sin spoken of; and in the last clauses of vers. 17, 18 and 19, Antichrist, as a man, is addressed, and the punishment which has been inflicted upon him declared. There is a perfect parallel to this passage, in regard to the individual spoken to and the manner of address, in Gen. iii. 14, 15. The serpent there spoken to is a compound individual, consisting of the serpent and the devil; both are addressed, the mere serpent in ver. 14, and the devil, the old serpent, in ver. 15, while apparently the discourse is directed only to one.

We have thus brought before us in this passage the way in which Satan became originally connected with this world as its prince or lord—namely, by being created here, and appointed by God to that high position. He was the rightful lord of the world till iniquity was found in him, when he was cursed, and cast as profane out of the mountain of God. But his connexion with the earth as its prince was not then broken; he continued, and will continue to be de facto, though not de jure, its lord till Christ himself, the true and rightful lord of the world, shall enter upon His inheritance, and finally cast the devil into the lake of fire. And that connexion, from his fall till he is at last consigned to punishment, is followed by the most baneful

results to the earth and all that live upon it. For was not his fall as lord of the world the cause of the chaos in Gen. i. 2? was not his connexion with the earth, as the sinful and fallen lord thereof, the cause of death before the fall?* And does not that connexion account proximately for the relation in which he stands to our race, and for the mighty and most disastrous influence which he exercised over our first parents, and which he continues to exercise over mankind at large?

We do not propound the above view of the passage as if we were absolutely assured of its correctness, but we give it as the view which, so far as we can see at present, comes nearest to the truth. And our object in writing these remarks will be attained, should they be the occasion of inducing any one either to shew more conclusively that the above view of the passage is the right one, or to establish another interpretation of the passage altogether.

ART. III.-SOME PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WHICH REFER TO THE FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. BELIEVERS in the future restoration of Israel are often told that the New Testament is opposed to their views. This we do not believe. To the Old Testament we principally look for direct evidence on this point; yet we maintain that, so far from the New Testament opposing our hopes concerning Israel's future national and spiritual glory, it sanctions and confirms all that the Old Testament says, and bears an independent testimony on this important subject. Some of these proofs found in the Epistles (principally as quotations from the Old Testament) we now propose to examine.

While God never allows any essential or important truth to rest only on indirect or incidental proof, yet He frequently introduces such kind of proof to illustrate and confirm truth already clearly and positively revealed in other places. Such additional evidence is most valuable and instructive-albeit, there is abundance of direct proof already. Take as an

* This, even as a mere hypothesis, furnishes by far the best, indeed the only reasonable, account of death before the fall of Adam. The supposition, that death, whether before or after the fall, is an arbitrary appointment of Almighty power, is perfectly incredible. That Adam's sin was the cause of it by retrospective action is a supposition that is almost equally incredible. The hypothesis, that Satan's sin was the cause of it, is every whit as reasonable as the fact that Adam's sin was the cause of the infliction of a curse upon the earth, upon his posterity, and of course upon the lower animals.

illustration of this the divinity of the Lord Jesus. No subject is sustained by more clear and direct evidence, yet the thoughtful reader of God's Word hails with delight almost numberless instances in which this blessed truth is taught incidentally, so that, as he reads God's Word, he exclaims, "My Saviour is over all, God blessed for ever.' Thus it is with the subject of Israel's future glory-there are hundreds of direct proofs in the Old Testament, and there are not a few in the New; but beside all these, there is much indirect teaching on this important point, some of which we will now introduce.

In Rom. x. 19, we have a quotation from Deut. xxxii. 21, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you." These words are originally addressed to Israel nationally, and are explained by the apostle as foretelling the calling of the Gentiles; which act, full of mercy as it was to them, had a judicial aspect toward Israel. But let us turn to that wondrous prophetic song of Moses where these words are found. This sentence, as interpreted by Paul, is a central point where we may stand and look back on Israel's past. How are we guided up the stream of time for 1500 years (that long day during which God stretched out His hand), through Israel's failure and rebellion, back to their first possession of the land, and then to their passage through the wilderness. All is here most literal, all has turned out, with regard to Israel, just as Moses foretold. Now let us look (still standing on this quotation) down the stream of time, and what have we here predicted ?—“ A fire kindled in God's anger," mischiefs heaped and arrows spent on guilty Israel. They are burnt with hunger, devoured with heat, and bitter destruction. Yet their remembrance from among men does not cease, lest their adversaries should behave themselves proudly." (Deut. xxxii. 22-27). All has been done to the letter; we may read it in every page of Israel's history; we see the terrible fact even now before our eyes. And should we not ask, with earnest solicitude, How does the great historical prophet, Moses, end his wondrous strain? What becomes of this much-favoured, most ungrateful, and long-chastened people, against whom the great heat of God's indignation has burned so long? and what is the doom of their proud oppressors? Thus closes this awfully glorious song: "God will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful TO HIS LAND and TO HIS PEOPLE." Why should not this be as literally true as all the rest? "God hath not cast away His people." The song of Moses begins with this fact, "The Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the lot

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of His inheritance;" and after " Israel's warfare is accomplished, and her iniquity pardoned," "the cup taken out of her hand, and put into the hand of those who oppressed her" (Isa. li.), the Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again" (Zech. ii. 12).

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The next quotation is found in Rom. xi. 26. It is written, "There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." These words of the apostle are quoted immediately after the apostle's assertion, that "blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles is come in," which clearly points out the time when they will be fulfilled, even after Israel's partial blindness is over, and God's purpose, in "gathering a people for His name" from among the Gentiles, is accomplished. If we turn to Isa. lix. 20, where these words, with some little variation, are found, we shall obtain further information with regard to other events which are to occur at that time, and the most positive proof that what the apostle predicts so clearly in Rom. xi. 2-27, of Israel's future salvation, will be fulfilled in their own land. Isa. lix. 1–15 describes the fearful wickedness of Israel in the latter day—from vers. 16 to 19 we have a description of terrible vengeance directed more especially against one who is called " the enemy," who is doubtless "the antichrist." Next, the Redeemer comes to Zion-a new covenant is established the Spirit of the Lord is poured out upon Israel, who become the mirrors of God's holiness and the witnesses of His truth-vers. 20, 21; and then in the next chapter, Isa. lx., which is a continuation of the prophecy, we have Israel's national and spiritual glory brought out more in detail than anywhere else in God's Word. We may take Isa. lx. as a Divine comment upon Paul's declaration, ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED," and feel the greatest confidence and joy in so doing. Here see that the salvation will be spiritual, rational, and enduring.

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We must pass over several quotations in the subsequent part of the Epistle to the Romans, a minute examination of which would prove the same point-see Rom. xv. 8–12, with Ps. xviii. 49, Deut. xxxii. 43, Ps. cxvii. 1, Isa. xl. 1-10. These four passages all clearly predict, and the last minutely describes, Israel's second and final gathering, their subsequent blessedness, and the blessing of all other nations in the new covenant people, even Abraham's seed, now, through rich grace, his spiritual as well as his literal children.

We next turn to 1 Cor. xv. 54, "So when this corruptible

shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." The apostle is here dwelling on the resurrection of the saints at the Lord's coming, and in doing this he quotes from a Jewish prophecy. The words are found in Isa. v. 8, and we ask that the whole of their connexion should be carefully examined. It will, we think, be found, from the commencement of Isa. xxiv. to the close of xxvii., there is a description of Israel's future troubles, deliverances, and glory. So many names and localities are mentioned, and so many details given, as regards Israel, their land, and various nations around them, that to spiritualise the whole, in order to apply it to gospel times and the Christian Church, is clearly impossible. But we can only refer to the one point which the text quoted in 1 Cor. xv. 54 indicates, which is, that the close of the present dispensation, when the dead in Christ are raised, will be the period of Israel's restored nationality. Then, when the great "saying' is "brought to pass" in the resurrection of the saints, all the events which are grouped round that saying in the original prophecy will also be fulfilled. Nor is this a solitary instance in which the resurrection of "the dead in Christ" is linked with the restoration of Israel. Many passages shew that they will nearly synchronise, the restoration following the resurrection. There is a reference to the same event further on in this strain of prophecy, "Thy dead men shall live. . . . Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust" (Isa. xxvi. 19). Also, in Dan. xii. 1-3, we have predicted the raising up of "many who sleep in the dust of the earth," and this is connected with Israel's deliverance from this time of unexampled trouble. This last passage naturally leads us to Matt. xxiv. 21-31, where Israel's time of trouble, and the gathering of the elect to Christ, the coming one, are linked together chronologically; while Matt. xxiii. 39, and Luke xxi. 24, shew that then will be the time when, Israel recognising the Messiah as the Sent of God, Jerusalem shall be no longer trodden down of the Gentiles. We may here just inquire, by the way, whether the apostle does not, in Acts xxvi. 6-8, connect together Israel's hope and the resurrection of the dead. Looking at all these things, how appropriate the figure of the resurrection of the dry bones, used in Ezek. xxxvii., to set forth Israel's national revivification! Contemplating this event and its results, the apostle exclaimed (Rom. xi. 15), "What shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" At that blessed period of the Lord's premillennial coming there will be a fourfold revival