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speaking. In Acts iii. 24, he styles that time "these days," saying, Yea, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those that follow after, have likewise foretold of these days." Now, that the restoration of the tribes is intimately connected with Peter's quotation from Joel, is evident on a reference to Joel's prophecy. After the words, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered," we read, " for in Mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call; for, behold, in those days (the last days), and in that time (the last time), when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." The systems of the day are looking for all this yet to come, for a bodily gathering into the literal valley of Jehoshaphat, thereby subverting the new covenant, and forgetting, when they think of Jesus, as David, king of Israel, that he is the root as well as the offspring of the first David, the resurrection Lord and Christ, in whom there is and was a blessing, with all spiritual blessings, in the heaven of heavens. We recognize the children of Israel, seeking David their king, in the three thousand devout Jews, from every nation under heaven, from the north country and all countries, who were of the remnant whom the Lord would call; the remnant according to the election of grace, as Paul writes, when exhibiting the antitype to the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. We realize, in the conclusion of Peter's sermon, the fulfilment of the magnificent language of the prophets, when telling of Messiah's kingdom, "The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

But while thus believing, and thus persuaded, I am content that an objector shall deny that the Jews, out of divers countries mentioned in Acts ii., were of the dispersion of the ten tribes. If it be any advantage to an objector, he may take the full benefit of an admission that all these, out of every nation under heaven, belonged to Judah, and were not strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, but devout men, coming up, according to the law, to worship with their brethren, after the manner of their fathers. What then? Is there aught gained by such an admission in the matter of the restoration of the tribes? Nothing whatever. The restoration is equally clear as taking place in Apostolic times, without the testimony of Acts ii. as with it, and Peter himself is our authority for this statement. His first Epistle is addressed to the strangers scattered through divers countries. Let us see what Peter writes to these strangers, by way of discovering who they were, and what their name. I find the object of my search in the 10th verse of the 2nd chapter; "Which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." Now I do earnestly desire to be guided into the truth. I am contending for nothing but truth; truth is the sole object which I have in view; and I believe that in this verse I read the fulfilment of prophecy, which said that the children of Israel should return and seek unto the Lord their God, and David their king. With

out adverting to the prophecy already quoted, ("Within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people,") I will give you the grounds of this belief, from the marginal references in the small Bibles which are in almost every one's possession,-I mean the marginal references to 1 Peter ii. 10. One reference is to Hosea i. 10, "It shall come to pass that instead of that it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God;" (compare Rom. viii. 19-21.) Here is the very word of Peter to the strangers. Another reference is to Hosea ii. 23, “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say unto them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." Here again are the very words of Peter to the strangers. How then can we conclude that these are other than of the dispersion, Hosea's prophecy being allowed to be concerning the outcast of Israel, under the name of Ephraim ? But there is still another marginal reference appended to the 10th verse of Peter's 2nd chapter; the reference is Rom. ix. 25, which is the quotation out of Hosea already mentioned. I refer you to the following, the 27th and 28th verses of that chapter, "Esaias also, as well as Hosea, crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved; for he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Who are meant by the remnant is evident from the 11th chapter, "Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace." This remnant contained "all Israel," as Israel then denoted Abraham's true seed, but according to the common interpretation, there is to be a time when there shall not be one unbeliever in the family of Jacob; a conclusion as preposterous as the universalism which rests for support on passages like that out of Corinthians, wherein the Apostle is discoursing of none but the church, viz., "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

So much then for one verse from Peter's Epistle, in order to prove who and what were the strangers to whom he was writing. I will now proceed to another, from the last verse of the same second chapter; "Ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." There is a class of religionists who talk much of sheep, of Christ's laying down his life for his sheep, of sheep knowing the voice of the good Shepherd. Calvinists will tell us, that the sheep will not listen to the voice of a stranger, (Arminian,) for they know not the voice of strangers. Calvinists will descant by the hour on the nature and disposition of sheep; what silly, innocent creatures they are, how prone to wander; and then Calvinism will lay this flattering unction to the souls of its experimental hearers, as a description of themselves, God's elect family, his sons and daughters, for whose manifestation, we are to suppose, the whole creation is waiting, in earnest expectation, as in the Apostle's day, of mighty signs and wonders. What would Calvinism say, if it were told that all this is little better than wood, hay, and stubble? What would Calvinists say, if it were denied that any beside the descendants of Abraham, any but Jews, were ever spoken or prophesied of, at least in the Old

Testament Scriptures, by the figure of sheep? Calvinism, being thoroughly self-satisfied, can hardly be expected to condescend to a reply. But, supposing that a reply should be vouchsafed, would it be after the quiet manner of Nicodemus, "How can these things be? I have searched even the New Testament, and can find no direct application of the term sheep to any but Jews, though I am willing to allow, that as Israel, in Apostolic times, signified the company of believers, so also sheep, was used to designate the same company, as in Paul's address to the Ephesian elders, "Take heed to all the flock.' But I do, at all events, deny the use of the figure now, if for no other reason than that the office of shepherd, whether applied to Christ or his ministers, has been vacated, and therefore the preaching of Calvinism, in the use of this figure, may well be styled old wives' fables. Peter's strangers are addressed as sheep; they must, to say the least, be included in the dispersion of the tribes. This will open up the scattering mentioned in 1st verse, which agrees with the language of the prophet, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills, as sheep that have no shepherd." The only other Epistle where a direct allusion is made to sheep, is that to the Hebrews, which again is an apparent confirmation of our exclusive view; "Our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep." (Heb. xiii. 20.) Then, again, if we go back to the parables, if we examine the ministerial work of the Lord Jesus, we see that it is written as with a sunbeam, that by sheep, in that work, we are to understand them of the house of Israel. In the parable of the sheep-fold, there are these words, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." Peter and Paul tell us, that in their days there was one fold and one shepherd, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. All religious systems will allow, that the lost tribes are at least among the sheep, and this is all that I need contend for. Have they not then heard the voice of the Shepherd for the space of 1800 years? and if they have, where is the Jewish restoration men are now dreaming about? especially if, as I shall prove hereafter, the office of Chief Shepherd hath long since been vacated by our divine Immanuel. Then, once more, connect Peter's Epistle to the strangers, with Christ's parting exhortation to Peter, bearing in mind that Peter was the Apostle of the Jews, as Paul of the Heathen. What said the Lord to him, who had denied with an oath that he knew him? "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep." (John xxi. 15-18.) And so the Lord asked the third time, and a third time received his answer; corresponding with Peter's three denials. If these things suffice not, search further. Let us open the prophets; let us take, for instance, Ezekiel's 34th chapter, wherein there is great mention

of shepherds and sheep. We read in the 12th verse, "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock, in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all

places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." In the following verse we learn somewhat further of this deliverance; "And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land," &c. In 16th verse, we are instructed in the character of those whose deliverance should be effected; "I will seek that which was lost, ("this my son was lost, and is found again," "if a man have a hundred sheep, and lose one of them." Luke xv.,) and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick." (Compare Ezekiel xxxi. 8, and Luke xiv. 13.) For the time when these things should be brought to pass, we refer to the parallel chapter, the 23rd Jeremiah, where we read in 3rd verse, "I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds." This should be fulfilled in a given day, as we read in the 5th and following verses, "Behold the days come," &c. The same period of fulfilment is to be found in Ezekiel xxxiv., "I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David." The fulfilment is under the Gospel. We repeat the limit, "These be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." These are the last days, which, by the proper principles of interpretation must be limited by the scripture just quoted, but which are not left without their limitation in other scriptures; "Little children," writes John, "it is the last time," or hour, the eleventh hour, as we read in one of the parables, an hour which is interpreted in the parable of the ten virgins; "At midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh." The ingenuity of religious systems is at fault here, for the little expressive word with which this parable is introduced, incontrovertibly proves the time and season of fulfilment; “ Then shall the kingdom," &c. When? In the life-time of some standing around the Lord; "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."

This is our testimony, from Peter and his Epistles, to the great Scripture prophecy of the restoration of the ten tribes. Bearing in mind the character of the strangers, we recognize their interest in the writings of the prophets. We can understand that they should be appealed to from these writings. These observations will give us a key to that much-abused chapter, the last of the 2nd Epistle, wherein it is supposed we have a prophecy of the end of this visible system of things. Without stopping to prove that such supposition is false to true philosophy, and therefore can never be true to true faith, we may just remark, that those whom Peter was addressing, being of the families of Israel, knew better, as understanding the symbolical language of Scripture prophecy. They were not willingly ignorant of that language, any more than the devout men from every nation under heaven would be at any loss to conceive the symbolical meaning of the wonders in heaven and earth, the blood and fire, and pillars of smoke, connected with the great and terrible day of the Lord. Bearing in mind that Peter was addressing Jews, we expect to read of Jewish terms and phrases, and this, it is conceived, is especially the case with respect to

the heaven and the earth passing away, there being no mention of this in any of the Apostolic Epistles but those of Peter, and that of Paul to the Hebrews.

I have one more prophecy to consider, in connexion with the ten lost tribes, before I return to the 10th Ezekiel, the chapter which gave rise to this discussion. I direct your attention to the 89th Psalm. This Psalm shows the paramount importance of a right division of the word of truth. The former part of the Psalm relates to the spiritual blessings of the new and better covenant, which was ordered in all things and sure to all the seed. This is down to the end of the 37th verse. Then there is a break off, marked by the word Selah, which, saith the Chaldee Paraphrast, signifies that there is no ceasing of that thing to which it is affixed. Truly, we would say, this is no mistaken signification, when Selah is set to a testimony like this, "His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." And here let me observe, how these verses alone completely overthrow the absurd doctrine of an end and destruction of this globe on which we live. After the 37th verse we read, 66 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned his crown to the ground; thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong-holds to ruin." This is under the first covenant in the land, and respects the temporal kingdom. It is a lament for the separation of the tribes from the house of David, a prophetic lament. Now suppose we search after other prophetic witness, for something bearing upon the lamentation of David. We discover the object of our search in the prophet Amos. In his ninth chapter we have the following: "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen, and hedge up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth this." And again in the 14th verse, "I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them," &c. This is the testimony of Amos, whose prophecy was especially to the tribes of Israel, as Joel's was to Judah. The testimony has an appointed time, "In that day;" we want to know what day, and whither shall we go for our knowledge? To this popular commentator, or that writer on prophecy, in this our day? No indeed! not while memory retains the glorious truth, that there is nothing in the Old Testament which is not to be found also in the New. Therefore, we have recourse at once to the New Testament Scriptures for an explanation of this prophecy in its appointed time. We wish for an infallible Holy Ghost commentary, and we have our wish. We have the desired commentary on Amos recorded in Acts of the Apostles, chap. xv. In that chapter, we read of a discussion stirred up in the matter of circumcision, by the old adversary, the Jewish house. Peter gave his opinion touching the matter in dispute; then Paul and Barnabas rendered an account of their ministerial, Holy Ghost mission; afterwards rose up the Apostle James, and quoted the prophecy of Amos, as above, affirming that it was fulfilled in God's visiting the Gentiles,