is consistent with other portions of Scripture, for the Bible, as having but one author, can never contradict itself. It has had numerous prophetic and apostolic Editors, but in their transcription of the revelations of the supreme will, the mind and the nature of God are always to be discovered uniformly the same, unchanged and unchangeable. An abrupt transition from one set of thoughts to another occurs however in the predictions. Sudden starts from one series of occurrences to another take place. A confusion specially designed, is skilfully Is. xlv. 15. adapted to render them difficult, and hard to be understood. If the Bible was a book in all its parts so easy to be comprehended, as it is in the simple conditions of salvation by repentance and faith, it would be unworthy of God and a fabrication. In all that relates to the nature of God, the history of the world, of evil, and of human prospects hereafter, it is most difficult, dark, mysterious, and in some places as yet incomprehensible. In everything relating to the faith and practice of a Christian, it is most beautifully clear, transparent, and simple. In one sense it is a child's book, a school primer for all men and children in all nations, when it instructs man in the love, the obedience, and worship due only to God. In the other,

Dan. xii. 9,

10.

1 Pet. i. 12. when it speaks of prophetic evidence, of the nature of God, of the futurities of other worlds, of the nature of demons and angels, and of their relationship to us, it is profound, unfathomable, and mysterious.

2 Pet. iii.

Hence it is that Prophecy, which is to be a witness for the truth of Scripture in the latter days, and a miracle asserting God's presence amongst men in a highly cultivated state of society, is made purposely dark and

obscure before the predicted events; and even after their occurrence, it requires much learning, study, and reflection, satisfactorily to connect them with history, and produce by the contact of these seemingly inert points, a sudden blaze of dazzling evidence and light. Numerous particulars resulting out of any predicted event, are therefore scattered up and down amid different Prophecies. Incidents in the establishment of any great kingdom are revealed in different proportions to different Prophets. Some describe the first movements, others the final results. In one passage of the same writer we have a train of circumstances in association with an event, which is broken off abruptly, and then renewed again in referring to the certainty of this event in another passage. All that we have to do in examining the prophets for any particular circumstances, is, deliberately to select only those passages which refer to one great fact, rejecting all others, and then however distant the incidents may be from each other in the prophets themselves, if the seal of any one great fact is placed upon

* As an example, let the verses marked in the margin be read together, and observe what startling strides are taken from one great event to another. The chapter begins as a Prophecy about seven hundred years before Christ. Cyrus is named, and this chapter when read to him might have been the cause of stirring up his spirit," (Ezra i.) to emancipate the Jews. Their first restoration then is announced-its political terms are clearly expressed, for the Persian monarch proclaimed the Jewish emigration without " price or reward," and decreed the "building of the city." The Prophecy rushes with cherubic outspread wing to the spiritual blessings of that " righteousness" which is found perfected in Messiah. Here follows after the nineteenth verse a great space of time. Another sweep of thought is taken by the Prophet, and from the twentieth, we have a description which can only apply to the religious restoration of Israel to the visible favour of God in his Church in the world, and the universal diffusion of our Religion amongst mankind.

them, we can legitimately connect them together. The destruction of Tyre is described in various passages by several Prophets. Take its destruction as the great leading fact, and you can collect the different passages and combine them together under the signature of the destruction, into a brilliant and minute, though short history, of its actual siege and destruction by Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander; its past condition in the middle ages, and its recent wonderful state. *—Select the downfall of Babylon, and by the same process the many passages in different prophets can be swept together, and all will become united beneath the seal of this great event into a prophetic history, which defines as with the finger of God the march of armies, and the Medo-persian siege, and gradual destruction, and existing condition of this city, for human History.

Thus also it is obvious, we can select the great event of Jewish Restoration, and combine under its seal all those passages which describe the various incidents of such an astonishing revolution. The difficulties of prophecy are then much diminished. The history of a kingdom is written out in the designs of omnipresent wisdom on a fair page. By the skilful will of God, it is then divided into detached and small fragments, which mingled together are at first confused, the order of their progression is interrupted, and they demand from man consideration, study, and search before they can become united and be formed into one bright and attractive chapter. By this process therefore I again advance to a selection from different prophecies of some circumstances connected with

*Prideaux. pt. 1. b. 2. B. C. 584. and pt. 1. b. 7. B. C. 332.

POLITICAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE HEBREW KINGDOM.

149

3. THE NATURE OF THE RETURN OF THE JEWSAND ITS CHARACTER IN WAR OR PEACE.

1. The usual method by which God has changed the government or fortunes of any people, is to prepare their minds for the alteration, by a longer or shorter succession of changes in their own wishes and pursuits, or by bringing upon them some other nation, before whose armies their own counsels and warfare have always suffered defeat. But in both cases, either from the internal revolution or by exterior circumstances, a leader or great master mind amongst them has been conducted by a series of extraordinary events to the possession of the supreme power, and he has been the agent for combining all the distinct and scattered elements of change into one stream of power and revolution. Instances of this nature are so familiar in every page of history, that our time would be unnecessarily employed in producing them as illustrations of the remark. There is no occasion, nor is there any thing in these prophecies to authorize us to expect any alteration in this mode of the divine management of public events. The Restoration, when prepared in its external and interior forces could be effected by these means. And we have to expect that a leader will be raised up from the bosom of some of those noble families which lie concealed amongst the Jews, and in him and by his powerful mind, the scattered desires, patient hopes, and prepared expectations of the people, could be collected and arrayed together to meet the arrangements which

Ch. vi. 11 to end.

* Hag. ii.

21 to end.

Zech. x. 6. the Gentile nations might have adopted, in aid of the return of his people. Such a man, or men, would in that day be a " root of Jesse, (and be selected by God, who knows all their generations, from the ancient family of David's father), which shall stand for an ensign of the people, (attracting them by his rank, wealth, and power); to it shall the Gentiles seek, (for they could use his influence in furtherance of their designs) and his rest, (or the termination of his efforts) shall be glorious." The passage is obscure and mystic, but may not on this account be otherwise than literal in its primary fulfilment, and spiritual in a secondary accomplishment by the Saviour. This two-fold sense is frequent in Scripture, and two series of events fill up the prophecy as well as one.

Is. ii. 10.

2.-It is not to be supposed that such a change in the balance of power in Europe and Asia, can be effected without difficulty, and the most extensive alterations in some kingdoms. Whatever affects Syria, must most materially injure or promote the welfare of the British Empire. Our Indian dominions which God has given to us in the East are too vast, and are so intimately entwined with our present prosperity and power, that we cannot remain unmoved spectators of the present desolation, and the future prosperity of the Holy Land. The question arises, and will be in all its force increasingly

* I need hardly remark, that this is a prophecy after the first restoration, addressing itself by a prophetic personification of the then governor to the Jewish mind, as a prediction of a future governor in perpetuity at Jerusalem, and is therefore unfulfilled. It also confirms the remarks in p. 147. by striding forward in one vast step suddenly from the first Restoration in v. 19 to the second in v. 23.-" in that day" after two thousand years of change and desolation. What almighty energy of thought is evidenced in these sudden illuminations of the whole horizon of time.