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meet with them in prophetical language, I should explain the language of the metaphor to say, "The dowry that I shall then give for my espoused will be "righteous vengeance" on her adversaries, and "the judgment" that will destroy the sinners of my people. To herself "grace" and "mercy," and "the faithful fulfilment of promises."

21. And it shall come to pass in that day,
I will richly supply, hath Jehovah said;
I will richly supply the heavens,
And they shall richly supply the earth;

22. And the earth shall richly supply the corn,
And the wine, and the oil,

And they shall richly supply the seed of God.'

The word I have rendered " richly supply," as the best equivalent I can think of, is the word usually rendered," to answer, " to respond to,"" to hear." Bishop Horsley renders, "I will perform my part upon." But I greatly prefer the sense confirmed by the Arabian language, "To flow," " to exhibit one's self rich and efficient to another." St. Paul seems to embrace its meaning, The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him."

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13. And I will sow it for me in the earth;

And I will pity her that was named "UNPITIED:"

And I will say to "NO PEOPLE OF MINE," " my people;"
And he shall say, my God.

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Jezreel, or the seed of God," includes, it should seem, the whole elect people of God, all the spiritual seed of Abraham. They were part of this seed, whose blood had been shed by the house of Jehu, chap. i. verse 4. Surely, then, this must answer to "the holy myriads,” whom the Lord from heaven brings with him; to "the Jerusalem above," of the apostle, "the mother of all" true believers; they being "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." The promise to Abraham, and to his seed, that he should be the heir of the worldof that "world to come," which the Epistle to the Hebrews informs us is not put in subjection to angels, but "to man". to glorified men, for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." The corn, and the wine, and the oil, therefore, as far as relates to them, are symbolical of something else. We may compare the words of our Lord: "But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."*

Admitting, then, that Jezreel symbolizes the spiritual seed, the new Jerusalem, the sowing or planting of it in the land, or in the earth, must be the same as its "coming down from God out of heaven;" and as the same symbol, "the bride, the Lamb's wife," in the Revelation, denotes the church triumphant; so does the metaphor of the espousals here, of the royal marriage, in the forty-fifth psalm, and in the sixty-second of Isaiah.

Moreover, distinct from Jezreel, we have a plain intimation of the restoration of the survivors, in the flesh of both branches of the house of Israel. The second child of the prophet was called " Lo-ruhamah," "the unpitied;"

* Matthew, xxvi. 29.

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she symbolized, as we have seen, the ten tribes: she is now to become the object of pity; the ten tribes are to experience mercy. The third son, named "Lo-ammi," no people of mine," symbolized, we saw also, the house of Judah in its present rejected state. This nation is again. to be acknowledged as a "people of God." Loruhamah," and "Lo-ammi," are not to be confounded with "Jezreel." The two former are nations upon the renovated earth, inhabiting the restored Jerusalem, and the cities of Palestine; but Jezreel is a symbol of those glorified spirits which inhabit the heavenly Jerusalem, "the city that hath foundations, whose builder is God;" whereas the restored Jerusalem is "of this building." In what manner a connexion is opened between the world of spirits, and of men in the flesh, of what nature will be "the manifestation of the sons of God," and how the "Redeemer," and "his happy followers," "the hosts of heaven," will reign upon earth, is, perhaps, past our conception at present. "It does not yet appear what we shall be;" but enough is revealed to establish the fact of such an intercourse in a future age, and the zeal of the Lord of hosts is to accomplish it.

Again, in the third chapter, the extraordinary situation of the Israel that now is, is represented by a symbolical harlot, who is not espoused, or acknowledged as a wife, but whose person is hired for a mean pittance of money and food. This represents the Jews as we now see them; kept steady in a certain way to the profession of the religion of their fathers, but without its privileges and its honours, its ordinances and its sacramental rites: yet, at the same time, clear from idolatry or spiritual fornication, the sin for which their forefathers suffered so much.

4. For many days the sons of Israel shall abide
Without a king, and without a prince;

And without a sacrifice, and without an altar,"
And without Ephod and Teraphim.'

5. Afterwards the sons of Israel shall return,
And they shall seek Jehovah their Elohim,
And David their king:

And they shall reverence Jehovah and his goodness,
In the last days.

SECTION III.

On Chapter the Eleventh, Verse the Tenth, &c.

AGAIN, in the latter part of the eleventh chapter of the same prophet, we have a clear prediction of the restoration of the two houses of Israel. The interposition of divine vengeance, under the symbol of a roaring lion, is first predicted. It is at the time of this vengeance, as we have often found foretold before, that Israel is gathered.

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10. They shall walk after Jehovah, He shall roar as a lion; For he shall roar, and children shall hasten from the west. 11. They shall hasten as the sparrow from Egypt,

And as a dove from the land of Assyria;

And I will cause them to settle upon
Hath Jehovah said.

their habitations,

12. Ephraim compassed me about with falsehood,
And the house of Israel and Judah with deceit;

'But,' hereafter, a people of God shall come down,
Even a people of saints, that is' faithful.

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In these two last lines, I retain very nearly the translation of Archbishop Newcombe. To what circumstance in the future history of redemption they apply, I need not stop to point out.

The last chapter also of this prophet is to be applied to the prosperity of the restored nations of Israel in the last days; but as nothing new or different from what we have seen before is delivered, we will pass on to the next prophet of this age, referring to Bishop Horsley for the more particular investigation of the prophecy of Hosea.

SECTION IV.

Remarks on Parts of the First and Second Chapters of the Prophet Micah.

To one accustomed to the style of prophecy, the exordium

1 Horsley renders, "Ephraim hath compassed me about with treachery, and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah shall yet

obtain dominion with God, and shall be established with the Holy Ones."

Supposed to have prophesied between 757 and 698 before Christ.

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