and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: 1 the Lord will hasten it in his time." Is. lx. 9-22.

There are few prophecies more frequently misapplied than this, and there are few that have a greater number of marks by which we may distinguish its proper objects. A single glance at the whole chapter is sufficient to prove its application to the literal Israel, and we have therefore quoted at some length. The prophecy abounds with beautiful figures, but they are figures having no reference to the Gentile church.* Throughout, a distinction is maintained between "the Gentiles" and those to whom the prophecy immediately relates. It is figuratively addressed to Zion, as representing the people of Israel, the "sons" brought "from far." These have the attendance of the Gentiles, from whom they are clearly distinguished: "The Gentiles shall come to thy light;" and "the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee"-pointing out a perfect distinction between those coming and those to whom they do come. When Zion's "sons" are brought "from far," they shall bring

Though often overlooked, there is a wide difference between figurative language and that which is sometimes called spiritual. The former may be used for the illustration of any subject, but the power of the latter is uniformly exercised in clustering blessings of every nature (and sometimes incongruously enough) around the Gentile church. Figurative language, properly applied, is equally elegant and useful; but the end the other is frequently made to serve is only an abuse of words.

"their silver and their gold with them." This accords with other predictions concerning their restoration, but it is sometimes applied to the converts to Christianity consecrating their wealth to the service of the Lord. But although this is a duty to which believers are bound to attend, it has nothing to do with the prediction before us. It is Israel's bringing their valuable property with them when they shall return from far, from those countries into which they have been led captive. But the sons of Zion are not merely to bring their wealth with them, but they are themselves to be brought; and that by a conveyance, the mere mention of which should be sufficient to prevent its ever being applied to the Gentile church: "And the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons from far." ver. 9. "Ships," while perfectly suited, and really requisite, for the restoration of Israel from many of the lands into which they have been scattered, are quite unnecessary as a mode of admision to the fellowship of the church. Farther, it was the literal Israel, and not the church, whom God "smote" in His "wrath;" it was the literal Israel whom the nations "afflicted" and "despised," who were "forsaken” and "hated;" and to them, in happy contrast to their past and present state, does the promise apply: "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land; wasting nor destruction within thy borders." ver. 18. And as their being brought" from far," accords with the predictions contained in preceding Sections, so also with these do the promises harmonize that Israel" shall be all righteous," and that "they shall inherit the land for ever;" and that they shall be greatly multiplied: "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation." May the Lord "hasten it in His time!"

With such numerous checks, it is surprising that any of God's people should seek to alienate the prophecy from those to whom it has been given. The promises are conceived to be too great, and the prediction too sublime, to refer to the debased, despised, oppressed, and infidel Hebrews. But God's ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as ours. Of the aggravation of their past and present guilt, man cannot form so cor

rect an estimate as the Holy Spirit, and none can speak more decidedly the language of its just condemnation than does the word of God. Yet, for His own glory, Jehovah hath "chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation." He will yet" clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout aloud for joy." (Ps. cxxxii. 13-16.) It is not to apostate Israel, but to Israel reclaimed from the error of their ways, that such abundant glory is reserved. When they shall obtain external homage, they shall be possessed of internal. grace. The prophecy itself declares that their "people shall be all righteous;" and to the period of their conversion does the apostle Paul also place its fulfilment, while he gives the whole weight of his inspired testimony to the legitimacy of its application to the literal Israel. The verses we have quoted form part of a prediction which is continued from the preceding chapter, the conclusion of which, (slightly accommodated, being quoted from the Greek translation of the Seventy,) the apostle adduced to the Romans, applying it directly to the literal Israel: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, [how much needed, and how much neglected is the admonition now!] that blindness in part is happened To ISRAEL, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, [Is. lix. 20.] There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins." Rom. xi. 25-27. Hère the apostle, expressly drawing a distinction between the Hebrews and the Gentiles-a distinction unequivocally maintained throughout his argument-proves his position, concerning the future national salvation of Israel, by the quotation of a portion of the very prophecy we have already been considering. But had that prophecy been given in promise to the Gentile church, rather than concerning the literal Israel, who had then been "broken off because of unbelief," its evidence would have been altogether inadmissible. The apostle's proof would be at once rendered worthless by such a supposition. His

argument evidently rests upon the fact of the prediction referred to having been given in favour of those whose "fall" was "the riches of the world," and "the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles ;" which fall shall continue "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," or till the close of the present Gentile dispensation.

Higher sanction cannot be required in favour of the interpretation already given of the above sublime prediction, as applicable to the Hebrew nation; to whom we have seen it is absolutely limited by the language of the prophecy itself. And we are thus admonished of the error of transferring to the Gentile church blessings pronounced on Israel. In general, the slightest examination of the context is sufficient to show to whom any prophecy refers; and this is particularly the case. in the predictions concerning the honour which Israel shall obtain after their restoration. We quote another, parts of which are subjected to the same misapplication so often noticed: "I will make all my mountains

way," saith the Lord, "and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far and, lo, these from the north and from the west: and these from the land of Sinim. Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palm of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers, and they that made thee waste, shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of

the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and THEY shall bring THY sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." Is. xlix. 11—23.

In the preceding Sections, it has been fully shown who they are, that at the commencement of the Millennium, shall come "from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim." It has also been ascertained, to what Zion it has been said, "thy children, shall make haste;" that it is that Zion which the destroyers have so long made "waste;" she who yet complains, "I have lost [by dispersion] my children, and am desolate." It is the same Zion whose "sons and daughters" are brought to their own land,-brought by friendly "Gen. tiles." The pen of Inspiration here clearly draws the distinction so often overlooked by those interpreters who refer such predictions to the Gentlle church; "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy [Zion's] sons, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders"-a beautiful figure of the tender and affectionate solicitude which be lieving Gentiles shall yet feel in the interests of God's ancient people, and the assistance they shall render in their restoration. The figure is still continued in language which proves that the restoration of Israel to their land, will, at a future time, in some countries at least,