grace and of supplications, is a figure. All of these are figures, and of such a nature as not to be misunderstood. They express unequivocally the idea of conversion, a blessing which our Second Section proves to be also the subject of abundant promises in which no figure is used. Why, then, must the promises of the coming of the Lord be also supposed to predict what is thus so fully and plainly declared? There is no need for the assumption. In most cases, it can only create a mere redundancy of expression, and it is altogether inconsistent with the language of many of the predictions in which that coming and presence are announced.

"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." Is. xii. 6. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and The Beloved their King; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Hos. iii. 4, 5. It has been a literal " king" and "prince" that the children of Israel have so long been without, and this want is to be supplied by "The Beloved" himself becoming "their king." This prediction contains also a distinct promise of their conversion, for they shall then "fear the Lord;" and this shall be " in the latter days."

"Behold the Lord God wn L Come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." Is. xl. 10. "And ye shall know that I am in the. midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed." Joel ii. 27. "So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.... but Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that 1 have not cleansed; for the Lorddwelleth in Zion." Joel iii. 17, 20, 21.

On this subject, instead of connecting and comparing Scripture with Scripture, in order to obtain its combined evidence, it has been more usual to assume that Christ will not reign personally upon earth, and then to endeavour by any means to explain all these passages, as they individually occur, consistently with the views entertained. Even with this resolution it must occasionally prove difficult really to believe that some of the preceding promises mean nothing more than the universal prevalence of holiness, and the greater effusion of the Holy Spirit, while the Redeemer still remains in heaven. And if such an accommodation prove inadmissible, as an explanation of declarations so explicit as have been already quoted, there are others which still less admit of any spiritual interpretation. In a most important and interesting prediction clearly referring to future times, the prophet Isaiah says, “Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. . And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts. ... In that day shall Egypt be like unto women; and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of Hosts which he shaketh over it. ... In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the Land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of Hosts, in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a SA viour, and a Great One, and He shall deliver them. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it." Is. xix. 1—21.

The connection in which the coming of the Lord here stands to the conversion of Egypt leaves no doubt of its being yet unfulfilled; while the expressions used concerning the coming of the Lord and His being sent seem only applicable to a personal coming. It is while groaning under the yoke of earthly "oppressors," the prayer is addressed to the Lord for deliverance; when they have been given "into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over them." ver. 4. Their prayer is answered, for the Lord "shall Send them a Saviour," even the Lord, who shall come riding upon "a swilt cloud," and "shall deliver them," from that oppression. How is it possible to interpret this of any other than a personal coming of the Saviour? The manner of His coming—upon a "cloud"—corresponds exactly with the prediction given by Himself concerning his Return: "Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory:" (Luke xxi. 27.) and which was subsequently repeated by attendant angels at His ascension in the cloud: "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts i 1.) In neither of these, nor in any other New Testament prediction, have we any intimation of the place to which he shall descend; and it is to be observed that the prediction under consideration is the Only One the Scriptures contain of the Saviour's coming in, or on, or with a cloud, or clouds, to any specific place. But if He ever come to earth again, (and there are few indeed who doubt or question this,) it must be to some place. Why then disbelieve the fact, that on this swift cloud, He "shall come into Egypt?" This was the theatre of God's early wonders in behalf of his ancient people, and His coming thither at this time is probably connected with their future deliverance. In the prophecy," the land ol Judah" is introduced, as " a terror unto Egypt:" (ver. 17.) and in what way the circumstances of Israel may yet be involved with those of Egypt, it is impossible to say. That they will be so in a great degree, is obvious from many predictions, which

it would be inconsistent with our present object to introduce.*

The prophets predict great sufferings as to be endured by the children of Israel after their Restoration to Palestine, from the attack of confederated nations. In their time of affliction and necessity, the Lord promises to manifest Himself for their succour. This is briefly but distinctly declared by the prophet Zechariah: "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And His Feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a -very great valley; and half of the mountain

shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my God shall come, and All The Saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark; but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening-time it shall be light." Zech. xiv. 1—7.

This prediction is not more remarkable for the importance of its statements than for the particularity with which they are given. It has more the appearance of a narrative of past events than of a prophecy of things to come. It is really vexatious to be under a necessity of endeavouring to elucidate the meaning of language already as distinct as words can make it. It is mortifying to be compelled to insist that the Jerusalem here spoken of is the literal city of that name— that it is a real attack it shall sustain, and a real capture it shall endure—that "the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east" is the literal mount of that name—that it is a natural or more properly speaking a miraculous earthquake by which it shall be cleft, and a real flight by which it is followed. All this appears so obvious, that we feel puzzled how to attempt to prove it; for, if its own internal evidence cannot be received as sufficient, we should despair of ever finding any other more satisfactory. Is not that a literal city which contains " people," and "women," and " houses," and against which "nations" are gathered "to battle?1" And if this be the literal "Jerusalem," can that be any thing else than the literal "Mount of Olives" which is, and always has been, "before Jerusalem on the east;" If this be the literal mount, then is not that also a literal "earthquake" by which it is rent,* resembling that

* At the close of next Section, we shall advert to the purpose probably designed to be served by this earthquake. It may remove a prejudice from the minds of some who cannot allow themselves to believe the Word of God in its plain and obvious meaning, unless they