in a word, denying that Christ is come, or, if come, it is denying that his kingdom is not of this world."

These are hard sayings, my dear Benjamin. Here is multum in parvo. A bad spirit, bad theology, and bad reasoning. This is condemning in a lump a host of the most eminently learned and pious Christians in every age, who have believed that the Jews will return again to their own country. Here is a sad confounding of the covenant which God made with Abraham, which had the land of Canaan for its object, the natural posterity of Abraham for its subjects, and circumcision for its seal; and that covenant which the Lord made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt, which had the promised Messiah, and salvation by him, for its antitype. The former is called the Abrahamic, the second the Sinaic covenant. Hence the latter vanished away when Christ came, as the shadow gives way to the substance; but when and where did God say that the Abrahamic covenant should be disannulled, or

vanish away? On the contrary, heaven and earth may

sooner cease than this covenant." Jer. 31: 35-38. These two covenants are as distinct in their nature and duration, as the covenant made with Noah and that made at the foot of Mount Sinai. And although the Abrahamic was ineluded in the Sinaic, yet as the former existed before the latter was made, so likewise it continued in force after the other waxed old and vanished away. Besides, what has the mere restoration of the Jews to their own land to do with the coming of Christ? What difference does it make where the Jews reside, whether in Judea or Europe? You know, my dear Benjamin, that I have proved that the Messiah has come, not from the location of the Jews, but from his having fulfilled all that was written of him in the Law, in the Prophets, and in the book of Psalms; and you will doubtless remember that I have also proved, in a variety of particulars, that Christ's kingdom is not of this

world; yet I believe that he will reign on the earth for a thousand years, but not in a worldly spirit, after the manner and customs of this world.

Having, I trust, my dear Benjamin, established the point, that our beloved people, both Judah and Ephraim, are to return to the literal Canaan before their conversion; that they will rebuild Jerusalem, and. establish Judaism for a season, and afterwards be converted, "and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days;" I will now endeavor to answer the principal objections brought against this sentiment.

§14. A writer in the Christian Spectator of 1826, over the signature of Aleph, proposes the following question: “Will the Jews, after their conversion to Christianity, be restored to any of their former peculiar distinctions?" He then goes on to state his imaginary difficulties in a literal fulfillment of the prophecies. Now you will easily perceive, my dear Benjamin, that this writer, by putting "the cart before the horse," has run into a slough of despond, from which he thought he could extricate himself only by making a desperate leap-of spiritualizing all that the prophets have said concerning the future condition of our people and nation. Had he put the question thus, "Will the Jews be restored to any of their former peculiar distinc tions, and afterwards be converted to Christianity?" all would have been plain and easy. This has been the fatal mistake of almost all the writers in opposition to the literal restoration of our people that I have seen, viz. putting the conversion of Israel before their restoration instead of after it,

Aleph objects that the New Testament speaks only of their spiritual conversion, but is silent respecting the return to Canaan, &c. Answer, The reason is plain: the Jews were, at that time, still in their own land; the only question agitated was, whether all Israel was cut off, or only a part. Nor

was the literal restoration denied till ages after their dispersion by the Romans.

Next he says, "that at the time of the conversion of the Jews, there will be but one fold, under one shepherd." True, this is my belief, but that does not prevent their literal return before their conversion, and their re-establishing Judaism, and remaining, probably for forty years, till the Lord shall pour out the spirit of grace and supplication, agreeably to Zechariah, 12 : 10-14.

Again he objects, that "the end for which God kept them distinct is answered." How does Aleph know that God had but one end to answer, in keeping our people distinct from all other nations of the earth?

If the end has been obtained, why has God kept them distinct in so wonderful a manner hitherto ? Does God act without design? May not the Lord have some wise design. in bringing them back to their own land, and permitting them to re-establish Judaism in all its former splendor, and afterwards opening their eyes to see infinitely more glory in Jesus and his cross than in these things, and thus laying aside Judaism, for the establishment of which they had waited so long, and trusting only in Jesus Christ, as their Savior and their God? Would not such a mode be a much greater display of the power of the Gospel, than if the Jews were converted gradually in their dispersed state? But I must forbear.

He further objects, that because Christ did not comply with the repeated wishes of the Jews to restore to them the kingdom, therefore he will never restore it. Answer, That Christ did not comply with their carnal wishes, was because that was not his errand at his first coming; but when did he say that he would never restore them after their dispersion, or that he would never reign personally on the earth?

§ 15. Others have objected, "that their return is pro

mised upon their repentance, and therefore their conversion must precede." True, God expects their repentance; but repentance and conversion do not always go together. There never will be conversion without repentance, but there may be repentance without conversion. Surely their repentance cannot mean that of a converted soul-such godly sorrow, such repentance as flows from a renewed heart; for this condition is to be performed before they return to their own land, but the change of heart is promised. as succeeding their restoration. Deut. 30: 1-6; Ezek. ch. 36, &c. "It is, however," says a son of Abraham in the Jewish Expositor, "by no means true, that the patriarchal promises were conditional. The terms in which they were given are as absolute as can possibly be conceived; the blessings are most evidently made to depend, not on the conduct of men, but on the sovereign will and power, the eternal foreknowledge, and the unchangeable faithfulness of Jehovah : he does not say, if thou, or thy seed; but, I have given-by myself have I sworn, I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. It is true that the covenant of Sinai was conditional; but this was only of temporal duration: even while it was in full force, the prophets foretold that the days were coming when the Lord would make a new and an unconditional covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;' (Jer. 36, &c.) and with this, as contradistinguished from the other, the Holy Spirit has explicitly identified the patriarchal covenant, for he has taught us by a prophet of the New Testament, that the covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred years after, could not disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect; for if the inheritance were of the law, it would be no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.'" (Gal. 3.)

·

There is but one objection more that I shall notice, viz.

331 "that if the Jews are to return to Canaan before their conversion, then it is needless to make exertions to promote their conversion." Does it follow, my dear Benjamin, that because we do not expect the national conversion of our people till after their restoration to Canaan, that therefore no individuals may be converted before that time? The Apostle Paul said and believed that our dear people would continue under the influence of spiritual darkness until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, yet that did not prevent him from going into the synagogue every Sabbath day, and reasoning with them from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. "Who hath despised the day of small things?"

But I have, already mentioned that a considerable number of our brethren will be converted before the nation returns, and that these will not return with them, but be carried thither afterwards, agreeably to Isa. 18th. On this, as well as on all the other parts mentioned in the first section of the third letter in this part, I intended to have greatly enlarged; but I am compelled to close, at least for the present, the subject of the second advent of Christ, to leave some room for the last part proposed, viz. The coming of the Messiah to judge the world. Farewell.

* The restoration of the Jews, and other subjects connected with the millennium, will necessarily be considered in the future numbers of the Jewish Intelligencer.