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A.C. 587.

c Jer. xxxii. 39. ch, xỉ, 19.

d ch. xi. 19.

25 ¶ Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

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26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

29 I will also save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

33 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. 34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

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35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is e ch. xxviii. become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

13.

36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant fch. xvii. 24 that that was desolate: 'I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.

& xxii. 14. & xxxvii. 14.

*Heb. flock of

holy things.

37 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

*

38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men and they shall know that I am the LORD.

EZEKIEL XXXVII.

1 By the resurrection of dry bones, 11 the dead hope of Israel is revived.

15 By

the uniting of two sticks, 18 is shewed the incorporation of Israel into Judah.

20 The promises of Christ's kingdom.

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me A. C. 587. out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.

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2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, * Or, chamthey were very dry.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

paign.

9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, pro- + Or, breath. phesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

11 ¶ Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for ou: parts.

12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves.

14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

A. C. 587.

15¶The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the g John x. 16. mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

b Is. xl. 11. Jer. xxiii. 5.

23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

h

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and & xxx. 9. ch. they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

xxxiv. 23, 24.

¡ Ps. lxxxix.

3. ch. xxxiv.

25.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

26 Moreover I will make a 'covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will k2 Cor. vi. 16. place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

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27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be

1 ch. xi 20. & their God, and they shall be my people.

xiv. 11.

28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanc- A. C. 587. tify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

SECTION VI.

Prophecy of the future great Contest between the Church and its Enemies; and the Conversion of the Jews in the latter Days 8.

EZEKIEL XXXVIII.

1 The army, 8 and malice of Gog. 14 God's judgment against him. 1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

38 The numerous interpretations which have been given by various writers in our own days, to the several prophecies of the Old Testament, which allude to the latter times, and the fanciful manner in which the events of modern wars, changes, revolutions, and treaties, have been supposed to bear on these prophecies, have tended in a great degree to prejudice the generality of readers from attending to the hierophants who propose to conduct them through the recesses of the Temple. Although so many speculative theories have been given to the world, still the study of prophecy is increasing, and almost every writer adds something to our stock of knowledge on this subject. The greater part of the prophecies of God have reference to events which are yet to take place, as well as to those which are already past. If any part of the ancient prophecies allude more plainly than others to the latter days, it is this of Ezekiel concerning Gog and Magog. It has undoubtedly not yet received its completion. Bishop Newton and Joseph Mede are of opinion, that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel, are different from the Gog and Magog of the Apocalypse,—that the former signify the Turks, whose expedition against the Holy Land will take place at the beginning of the Millenium. This opinion is strenuously opposed by Mr. Faber, who supposes, with Archbishop Newcome and Mr. Lowman, that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel are the same as those of the Apocalypse: Mr. Faber divides these chapters in the following manner. "1. The restoration of Judah, partly in a converted, and partly in an unconverted state; and the contemporary war between the two parties, supported by their several allies, the maritime nation and Antichrist. 2. The destruction of Antichrist and his Roman colleagues, under the general mystic name of Edom, and the Lord's vindication of himself for restoring so stubborn a race as that of the Jews. 3. The national resurrection of Judah and Israel, to which the overgrown power of Antichrist was the only impediment, and their everlasting union under the mystic David their prince. 4. The commencement of the Millennium season of blessedness and tranquillity. 5. The destruction of Gog and Magog."

I cannot venture to express an opinion on this subject. The prophecy certainly refers to those great events which are repeatedly alluded to in other predictions of Holy Writ, as about to take place at the end of the world. In this and similar passages, it may be said, "coming events cast their shadows before:" yet we cannot penetrate into the clouds and thick darkness that encircle

* Kett, Galloway, Zouch, Bicheno, Penn, Cunninghame, Freere, G. Sharp.

A. C. 587.

m

2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and proOr, prince phesy against him,

m Rev. xx. 8.

of the chief.

3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal :

n

nch.xxxix. 2. 4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

+Or, Phul.

5 Persia, Ethiopia, and + Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

8¶After many days thou shalt be visited in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.

10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and Or, conceive thou shalt think an evil thought:

a mischievous

purpose.

11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell

the future. We are both exhorted and encouraged to study the word of prophecy; not with the view of indulging curiosity, but of enforcing humility: to strengthen our faith, by enabling us so plainly to see the hand of Providence, in the past and present, that we may believe the promises which relate to the future. As the present dispensation of the kingdom of the Messiah was predicted in general and indefinite terms to the ancient Jews, so is the millenial period of the world predicted to us. As the Jew was called on to believe in those ages of the church, so is the Christian required to believe at present. As the former prophecies have been fulfilled, so will the latter be accomplished.-Vide Faber's View of the Prophecies relative to the Conversion, Restoration, Union, and future Glory of the Houses of Judah and Israel, vol. ii. prophecy xxv; Newton on the Prophecies, Dissert. xxv; Mede's Works, book iv. epist. 54; and Faber on the Prophecies relative to the Period of 1260 Years, vol. i. chap. vi.

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