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it shall be lifted up." And while several of the "valleys " shall be exalted," some of the "mountains and hills" shall be "made low," or, levelled, for a fresh configuration of the land, to be adapted to the future requirements of the Lord's people Israel.

Hence, as Jerusalem will then become the metropolis of the world, being at that period truly what God has purposed that it should be, "the city of the great king," a river will be provided for it: which will run in two directions, one branch taking its course to the Mediterranean, and the other to the Dead Sea; whose waters will then be healed. This is stated so clearly and distinctly in the Divine Word, and is so frequently referred to by the prophets, that it seems astonishing that anyone should for a moment have doubted it. Thus the prophet Zechariah, after having predicted the Second Coming of the Lord, His descent upon the Mount of Olives, and the earthquake that will follow, informs us, "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea in summer and in winter shall it be."4 And the prophet Ezekiel minutely describes the progress of one branch of this river; that which goes down to the Dead Sea; and gives us the depth of the waters as they proceed onward in their course, informing us, that "these waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert," margin "plain,"5" and go into the sea," i.e., the Dead Sea: "which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed." And then he describes the number and variety of the trees growing on the bank of the river, the salubrity of the waters themselves, not only of the river itself, but also of the sea into which it falls, the immense quantity of fish therein, and the fishers "spreading forth nets," and standing upon it from En-gedi to En-eglaim," places which were situate at either end of the sea in question."

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1 Zech. xiv. 10. 2 Isaiah xl. 4. 3 Mat. v. 35. 5 See Deut. iii. 17; iv. 49; Josh. iii. 16.

4 Zech. xiv. 8. See Ezek. xlvii. 1-12.

The prophet Joel also mentions this river: for after having stated that "Jehovah shall roar out of Zion, and utter His. voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel," he adds, "And it shall come to pass in that day" that "all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of Jehovah "-Ezekiel mentions the "waters first "issuing from under the threshhold of the house eastward"-" and shall water the valley of Shittim."1 The prophet Isaiah likewise tells us, that when "Jehovah bindeth up the breach of His people," Israel, “and healeth the stroke of their wound," "there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams. of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall."

This river is also alluded to in the Psalms, and at this very period. Thus the 46th Psalm, which describes the destruction of the Antichristian hosts assembled before Jerusalem, and refers to the subsequent exaltation of Jehovah in consequence in the earth, thus speaks both of the river, and of the awful convulsions of nature, which preceded its issue out of Jerusalem. The words are supposed to be uttered by the saved remnant of Israel, who have witnessed the convulsions and destructions referred to, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the carth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early." And then, after an allusion to the destruction of the Antichristian hosts, which had taken place in the valley of

Joel iii. 16-18.

2 Isaiah xxx. 25, 26.

Jehoshaphat, the speaker invites the hearer to take a survey of the tremendous convulsions that the Lord had thus brought about in the earth-"Come, behold the works of Jehovah, what desolations He hath made in the earth!" So, in another Psalm, which also relates to the same period, we read, "Say among the Gentiles that Jehovah reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before Jehovah for He cometh, He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth." And when we know, that the Dead Sea is shut in on either side by precipitous frowning cliffs, and that it now lies more than 1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, having itself a depth of 1,300 feet or more, we can easily imagine the terrific convulsions that must take place, and the tremendous rush and roar of the waters, before the events predicted in the several prophets can be brought about, and the country settled down into the "quiet habitation "3 that we are likewise told that it shall ultimately become.

Among the changes that will take place in other countries, we learn, that "Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue," or, "bay of the Egyptian sea," i.e., the Gulf of Suez, over which Israel crossed when they left Egypt; "and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river," i.e., the River Nile, "and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." With this object also in

See the whole Psalm xlvi.

3 Isaiah xxxiii. 20.

2 Psalm xcvi. 10-13.
The word is so translated, Jos. xv. 2, 5.

5 Isaiah xi. 15, 16.

view, the Lord will also direct "the sixth angel" to "pour out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;" that "the water thereof" may be "dried up, that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared."

The purpose and object of all this, is to fit and prepare the land of Israel for its inhabitants, in order that it may become what God intended that it should become, a "glorious " and "delightsome land."3 For then the "land that was desolate" shall "become like the garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and ruined cities shall become fenced, and inhabited." And "Jehovah shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."5

And this fully explains a passage in Ezekiel, which has been much misunderstood by some, and which runs as follows:-"When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them." "When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate." Now some have imagined from these verses, among others even the great Calvin, that God here "reasons," as it were, "from an impossibility;" as if He would say, in addressing the Jews, "you, forsooth, shall be saved when Sodom and Samaria shall be saved. But I have utterly destroyed them both. Therefore you have not the least ground to hope that you are to come off with impunity." "The Jews will then feel God merciful when His mercy shall reach to Samaria and Sodom. But that can never be. Therefore the Jews are reduced to desperation." But this is a great mistake: for the sub

1 Rev. xvi. 12.

+ Ezek. xxxvi. 35.

2 Dan. xi. 16.
3 Isaiah li. 3.

3 Mal. iii. 12.

sequent verses, which relate to the final restoration of the Jews, explain the whole matter, "Nevertheless I will remember My Covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. And I will establish My covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah."

Now this passage tells us that the restoration here spoken of, will not be of the people of Sodom, but of the land only of the Sodomites: for it is a restoration which is expressly said to be, not according to the covenant made by Jehovah with Israel; which was, that the land should be reserved for the people, and the people kept as a distinct and separate people, to be reserved for the land; and that when their restoration took place, their land should not only be restored likewise, but the land of Samaria, and even of Sodom also! And this we have seen to be the case. Nay, the resemblance will be so perfect, that not only will the whole country again become what it once was, a "plain "well watered everywhere,' even as the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest to Zoar;" but even the old "slimepits "3 will appear again: for after Ezekiel had described the amazing fruitfulness imparted to that region, he adds, "but the miry places thereof,” i.e., of the plain, or vale of Siddim, "and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt!"4

And now for the first time in their history, Israel will fully occupy and enjoy the whole of the land, which was granted by Jehovah to their father Abraham; and an

1 Ezek. xvi. 53-55, 60-63.
3 Gen. xiv. 10.

2 Gen. xiii. 10.

4 Ezek. xlvii. 11