again with ships, and exposed to sale in the public markets in numbers so great, that no purchasers were found to buy them.

All these things have been literally completed. Are not the Jews, once the peculiar people of God, now wanderers and strangers on the earth? Do they find ease, or hath "the sole of their foot any rest among the nations around?" Have they not a "trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind?" Do not their lives hang in doubt before them? Do they not fear day and night?

CHAPTER III.

Remarks on Daniel's Interpretation of the latter Part of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream.

DAN. ii. 40-45.

40. And the Fourth Kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron, that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

42. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron,

and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

43. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the

seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left

to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was

cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

The Kingdom of Christ, or the future state of the gospel-dispensation, predicted in the second chapter of Daniel, is distinguished by Mr. Mede with the appellations of the Kingdom of the Stone' which now exists, and the Kingdom of the Mountain' which is yet future. The commencement of the first kingdom is dated from the death of Christ. It's progress has been gradual. In the beautiful language of it's divine founder, it may be compared to a grain of mustard-seed, which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it*. The kingdoms of the earth, into which the Fourth or Roman Empire

Mark, iv. 31, 32.

was to be divided, are denoted by the ten toes of the metallic image, which consists partly of clay, and partly of iron. They appear, at this day, in the condition represented in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. However cemented together by bonds of consanguinity, alliances, and federal contracts, their power is perpetually subject to decay. Many of them are insensibly mouldering into ruin. How long a period may elapse before their total demolition, is a secret not clearly made known to us. In the mean time the Roman empire continues in it's state of imbecility and declension. The kingdoms, into which it is divided, are exposed to wars among themselves, and eager to plunder and destroy each other; and are thus unconsciously preparing the way for a more splendid scene of things, for that kingdom which will be set up by the God of heaven, the kingdom of the Messiah. With regard to the important change, which will be effectuated previously to the establishment of this kingdom by the conversion and restoration of the Jews, it has been conjectured by some writers that their restoration will precede their conversion*, and by others that they will be brought to Mount Sion in a converted state f. The venerable Mede, with his usual diffidence and modesty,

Sce Kett's History the Interpreter of Prophecy, III. 219.

Horsley's Letter to Mr. King, p. 104.

has suggested the mode, by which their conversion may be produced. The miracles, by which St. Paul was instructed and converted, have been thought by some to be of the emblematic and prophetic kind, and to indicate the future calling of the Jews; so that Paul the Persecutor, and Paul the Apostle, was a type of his own nation. St. Paul, though the Apostle of the Gentiles, never cast off his care for his own brethren; and he alone, of the writers of the New Testament, has spoken clearly of the future restoration of the Jews: he earnestly wished for that happy day, and he saw it and was glad.

St. Paul was extremely zealous for the Law, and a persecutor of the Christians: so were the Jews.

St. Paul, for opposing Jesus Christ, was struck blind, but upon his repentance he received his sight so were the Jews for their rebellions smitten with spiritual blindness, which shall be removed when they are received again into fa

vour.

St. Paul was called miraculously, and by the glorious manifestation of Christ himself, and he was instructed by the same divine Master: such will, perhaps, be the conversion and illumination of the Jews.

St. Paul was called last of all the Apostles: the Jews will, certainly, enter late into the Church.

St. Paul was the most active, laborious, and