may be looked upon as killing them by inches, and worse than killing them at once. What a crime is this; to take advantage of a poor defenceless people, and innocent in every case. Is this conduct becoming people that will say they are sanctified? Whether the offences of the fathers, or those of the sons are greater, I will not determine; but there is one above who will do justice in due time.

*THE TITLE OF ISRAEL.That for their sake heaven and earth, sun, moon, and stars are created, and, if there is no Israel, no world. "Thus saith the Lord, If my covenant be not kept day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth I would not have placed." Jer. xxxiii. 25. "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of Hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord; if heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord." Jer. xxxi, 35-37.

Here we notice * that Israel, who observes the covenant of God, is the upholder of this world; for, if the law and its commandments are not kept, there is no world. Israel is called the sun, * Rachel is called the moon, the twelve tribes are called the stars; and, if the fathers are stars, of course the children also must be stars; for so

and by him

Daniel viii. created for

it was shewn to Joseph in his dream. Genesis xxxvii. 9. and so they are called: "And it cast down some of the host, and the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them; the daily sacrifice was taken away." 10. And because all things were their sake, therefore they had also the power to command every thing in heaven and on earth, and were obeyed. * Moses divided the sea. Joshua said to the sun and moon, stand still. Exodus xiv. 21. x. 12. Elijah commanded fire to come down from heaven. Elisha raised the dead. 2 Kings i. 12. iv. 34, 35. "Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself. As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." Isaiah lx. 20. lxvi. 22. "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Judges v. 20. But still more may be said in behalf of Israel, for their title is above the angels: *though the angels are spirits, yet they are not called the sons of God: but to Israel it is said, Ye are the children of God.

*

Again, we do not find that Israel ministered unto the angels, but the angels ministered unto Israel, as it is written: "The angel of God which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them." Exodus xiv. 19. "And, as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat: and the angel of the Lord came a second time." 1 Kings xix. 5, 7. "For he shall give his

VOL. IX.

angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Psalm xci. 11.

But, when Israel lies in the dust, all the heavenly bodies are in mourning, and the mourning is proclaimed among all the heavenly hosts : for so it is written: "It is a day of trouble, and of treading down, &c. In that day the Lord God of Hosts shall call to weeping and to mourning, &c. Behold, the Erellim, or angels, have cried without," i. e. because Israel is without their land; "the angels of peace shall weep bitterly." But when Israel shall rise from the dust they will all shout for joy, as it is written : "Sing, O ye heavens for the Lord hath done it; shout ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forests, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob." Isaiah xxii. 5, 12. xxxiii. 7. xliv. 23.

10. THE TITLE OF THE GENTILES. They are called rivers and seas. "Wo to the multitude of many nations, which make a noise like the noise of seas; and the rushing of nations, that make a rushing of mighty waters. The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters." Isaiah xvii. 12, 13. "And the nations shall be as the burning of lime; as thorns cut up, shall they be burned in the fire." Isaiah xxxiii. 12. *" All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity." Isaiah xl. 17. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any re

maining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it." Obad. 18.

*THE LAST FORTUNE OF THE GENTILES.-All of them will acknowledge that all the evil pronounced against Israel, by Moses and the prophets, came to pass; * and will they not acknowledge also, that the evil which has been pronounced against the gentiles must come to pass?

* It is now 1774 years since the second temple was burned, and since that time Israel has passed through fire and water, sword and famine; driven from one country to the other; and they are brought down almost equal to the dust. *King David, when he saw this long captivity, and the trouble of Israel, cried out, " Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and oppresion? For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake." Psalm xliv. 22-26. Here we observe, that, when Israel shall be bowed down to the dust, then will his salvation come; and that Israel is to suffer first is also recorded: *“Tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the other nations." Rom. ii. 9. Let every one consider this, and they will find, that all those troubles that Israel has already gone through, the gentiles will also have to pass through.

It is astonishing that they will not consider that their time is yet to come. * Do they imagine

that the Messiah will forgive them all the evil they have done from age to age to Israel? *the blood of Israel, which was shed like water, cries, and will never be silent. And here their own apostle declares, that tribulation and anguish shall also come upon the gentiles for doing evil; which is also foretold by Moses: "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land and to his people." Deut. xxxii. 43. The beginning of this verse should be remarked, Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: *it is not said, Rejoice, O all ye nations, but only nations; this is to shew that only some particular nations are meant here, that is only such nations as never troubled Israel; and each man or woman of the gentiles that were kind to Israel in the time of their dispersion, all these shall rejoice with Israel, but no other.

12. *Whoever shall be the Messiah, he will be no friend to the gentiles; for so it is written : "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth shall set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his annointed, &c. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Psalm ii. 1, 2, 8, 9. By this prophecy, we may learn that, when the Messiah shall come, all nations will fight against him, and that he will subdue all of them; and