apostle refers to the spiritual Israel, or the general church of Christ, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles. It is obvious, that if this be the just interpretation, it will not at all follow that the house of Israel shall be universally converted. But surely it cannot be the true explication. When the apostle is manifestly speaking in the context of the natural Israel, and there is confessedly no necessity for seeking out a mystical meaning of the word, it appears to me that the apostle must certainly be understood to intend by Israel the same Israel to which blindness had happened, the same that had been cast away, the same that had been broken off, the same that stands opposed to the Gentiles in the 25th verse, and which is denominated Jacob in the 26th; the same, in a word, which, concerning the Gospel, are enemies for the Gentiles' sake, but as concerning the election, are beloved for the fathers' sake.

Need I say, that with this agrees the word of prophecy? For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. But I dare not trust

5 Hosea, iii. 4, 5.

come.

myself in this field. Fo what can equal the glowing language of the inspired prophets, when foretelling the future glory of Israel! These visions of rapture have never yet been fulfilled in any thing like their comprehensive meaning. The houses of Judah and Israel have never yet seen the days of holiness and joy which remain for them. But the time shall All Israel shall be saved. This conversion will probably be connected with their restoration to their own land'. Yes, we may indulge the hope that the nation of Israel shall again inhabit the holy mountain, that Jerusalem shall not be trodden down for ever of the Gentiles; but that Kidron's vale and Jordan's banks, the mount of Olivet, and the waters of Siloam, shall yet again echo with the songs of salvation. Then shall the long-dispersed children of the captivity be gathered again, re-established in their former inheritance, and restored to more than their former glory-a glory of a purer and more holy character, founded on the knowledge of the Saviour, and connected with the spiritual blessings of his redemption. But it becomes us to speak with caution on the tem

See this point of the Future Restoration of the Jews admirably argued in Jerram's Norrisian Prize Essay, Cambridge, 1796. The larger work of Mr. Faber on the subject is well known.

poral restoration of this people. Their inward and evangelical conversion to the grace of the Messiah is so incalculably greater in every point of view, and is revealed with so much clearer an evidence, as justly to absorb our admiration and gratitude. To this our attention will be yet further directed whilst we proceed to consider,

THE MANNER IN WHICH THEIR CONVERSION WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED-by taking away their ungodliness, and restoring to them the covenant of God's mercy. There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. The reference is to the fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. The general bearing of this great promise the apostle adapts, after his usual manner, to his immediate design. The great Deliverer had come to Zion when the apostle wrote, and had appeared for the especial consolation of those who turned from iniquity in Jacob; and thus

the covenant of grace had been established with the believing portion of the Jewish people. But the great body of the nation remained obdurate and persisted in rejecting this Deliverer ;-He came unto his own, and his own received him not: the apostle therefore, in referring to the prophecy, of which so large a part remained to be accomplished, appears to have been guided by the Holy Spirit, to vary the language of the promise without altering its general design. He declares, that the Deliverer, according to the scope of the prophecy, shall again come as it were from Zion, to accomplish the designs of his incarnation; he shall then turn away ungodliness from Jacob; he shall remove the guilt and the dominion of iniquity; he shall establish again his covenant of peace with them, receive them into his church, and make them his spiritual people. In his first appearance in the flesh he came to Zion, unto them who by his grace had turned from iniquity and waited for his redemption in Jacob; in this future and spiritual advent of his mercy he shall come, not to Zion, but, as it were, out of it, and shall by a surprising operation of his Spirit turn away ungodliness from Jacob; thus actually becoming their deliverer, and pardoning and rescuing the longlost nation 7.

the Hebrew text in Isaiah. The version of the LXX is,

The manner of their deliverance, which is here described, is deserving of the more notice, as it encourages us to exert every endeavour in attempting their conversion. We are led to expect that the particular way in which their salvation will be effected, will be by their being par

Καὶ ἥξει ἕνεκεν Σιὼν ὅ ῥυόμενος, καὶ ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ. To this the words of St. Paul nearly agree: 'H Ex EsŴy of ῥυόμενος, καὶ ἀποστρέψει ασεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ. Bishop Lowth translates the verse, "And the Redeemer shall come to Sion; and shall turn away iniquity from Jacob; saith Jehovah." He adds the following note, "So LXX and St. Paul, Rom.

מיעקב and יהשיב,ביצקב and לשבי xi. 26, reading, instead of

Syr. likewise reads, ; and Chald. to the same sense, wb. Our translators have expressed the sense of the present reading of the Hebrew text; "And unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob."

Vitringa observes, that the VEXEY Ey of the LXX is the exact rendering of ry; and he conceives that the reason why St. Paul varies this to ix Ey is, that he had in his view, not only this precise passage in Isaiah, but also other similar places where redemption is described as coming out of Sion; thus Ps. xiv. 7. “O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!" and again, Ps. 1. 2. "Out of Zion the perfection of beauty God hath shined." The apostle, he thinks, uniting these places in his mind, and illustrating them in his usual manner, admonishes us that these words of Isaiah do not relate to the deliverances from Babylon, nor to the first advent of Christ, but to the future conversion of the Jews. He then quotes the words of Cocceius, "When the deliverer comes to Sion, then he comes, as it were, out of it (tum quasi EX EA PRODIT) in order that he, who had not been seen or known by it before, may be acknowledged in it and by it." Vitringa in loc.