presumed that all others were rejected and despised. They knew that the prophecies described their state in this world. -they forgot that there was a world beyond it; and thus they gave to spiritual things a worldly turn-they resolutely fixed their eyes and thoughts upon earth, and never once raised them to heaven. They looked anxiously for their Messiah; and this they could not avoid, for every page of their books foretold him; but this wrong bias on their minds led them to give a false direction to every prophecy, and to mistake altogether his character and office. Every prophetic description of his greatness was by them understood to be earthly greatness-every hint of his glory was worldly glory. The deliverance which he was so often declared to be about to work for his people, was interpreted to mean deliverance from their enemies; and the lower they sunk in captivity, the more deeply was this error rooted in their minds. Till at last, even when the truth sometimes dawned upon them, they seem to have been deter

mined not to see it. In the language of Isaiah, they stopped their own ears, blinded their eyes, and darkened their understanding. To those who had retained a right use of these faculties, what prophecy, nay, what history, could be clearer, than the description of the Messiah's character, of which my text forms a portion? Were we called upon now, after his appearance on the earth, and with the Gospel account of him before us, to sum up, in a few words, the outline of his history and pretensions, we could not do it more precisely and distinctly, than in these striking words of the prophet; and yet the Jews, misled by one overwhelming error, with this and other equally clear predictions continually before their eyes, mistook altogether the very object of his coming, rejected him when he came to save and redeem them, and, although every prophecy concerning him has been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, are still looking for another, and, anxiously as vainly, expecting his speedy Advent in the flesh. That Advent, we know, is past;

and as we are about to celebrate its arrival, our Church properly places before us on this occasion' such prophecies as these, in order that, by comparing the prediction with the event, we may be convinced that "Jesus is indeed the Christ"-"is of a truth that prophet which should come into the world 2."

"Behold," exclaims Jeremiah, "the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." It was, indeed, just possible to pervert this language into a description of an earthly monarch; and accordingly the Jews so perverted it; but, that error being removed, what a clear account is it of him who came to be the Saviour of the world, and the spiritual King of all the earth! He was to be raised up especially by the Almighty-"I will raise him.

1 The 25th Sunday after Trinity.
2 See the Gospel for the Day.

up," saith the Lord. He was to be of the race of David, and, what had not lately been seen, he was to be a righteous branch of that now degraded line. But though of the Royal House of Israel, his dominion was not to be limited to that people, but to be boundless as the world itself he was to "reign and prosper, and to execute judgment and justice in the earth." No reasoning Jew could expect such a prophecy as this to be fulfilled in any other than a spiritual sense for their religion was calculated to shut them out from all intercourse with the rest of the world, and in point of numbers, as compared with the great nations of the earth, they were the "fewest of all people 1." Nor is the idea of universal monarchy consistent with the clause which followswhich simply asserts of their nation that "in his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely"-plainly implying deliverance only, and excluding worldly triumph. Such a deliverance they might have had, but they rejected it; and so

1 Deuteronomy vii. 7.

Jerusalem is still in bondage with her children; while the spiritual Israel, the Gentiles, have succeeded to their privileges and salvation.

The last clause in the text runs thus

" and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Now here it must be remarked, that the circumstance of a person's name bearing such or such a signification conveyed more meaning to the Jew than it does to us in these days. For a name, then, was not conferred, as now, simply to distinguish one individual from another, but, as far as possible, to describe the peculiar character or situation of him who bore it. Such is the case with the name of almost every Jew. The angel said to Joseph, in announcing to him the birth of our Saviour "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins 1." And sometimes names were changed for others, when they were found no longer to suit the character of those who bore them. When Jacob had

1 Matthew i. 21.