him to be his Lord: he received of his Spirit; and he was sent to the Gentiles. In all these respects he was a striking type of his nation. It is written, concerning Israel, "At that day I will pour upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication," &c. (Isa. Pour Ixvi. 18, 19); and that they shall be sent "unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, who have not heard Christ's fame, neither seen his glory*.

Lastly. The fact, the manner, the time, and the place of Israel's conversion, like all other occurrences in which that nation is concerned, cast considerable light upon other revealed purposes of Jehovah, and upon the order of events connected with the second advent of our Lord. If Israel is to be converted by our Lord in person, when he manifests himself to execute vengeance upon the nations gathered against Jerusalem, we ascertain some important facts relating to that glorious manifestation. We cannot then place it at the period of the fall of the Papal Babylon. The judgment upon the Papacy and the Papal kingdomsa judgment poured upon the seat of those kingdoms-precedes that which is poured upon the nations gathered in Judea after the fall of Babylon; and various important events seem to intervene between that and the last great scene of judgment—such as the release and return of Israel from their captivity-the reestablishment of their government-the building of their temple -the setting up of the infidel Antichrist-the gathering of the nations under his banner-and various operations and exploits of that confederacy, before the last attack on Jerusalem is undertaken by it. There is reason to believe that the actual advent of our Lord may to some extent precede his manifestation on the Mount of Olives, and that his risen and changed saints will join Him in the air before the last judgments on the nations are consummated. In proof of this, reference is requested to the

* While referring to this Scripture, let me just remark, in passing, that the word translated "that draw the bow," might with equal propriety be rendered the Meshechites-one of the nations spoken of in Ezekiel xxxviii. ("prince of Meshech "answering probably to the Muscovites, or Russians); and that Javan" is literally "Ion," and is rendered in Daniel "Græcia."—It may also be observed, that the word rendered "swift beasts," in the 20th verse, ("They shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord," by various modes of conveyance and, among the rest, on "swift beasts"), occurs nowhere else in Scripture; and therefore describes some method of transport never before spoken of. It is a word of remarkable construction, being a compound reduplicate of a root signifying "to turn round and round." Its meaning would therefore be better expressed by "complicated revolving machines," or something to that effect. Does not this term point to those improved machines, now or hereafter to be brought into operation, which so wonderfully facilitate locomotion; and which shall then, like all other improvements in science, be devoted to the service of God, and be made instrumental in bringing in His chosen people, and in the accomplishment of His gracious purposes to a renewed and blessed world? The hint is merely thrown out for consideration.

following Scriptures: Rev. ii. 26, 27; Psalm cxlix., concluding verses; also Rev. xiv. 13 to the end, shewing in successive order the dead in Christ invested with blessedness, the reaping of the harvest of the earth, comprehending the wheat and the tares, and afterwards the judgment of the vintage of wrath; and xix. 7 to the end, especially verses 14, 15, and 19, compared with Zech. xiv. 3, 5.

The day and the hour of our blessed Lord's advent knoweth no man; but this we may venture to deduce from the Scriptures above referred to, in connection with others predicting his dealings with his people Israel, that at any period during the progress of the last great judgments, which seem to be ushered in by the fall of modern Babylon, He may be expected to descend into our atmosphere-invisibly, perhaps, at first, to his enemies; to whom, however, He shall manifest himself, for their overthrow and for the conversion of Israel-attended by his saints, who have previously been raised to the dignity of assessors with the Judge and King in his solemn office.

It may be, that the resuscitation and gathering together of Israel, predicted in the former part of the xxxviith chapter of Ezekiel, will be the type and harbinger of the gathering of the spiritual Israel, the resurrection and changing of the saints; but whether the type and antitype shall be simultaneous, or, is more probable, the one the forerunner of the other, time alone must shew.

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It may be remarked, in conclusion, that there are expressions used by the prophets, relative to the restoration of Israel, which indicate that the Lord will go before them to lead them forth from their captivity; and Ezekiel, when recording the particulars of that event, in the xxth chapter of his prophecy, declares that the Lord shall bring them out with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, and that he will plead with them "face to face" (ver. 35): but it is immediately added, "Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt;" and his presence, in the way it was then manifested, was expressly described as an intercourse "face to face." The Lord may therefore lead this people out from the nations into their own land even by some visible appearance, and yet abstain from revealing himself as their true and long-expected Messiah in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; that revelation being reserved for a period of extremest peril, when the prospect and dread of being utterly swallowed up by their deadly foes shall render the deliverance the more signal, and, accompanied as that revelation will be by the influence of the Divine Spirit begetting and calling into act spiritual sight, they shall behold the Lamb of God that taketh away their sin, and their minds shall be swallowed up in godly sorrow, admiring wonder, and fervent love.

One part of the Divine purposes on which the restoration of Israel in an unconverted state tends to throw light, is the setting up of a temple diverse from any former temple, and peculiarly suited to an intermediate or preparatory dispensation, in which sacrifice is restored, because there is still conscience of sin-the great Antitype of the sacrifices not being yet made known to the worshippers;-in which, however, they shall no longer discover a High Priest, but a Prince doing priestly acts; announcing to them that they are to look forward, not to a suffering Saviour, but to a Priest upon his throne: no longer a day of atonement, that day which they have hallowed throughout their dispersion, because they are to learn that atonement has been perfected already.

When the veil shall be taken away, and Israel shall turn to the Lord, this temple, as we are informed in the xliiid chapter of Ezekiel, shall be the recipient of the returning glory of the God of Israel; which, be it observed, it may be, without his permanently quitting the residence of His risen saints. We are in that chapter informed, not only of this fact, and that this temple shall be the place of his throne and of the soles of his feet, but of the form in which that glory will be displayed to Israelnamely, the well-known form of the two cherubic figures, the cloud, and the man appearing seated upon the cloud, which were seen by the Prophet on the river Chebar, as he expressly states in the third verse of that chapter*: which vision was in substance one with the cherubim, the representative of the Triune Jehovah in Christ, set up at the gate of Eden (called Alehim in 1 Sam. iv. 7, 8), which was copied in the tabernacle and in the temple of Solomon. This sacred exhibition we have reason to conclude shall last at least during the Millennium.

Thus one revelation of Himself, whenever God has seen fit to manifest himself in visible form to man, will have been maintained, reaching from the first into the second paradise of God, clearly demonstrating the unchangeableness of His own character and method of salvation; and thus, by all the wonderful operations of His providential and gracious hand, to which reference has now been made, shall also be demonstrated the emptiness and insufficiency of the creature, and the impossibility of its preservation but by union with and redemption through the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

W. L.

* With this only difference, that in the vision seen at Chebar the cherubim were beneath the firmament, but in the new Jerusalem they shall be upon it: as in Rev. iv. 6; xv. 2.-Ed.

301

INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD-TESTAMENT PROPHECIES QUOTED IN THE NEW.

By the Rev. E. IRVING-Continued from page 84.

INTERPRETATION XII.

Christ the Preacher of Redemption, and the Redeemer-Is. lxi. 1-3, quoted in Luke iv. 17-19, and referred to in Luke vii. 22 and Acts x. 38.

THE prophecy of Christ's gift and calling as the Preacher of Redemption, and the accomplisher of the same, we take up at present, though not the next in regular order; both because it bears upon the subject of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the great question now before the church; and also because it presents a view thereof which hath not as yet been much noticed, though in itself of the highest importance. For while the speaking with tongues and prophesying is the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit as a witness in the church distinct from the church, yet is it the unction of the heart with love, and of the mind with light, after what manner Christ is declared in the text to have been anointed, which makes us witnesses as well as the Holy Ghost. Moreover, because it is by preaching that it pleaseth God to save them that believe-as by prophesying he doth edify them after they have believed that part of the baptism with the Holy Ghost which fitteth for the preacher's office must always be the first in order and in dignity; as Paul expressly declareth, saying, "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: and the Lord himself, after having constituted all his disciples "witnesses of these things," commanded them to wait in Jerusalem till they should be endued with power from on high: "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts i. 8). Of this, the preacher's office under the Gospel commission, Jesus, as in all other things, gave the first example himself; and to fit him for it he received that anointing of the Spirit prophesied of by Isaiah (lx. 1), and appropriated to himself at the outset of his ministry (Luke iv. 7).

That the anointing for the preacher's vocation, which is the subject of this interpretation, was bestowed first upon Jesus, of all who had yet appeared, and upon him bestowed at his baptism by John his forerunner, when the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove descended out of heaven and sat upon him, is expressly declared by the Apostle Peter, in these words of his discourse to Cornelius: "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all): that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea,

and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached : how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him (Acts x. 36-38); wherein are declared unequivocally these three things-First, That it was the distinction of Jesus Christ to be the man through whom God sent the word of the Gospel, preaching peace to all men; even as it was announced by the angel over his nativity, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people: For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke ii. 10, 11); and sung by the heavenly host, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (ver. 14). None of those who went before him brought more than a promise and a shadow of the Gospel: the Baptist announced and laid his hand upon him who was to preach it: but the Son of God reserved unto himself the honour and blessedness of publishing with his own lips the Gospel of the grace of his Father; of which he was at once the purchaser and the publisher by his Incarnation. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John i. 17). Jesus himself was the first of the order of preachers, though of the order of prophets unto the Jewish people he was the last. And the Gospel, as it came by a Preacher, so by preachers is it spread abroad. "They all spake with tongues and prophesied" on the day of Pentecost: Peter alone preached; and to his preaching it was that the three thousand souls were granted. And so it ever will be: the preacher must go first; the confirmation will attend him ; for God will magnify his word above all his name. The second thing which is taught us by Peter's reference to the anointing of Jesus for the preacher's office is, That it "began from Galilee, and was published throughout all Judea, after the baptism which John preached." Not before, but after John's ministry; giving us thereby to know that Jesus took not upon himself the office of the preacher, albeit he was the Word made flesh, the very incarnate Son of God, until he was called thereto of God by the baptism with the Holy Ghost. And upon this principle it was that he forbad his disciples to go forth and preach until they should have received the like baptism of power for witness-bearing. It is on this principle that the church requireth of every one who would go out upon this service to declare, first of all, whether he be moved thereto by the Holy Ghost: and if he answer, Yea, verily; then she addresseth herself to the work of discerning the same, lest he may be labouring under self-deception or delusion of the devil; and being satisfied, she addeth her sanction, and permitteth him to open his mouth and preach in the congregations of the people. It was not in virtue of his spiritual genera