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This appears, not to be the final restoration of Zion, though it seems to lead to it; nor does it say that they are absolutely dispossessed of their country and city; only:

39. But again they are reduced in number, and bowed down, Through oppression, injury, and grief.

Vengeance, however, awaits their adversaries:

40. He poured contempt upon princes,

And let them wander in a trackless waste.

We have every reason to suppose this to be descriptive of the fate of the last enemy of Israel, of which we have read so much before: and who can tell but that Israel, on its first restoration, or those parts of it first restored, as to the main body of the people, may answer to the prophetical description of the fiftieth psalm: and that this is the visitation of Providence, that produces in their hearts the last most effectual prayer:

41. And he raiseth on high the destitute out of misery, And maketh him families like a flock of sheep, &c.

In pursuit of the inquiry, for which we are now searching the Scriptures, the hundred-and-tenth psalm will much fix our attention:

1. Thus spake Jehovah to my Lord,

"Sit thou on my right hand,

Until I make thine enemies

The stool for thy feet."

Our Lord, we shall all remember, has applied this passage to himself, as the Messiah or Christ: and, keeping" whole

and undefiled the doctrine of the Saviour's divinity," we shall not be at a loss with the Pharisees to explain the reason, "why David in spirit calleth him Lord," although he is "his son." We have had also fully explained to us, how he, who is hereafter to be manifested as the King of glory, was for a season to be removed from earth; and after he had by himself purged our sins, was to sit down "at the right hand of the majesty on high"-" whom the heavens must receive, until the times of restitution of all things." This risen Saviour is addressed in this wonderful psalm :

2. Jehovah will send forth the sceptre of thy power from Zion, Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

The concourse of thy people shall be great in the day of thy power,

On the holy hills.

'Greater than from the womb of the morning,

Is the dew of thy progeny.

This divine oracle certainly seems to predict, that we must look to Zion, and the holy hills of Jerusalem, for the spot from whence the glorious Redeemer, at his second coming, is to be first manifested. And who is this people, whose "rich overflowings" shall cover with their gladly thronging multitudes, the holy hills, on this occasion, in numbers compared to the drops of dew, that the opening morning discovers on the earth? Surely these are none other than "the holy myriads," which the Lord when he cometh brings with him" the myriads," from the midst of whom Moses saw "the Holy One come forth;" or, as we read in the sixty-eighth psalm, "Elohim rideth on amid myriads, thousands of thousands; the Lord is with them, as in Sinai, in the sanctuary." It follows:

4. Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent:
"Thou art a priest for ever:"

5. After the order of Melchizedec,

'Is' my Lord at thy right hand.

The perpetual priesthood of Christ, which we are now to consider him as exercising, on behalf of his redeemed people, in heaven above, the apostle has explained to us in his epistle to the Hebrews; we are now to observe, that this priesthood is of a particular order that of Melchizedec; that is to say, the risen Saviour unites in his person the two offices of Priest and King. He is " a priest upon his throne:" he not only is "appointed for men to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin," but "he bears" also "the sword" of justice, as "God's great minister," "to execute vengeance upon the evil-doers:" to be "the captain of the Lord's people," "under whose hand the Lord will give his people rest."

The enemies of his people will one day feel this. The last conflict is again foreboded :

Kings hath HE smitten in the day of his wrath,

6. He contendeth with the nations, filling all' with dead bodies;

He hath smitten the head of a great country:

7. HE drinketh of the Nile on the way,

Therefore he lifteth high his head.

The same prophetic event, no doubt, as that before predicted in the sixty-eighth psalm; "Chiefs come out of Egypt, HIS hand urges Ethiopia against God," &c. &c.

The hundred-and-thirteenth psalm will also much illustrate the prophecy of Hannah's prayer, that stands at the head of the prophecies of this era :

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3. From the rising of the sun to its going down, The name of Jehovah shall be the theme of praise. 4. Jehovah is exalted over all nations,

His glory above the heavens.

7. He hath raised up the poor exhausted from the dust, He lifteth up the destitute from the ashes.

8. That he may cause him to sit with 'his' princes, With the princes of his people.

9. He leadeth the barren woman to her home, A rejoicing mother of children.

The barren woman is, doubtless, another symbol of the church reduced to a low and destitute situation; but the exaltation of her promised "seed," her " bridegroom," and" her Lord," will restore her to everlasting prosperity.

The diligent searcher of the Scriptures will find much more in the Psalms, on these great subjects. They are, in fact, made more or less directly the constant theme of those songs of praise and confession, designed for the use of the public worship of God in all ages, until the time shall come. I shall, on this occasion, quote only one passage more, the last psalm but one; since, in pursuit of our inquiry, much sacred ground remains to be travelled

over:

1. Sing to Jehovah a new song,

His praises in the congregation of his beloved.

2. Let Israel rejoice in HIм that made him,
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.

3. Praise his name with a pipe,

Chant to him with tabret and harp:

4. For Jehovah is propitious to his people,
And adorneth the meek with salvation.
5. His beloved exult with glory,

They sing triumphantly on their couches.
6. "The exaltation of God" is on their lips,
And a two-edged sword in their hands;
7. To execute vengeance on the nations,
Chastisements on the peoples:

8. To bind their kings with chains,

Their nobles in fetters of iron:

9. To execute on them the judgment written:
This honour is for all his beloved.
Praise ye Jehovah.

We seem to gather from this psalm, in addition to what we have learned before, that the objects of God's lovethe meek partakers of his salvation, who are exalted to sit with the Redeemer on his throne-are in some way or other to be partakers with him in the triumphs of his righteous vengeance on an apostate world. Is this, then, what the apostle refers to, "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?"- or our gracious Master in the days of his flesh, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth?"

SECTION II.

I SHALL finish the examination of the prophecies of this era with transcribing, from the introduction to my publi

Psalm cxlix.

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