people of Christ in the last conflict, will completely subdue rebellious man to subjection.

3. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee,

And the cities of the powerful nations shall fear thee.

4. For thou hast been a defence to the poor,,

A defence to the needy in his distress:

A protection from the torrent, a shelter from the desolation, When the spirit of the powerful was as a penetrating torrent.' 5. As with the heat in the parched land,

Shalt thou make the uproar of the proud to subside;

As with' the heat in the obscuring shade,

The triumphing of the powerful shall be brought low.

The effect of the divine interference is compared, first, to the violent heat of the sun in a parched desert, fully sufficient to disarm and subdue the rage of the proudest mortals; secondly, to the still more oppressive and dangerous heat of the dreadful simoom, well known in those countries, which is always attended with a thick, hazy atmosphere, and which has been known to still in the silence of death whole companies and armies of men.

6. And Jehovah Sabaoth shall make for all nations

A feast of delicacies on this mountain;

A feast of preserved delicacies,

The richest delicacies, preserved, well refined.

Under the notion of a royal feast or banquet, is represented the joyful reception which the great King

will then give to his friends; and they are described as belonging to all nations. Surely we may say, in the language of subsequent prophecies, "Blessed is he that shall be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

7. And he shall penetrate,' in this mountain,

The face of the covering that is cast over all peoples,
And the veil that is spread over all nations:

8. He shall penetrate death unto victory,

And the Lord Jehovah shall wipe away the tear from every face,

And the reproach of his people shall he remove from all the earth;

Surely Jehovah hath spoken!

This is, indeed, a remarkable Scripture. It is much obscured by the mistaken translation of an Hebrew word, which, when it first occurs in this passage, our translators have rendered, " He shall destroy," and in the second instance, "He shall swallow up." It properly signifies" to pierce," or "penetrate," "to make a hole" or opening," and also " to go through that opening," as the food that is swallowed passes the gullet: it also

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signifies, "to penetrate to, so as to overtake and subdue," which meaning seems to be plain in 2 Sam. xvii. 16. The metaphorical comparison of the state of death to a large covering or veil involving nations and peoples, is a sufficient guide on this occasion, in which sense we are to understand the word in this passage. A hole or opening is to be made into the concealed regions of the dead, and one is to penetrate, victoriously, these recesses, and lead "his captivity captive." Perhaps there was an inceptive fulfilment of this prediction, when Christ descended into hell, and rose again from the dead: compare Matt. xxvii. 52, 53. But this, if at all referred to, was only a partial development of what Christ has wrought for his people; and accordingly St. Paul applies the passage before us to the resurrection of the just. "Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.' O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory?"

Again, therefore, we see from whence the " holy myriads" are supplied, when the "LORD OF HOSTS is seen among them in the sanctuary," "when he rideth on amid thousands of thousands," * "when the con

1 The words as quoted by the apostle are, « Κατεπόθη ὁ θάνατος εις

wixes." From what translation he quotes, it is impossible for us to say. The version of the Seventy, as we now have it, is extremely different in this place; but I believe the observation will be found just, that the quotations of the New Testament writers are made

from the versions then in common use, not as intending to sanction these translations, but merely to refer most conveniently to the passage in the original: and that the argument will sometimes appear in the original passage, where the translation, the words of which are quoted, has obscured it.

Psalm xlviii.

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course of his people is great in the day of his power," -" on the holy hills;" and "more than from the womb of the morning, the dew of his progeny." This is much to be remarked, because the inference we had before drawn seems to be confirmed; that not only the surviving race of mortal men upon earth, of men" in the flesh," will be partakers of the promised kingdom; but also "the dead in Christ," returning with their great Redeemer, in their glorified bodies: and, whatever difficulties may be started, "How can these things be?" we need only answer, that if Christ, a glorified Spirit, is visibly manifested on earth, and abides there and reigns, why may there not be "a manifestation of" all "the sons of God"" with him," to abide on earth, as he abides on earth, and reign with him over the nations? However, I think, it has been sufficiently manifest, that all the world is not peopled with glorified spirits, but with nations then to survive, or to be born, who, under the dominion of Christ and holy myriads, enjoy the earth in great peace and prosperity, with the nation of Israel, as we shall afterwards find, most conspicuous at their head.

It is concerning these, the men in the flesh, I conceive we are to understand the last verse. The LORD OF Hosts, which we may paraphrase," Jehovah with his heavenly armies," the Lord from heaven" with his holy myriads,"" will wipe away the tear from every face, and the reproach of his people shall be removed from all the earth." To wipe away the tear does not so naturally describe the increased glory of the happy dead, as the blessing brought to us, when mortality is swallowed up of life; or more especially, the removing of all causes of

* Psalm cx.

grief and sorrow from man, an inhabiter of the earth, hitherto the child of woe, and often a sufferer for his religion from wicked men. But they are now no more. Thus will he" comfort the nations upon earth."

9. And it shall be said in that day;

Lo! this is our Elohim,

We expected him, and he hath saved us.

This is Jehovah, we expected him,

We will rejoice, and be glad in his salvation.'

These are certainly hosannahs for the visible " appearance of the great God and Saviour," for whom his church, through many ages, had been waiting. The victory over the enemy of Israel is again touched upon :

10. For the hand of Jehovah shall rest upon this mountain, And Moab shall be trodden down in his place,

As straw is trodden down on the threshing-floor.'

11. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, As the swimmer spreadeth his hands to swim;

And he shall bring down their pride with the extending of his hands.3

12. The lofty bulwark of thy walls shall he lay low,

He shall bring it down, he shall level it to the ground, to the dust.

Why the great adversary is now called Moab, or how