and where they may wait in undisturbed felicity the coming of the Just One, when God will avenge himself upon all the persecutors of his people; when, not the ghosts of the slain, but the slain themselves, shall face their cruel murderers; and the fears of Herod may, perhaps, be realized, in seeing "John the Baptist risen from the dead." For though (to anticipate the revelations of subsequent oracles) the main body of the wicked dead rise not at the commencement of the second advent, yet there is room to suppose that some notorious persecutors will, at that time, "awake to shame and everlasting contempt."

20. Come, my people, enter into thy secret chambers,
And shut thy door after thee.

Hide thyself for a little while, for a moment,
Until the indignation be passed over.

21. For, behold Jehovah will come out of his place,

To punish thei nhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;

And the earth shall disclose her blood,

And shall no longer cover her slain.

But our attention is again called to the last mortal foe of the church: · --

1. In that day,

Will Jehovah visit with his sword,
Well tempered, great, and strong,

Leviathan, the mailed' serpent,

Even Leviathan, the writhing serpent;

And he shall slay the monster that is in the sea.

One and the same animal I believe to be here de

Bishop Stock.

pictured, which is certainly, literally, the crocodile of the Nile. It is here used as a symbol of the last enemy that opposes himself to the God of Israel. There are two reasons why this adversary, though "Chittim" is the seat of his empire, should be "spiritually called Egypt." The wisdom and religion of Europe were derived almost entirely from the ancient Egyptians; and that same wisdom and religion has prevailed even to corrupt the principles of the true religion of the Gospel, which, at a subsequent period, it had embraced. Again: we have already learned, from former prophecies, that the taking possession of Egypt was the last achievement of the great adversary, from whence he goes to perish by the sword of the Almighty.

2. In that day,

Delightful vineyard," sing ye responsively to her:

3. "I, Jehovah, am her keeper,

I will water her every moment;

That nothing may hurt her,
Night and day will I guard her."

This may be regarded as the first semi-chorus of the responsive song. This "delightful vineyard" symbolizes, I conceive, that Israel which, in this eventful era, will be taken under the particular care of Jehovah. Of this she is assured; but, as the second semi-chorus represents, viewing her helpless and exposed situation, and alarmed at the approach of the foe, her faith is beginning to fail.

4. "I have no wall:

Oh, had I a fence of thorns!

1 Bishop Stock.

Psalms lxviii. cx.

In the time of war I shall be overrun,

I shall then be entirely burnt up.

5. Oh, let him strengthen my defence! May he create peace for me,

Peace may he create for me!"

The song is made to reply to this prayer, with an assurance of final prosperity :

6. "The days are coming,

When Jacob shall strike his suckers,

And Israel shall grow and flourish,

And they shall fill the face of the world with plants."

Of the great increase of Israel, after the severe trials of the last days, which had reduced its numbers very low indeed, we have read before some intimations: and it should seem from this, that the great multiplying of the family of Abraham, so particularly promised to him, is not fulfilled in its utmost extent until this era.

Israel does not go altogether unpunished in this last conflict; but the stroke is mitigated in mercy:

7. Is he smitten, as with the stroke of them who smote him? Or is the slaughter as the slaughter of those that slew him? With the tempest,' in its sending forth, wilt thou interpose, A voice shall there be with the rough wind in the season of the eastern storm.

A voice tempering judgment, and proclaiming mercy.

9. Wherefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be covered, And this is all the fruit designed,' the removing of his sin.

Here I believe to end the description of Israel's share in these last judgments. Severe as they may be, they are overruled for his final good. Not so is the stroke of them that smote him; the stroke which is inflicted on Israel's last enemy, does not chasten, but exterminates and this judgment is again described as a fiery indignation, that consumes a nation of idolaters :

While he is making all the stones of the altar,
As limestones pounded to pieces;

The groves and the images shall not stand.

10. For the fortified city shall become a solitude,
A deserted habitation, and forsaken as a desert.

There shall the steer feed,

And there shall he lie down, and browse its boughs.

11. When its branch is dry, it shall be broken off;

Women shall come, that they may light their fire therewith.
For this is a people of no understanding,

Therefore he that made them will not have pity on them,
And he that formed them will show them no favour.

This appears to stand as a prophetic symbol of the entire desolation of the great residence of the adversary, whose idolatries are visited. They are "a people lost to understanding;" compare the song of remembrance, Deut.

xxxii.

12. And it shall come to pass in that day,

That Jehovah shall beat from the flowing of the river,

Even unto the valley of Egypt:

And ye shall be gathered one by one,

O house of Israel!

This seems to represent the Holy Land, after the desolating storm had passed, as a vineyard or olive tree, when the harvest was over. As we read before, the enemy should gather the harvest; destroying, as it should appear, the greater part of Israel after the flesh. But the remnant that remained would be precious in the eyes of Jehovah, though in numbers they might appear " as the mere gleanings" after the gathering was over.

But others besides these are to be gathered :

13. And it shall come to pass in that day,

That a great trumpet shall be sounded;

And they shall come who had fled away into the land of
Asshur,

And they that were dispersed in the land of Egypt:

And they shall worship before Jehovah,

In his holy mountain in Jerusalem.

All this certainly confirms what we gathered from the Psalms, and other oracles already considered; that though Israel is saved at last with a mighty deliverance, * yet this nation is to a very great extent a sufferer in the troubles of the last days, and that a remnant only survives to inherit the blessing.

SECTION XI.

Remarks on Parts of the Twenty-eighth and of the Twentyninth Chapters.

A PROPHECY follows, in the twenty-eighth and twentyninth chapters, respecting the two capitals of the king

*Psalm cvii., and Isaiah, x. 22; xvii., xxvi. 16.