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In that

tongue be found in their mouth. . . . . . day there shall be upon the bells of the horses HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.”a

Again, the national glory of this dispensation is inseparably connected with war, and the wretchedness and misery consequent thereupon. It opens various pretexts for aggression to ambitious monarchs it supplies various themes for irritating eloquence to rival statesmen. Quarrels of pride ensue. Monarchs and statesmen do not fight alone, but drag in their train the thousand kindling spirits of their subjects, ardent to redress the nation's wrongs, to vindicate the nation's glory. Hence the voice of mourning in their lands, the widow's tear, the orphan's cry! delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.

The restored Jewish nation, on the contrary, shall be a peaceful nation; and, under their dominion, there shall be universal and permanent peace in all the earth. "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken but there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant

a

Isa. xxvi. 1, 2; lx. 21, 22; lxi. 3. Jer. xxxi. 33; xxxii. 39, 40. Ezek. xxxvi. 24-29. Zeph. iii. 13. Zech. xiv.

20, 21.

ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; he will save us. In his days, shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. And he shall judge

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among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

But they

shall sit, every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted: and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off, a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." The child that was born unto us of the seed of Abraham : the Son that was given unto us of a virgin of the house and lineage of David: the Saviour, on whose unseen arm a chosen people have been long leaning for support, in the midst of temptation, and persecution, and scorn, shall then have the visible

b Isa. xxxiii. 20-24. Ps. lxxii. 7. Micah iv. 1-8.

government of the world upon his shoulder, and be manifested as the Prince of peace. "Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it, with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." c

Once more. The national glory of this dispensation may consist with infidelity. A man who is an infidel may be a glorious king; a glorious general or admiral; a glorious statesman, poet, artist, or philosopher. Men of any creed or of no creed are alike eligible to national honour and glory. Of such a nature is this glory, that its richest laurels may entwine a brow within which the fear, or even the existence of a God has ceased to call up a single serious reflection; its brightest trophies, its stars of pride, may adorn a bosom, which has never heaved under the pressure of conscious sin, or felt an emotion of love towards Him who gave his life to save the sinner.

The restored Jewish nation, on the contrary, shall be a nation of true worshippers of the one only living and true God-Jehovah in Trinitythe God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel. Infidelity will be impossible. "They shall all know me, saith the Lord, from the least of them unto the greatest of them. Neither shall they defile

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themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions. I will place them, and multiply them, and will set MY SANCTUARY in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle, also, shall be with them yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." d

Thus it appears, that the glory, the kingdom, the pre-eminence of the restored Jewish nation, shall consist in their nearness to God, and his nearness to them. His sanctuary in the midst of them will cause all the nations of the earth to do them honour; and their holy superiority shall be exercised in perfect national and individual righteousness, in universal and uninterrupted peace.

But how can these things be? How can righteousness, and peace, and true devotion supersede, among the nations, the high and lofty splendour, the pride and glory of military and naval superiority? The answer is, the sceptre of Messiah's kingdom in the earth will be a sceptre of righteousness. His people's prayer shall be heard and answered-THY WILL be done in earth, as it is in heaven! "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day for when his judgments are in the earth, the d Jer. xxxi. 34. Ezek. xxxvii. 23—28.

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Great will be the change, when God shall make clear to men's eyes and ears what are now only matters of faith: when the disregarded sanctions of the divine law shall be exhibited with power; "so that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth." The judgments of men will be rectified. That which has been disjointed by sin, will be reset. The fear of the Lord will be seen and known to be wisdom; and a nation pre-eminent in righteousness, and in favour with God, will be acknowledged the most glorious of the nations.

II. The restored Jewish nation shall prove a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

To this truth bear all the prophets witness. Indeed it is so incorporated in the sacred text with other subjects, that the passages already quoted have fully declared it. But more directly.

It is predicted by Zechariah, that when the Jews shall be restored to their land, and their King shall have returned to reign over them, and over the whole earth, living waters shall go out from Jerusalem. In parallel language, it is predicted by Joel, concerning the same period, that it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with

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