of Luke xxi. 29, it is said, "in a cloud." Now in the Revelation (xiv. 14), just before the harvest of gathering his people, which is the event of the xxiv th of Matthew, and just before the wine-press of wrath, which is the event of the xiii th of Matthew, we have him represented as sitting on a cloud, with a golden crown upon his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. All which evidence, combining together, I am led to believe that the standard which is lifted up to the Gentiles is truly our Lord's re-appearing in that cloud of glory in which he dwelt with the children of Israel of old, and in which Ezekiel saw him returning unto his people again. That he continueth to shew himself in such a cloud of glory is manifest in his appearance unto Paul as he went to Damascus; and that this cloud of glory is the proper manifestation of the Father's glory, is demonstrated by the transfiguration. As John the Baptist brought baptism, the proper sign of Christ humbled unto death, at his former coming; so I believe that the cloud of glory reappearing in the heavens, and shooting forth from its skirts fiery destruction upon the adversaries of Christ, is the sign of that judgment with which he is to come the second time unto the world; while the deliverance of his faithful people out of death's hand, is the sign of that eternal deliverance and baptism of fire, with which the world shall be visited and purified and eternally blessed by the coming of the Lord. I regard, therefore, that which is called the "standard" in the Old Testament, to be the same as that which is called the "sign" in the New Testament; for the words in the Hebrew and English are the same word when rendered into Greek. The Septuagint rendered the Hebrew word, by the Greek word onμtior, which is the word in the New Testament rendered "sign," in the expression "the sign of the Son of Man."

In further illustration of this lifting up of the standard, I have two other passages in our prophet to refer to the first shewing how it is to affect the head of the Antichristian confederacy of that day; and the other, how it is to affect the Jewish people. I have already shewn, beyond all doubt, in our former interpretations, that "the Assyrian" of chaps. xxx. and xxxi. is the great leader of that confederacy of Antichristian nations whom Christ is to come and destroy (see No. III. passim.) Now in chap. xxxi. 9, it is said, " And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem." This hath a reference backward, to the discomfiture of Sennacherib by the angel of the Lord: forward, it hath in prospect the ensign which shall be lifted up in that day when "the Lord of hosts cometh down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof" (ver. 4). What this ensign is, we have amply de

:

scribed in the preceding chapter, vers. 27-32; where it is represented as "the name of the Lord coming from far," and "his voice made to be heard" over the earth, and his arm made bare with "the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and hailstones, and tempest;" which I can liken to nothing that hath ever yet been seen in the world, save that cloud which came streaming from afar, and, beginning with Egypt, scattered the nations that resisted it, until at length it overthrew the Assyrian in his might: for that cloud was inhabited by the Angel of the Lord, yea, and called the Angel of the Lord, and the Lord's Name is said to be in him. "Behold, I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not: for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him" (Exod. xxiii. 20, 21). Compare this passage with the passage referred to above in the xxx th of Isaiah, and bear in mind that that is called the ensign which discomfits the Assyrian and terrifies his princes, and I think our former conclusion will be felt to be confirmed. Besides this, let it be remembered that in the Apocalypse the last action of the Antichristian powers is described as making war directly against the Lamb, and those that are with him (Rev. xvii. 14); and the conflict is represented in chap. xix. as a conflict of the powers of Antichrist against Christ and his hosts apparent out of heaven. Now there must be something to realize these remarkable symbols; some demonstration, some presence of the Lamb and his heavenly host; which I believe to be that cloud of glory against which Pharaoh armed, and Amalek, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, and all the nations of Canaan. Therefore let no one stagger as if it were an impossibility that men should arm against the face of the glory of God, manifested, as heretofore, over his people-the standard under which they were gathered, the ensign under which they fought, the banner under which they marched : let no one stagger at what is written, that the beast and the false prophet and the kings of the earth shall make war with the Lamb and those that are with him; for the king of Egypt and the kings of the nations did it heretofore: and never, never, since the world began, was supernatural agency so little feared, so heartily contemned, as it is by the present apostate nations of Christendom.

Having by this quotation shewn that the discomfiture of Antichrist, which all churches, and no one more steadily than our own, holds to be at the coming of Christ and by the coming of Christ, is accomplished by the ensign of God lifted up to the nations; I have one other passage to quote, for the other end of shewing that by this same ensign the Jewish people are to be

gathered; which is written in the lxiid chapter of our Prophet, at the 10th verse: "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. This is the preparation of a wilderness, long tractless, and untrodden, for the march of a mighty people, who are gathered under the banner of the Lord and the land of their habitation being prepared, and the way of their march being made straight, and the standard under which they are to be rallied being lifted up, behold, the great trumpet is sounded, to gather them from the four corners of heaven: "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him" (ver. 11). The word translated 'salvation,' ought to be translated Saviour,' as it is by Bishop Lowth and all the ancient versions; as is manifest also from the structure of the sentence, yea, and of our translation itself. In the next verse we have the Jewish people, thus gathered, planted in their own land in holiness and blessedness: "And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken" (ver. 12). Now these three verses are but the introduction to the glorious chapter which follows. It was said in ver. 11, "Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy Saviour cometh ;" and ch. Ixiii. begins with the description of his coming as the Saviour of Israel: "Who is this that cometh from Edom," &c. He hath trodden the wine-press (ver. 3) of the apostate church; it is the day of avenging and redeeming his people; in which (ver. 8) he becometh their Saviour. But further into this we must not enter at present; yet so much have we deemed it good to say on the subject of the standard which is lifted up to the nations, as distinguished from the standard which was lifted up to the Jews; each being the fulfilment of the hope of each people, and each being rejected by those whose peculiar hope it was; each becoming the punishment of those who rejected it, and the grace of God, to those who were looking for no grace, and who deserved none. It is, as we said at the outset, the very same truth with which Paul is filled in the xith chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. And having thus fully delivered our mind concerning this standard which is lifted up to the Gentiles, we resume the thread of our prophecy.

IV. Ver. 12: "And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."-The only thing which remains to be interpreted in these words is, why Israel and Judah should be denominated by the different names, the former, of " the outcasts; "the latter, of " the dispersed." These names answer exactly to the destinies which have attended the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel, and

the two tribes of Judah for while Israel hath been utterly cast out, so that no man knoweth even the place of their habitation, Judah hath been dispersed among all nations, and is every where seen in the condition of a scattered people, "without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim." The nation fell into two parts after the complete type of Christ, as the "Man of war" and the "Prince of peace," had been accomplished in the reigns of David and Solomon. Now the sin of the children of Israel consisted in their rebelling against the line of David, which is the line of Christ, and setting up another king in opposition to Christ-that is, the direct sin of rebelling against the true Christ, and setting up an Antichrist: for which sin the proper retort, in the righteous judgment of God, is to take away their nationality altogether, and make them to be as if they were not; hidden on the earth, lost among the nations. But the sin of Judah was in distrusting their king, and confederating with other nations, such as Babylon and Egypt; adopting their abominations into the true worship of Jehovah, and vexing his heart perpetually. For which the proper retort, in the righteous providence of God, is to let them feel the difference between "the waters of Shiloh, which go softly," and the "overflowing waters of Babylon;" to bring them into captivity; to make them experience what are the leagues and covenants of those whom they preferred to their covenant Jehovah; how cruel are their tender mercies and how broken the staff of their promises. And so are they proving unto this day in scorn, derision, oppression, and every form of iniquitous government with which it is possible to afflict the heart of a people. To be outcast, is the portion of those who cast out Christ; to be dispersed and broken by the kings of the earth, is the portion of those who would trust in the kings of the earth, rather than in Jehovah, their heavenly King. But when they were thus visited with their several portions of judgment, it was with the continual promise of a great day of restoration. Sometimes this promise carries a note of distinction between Judah and Israel, like that contained in our text. Of this there is an instance in Hosea-the prophet who cast out Israel, even as Jeremiah was the prophet who dispersed Judah and gave her into her long captivity. The passage in Hosea represents strength as pertaining to Ephraim, guidance to Judah; and to all the tribes taken collectively the cultivation of the whole earth in righteousness: "And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you" (Hosca x. 11, 12). The prophet

Micah, who was the prophet equally of Samaria and Jerusalem, exhibits the same notes of a difference in the restoration of the two parts of the dispersion: "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remuant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their King shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them" (ii. 12, 13). The same thing is more fully taught (iv. 6) by the figure of Judah, as she that halted or came short in her services, and was cut short for her short-comings; and of Israel, as she that was cast far out and vexed: "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." For a parallel example, see also Zeph. iii. 19: "Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land, where they have been put to shame." The word "remnant," used in Hosea of Judah, is not meant in a diminutive sense, but to signify the calamities and consumptions through which they should pass; for in the 7th and 8th verses of chapter v. the whole restored tribes are denominated "the remnant of Jacob :" these verses also, I count it good to quote, in order to shew the double destiny to which the restored tribes are appointed; the one, of being the Lord's battle-axe; the other, of being the dew of the Lord's blessing: "And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver." (Micah v. 7, 8.) That this destination continueth to the end, is further manifest from the prophecy of the two sticks of Ezekiel (ch. Xxxvii.); the one stick for the whole house of Judah, and the other stick for the whole house of Israel; which are not united in one till their restoration, and the coming again of David their King. I believe it is possible to trace this diversity of destiny throughout all the Prophets, from Moses to the end: but we shall be better employed in endeavouring to interpret the mystery of the Divine Providence herein held up to the knowledge and instruction of mankind.

If God enable me to explain this difference in the fate of Judah and Israel, it will be of great service to the church. Now the best way of studying the means is by looking to the