Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever.-Rev. xxii. 5.

63. Therefore, they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden: and they shall not sorrow any more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.-Jer. xxxi. 12-14.

64. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.-Eph. i. 10.

65. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Tit. ii. 13.

66. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.-Rev. iv. 11.

67. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.-Eph. vi. 13.

68. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.-Heb. x. 36, 37.

LETTER II.

ON THE RETURN OF THE JEWS.

DEAR BRO. HIMES:-I am now at home-found my family and friends well; yesterday was very sick, owing to my great anxiety to see home, and my fatigue on my journey. To-day I feel much better, and shall employ a little time in writing to you.

Those souls whom I have addressed in my six months' tour are continually before me, sleeping or waking. I can see them perishing by thousands; and when I reflect on the accountability of their teachers, who cry "peace and safety," I am in pain for them. How many souls will brothers Phelps, Cambell, and others, who are sticklers for the Jews' return, and for a temporal millennium, be the means of lulling to sleep; and while they are flattering themselves that their teachers are right, find, to their eternal cost, that their preparation for the eternal world was delayed a few days too long, on the vain supposition that the Jews must return and a millennium intervene. Why will they not listen to reason and scripture? Peter was converted from such a selfish and bigoted mind, when he said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons." Acts x. 34, 35. And yet, truly, if the Jews ever return, they must be respected of God; for will not all acknowledge that they are to be gathered by God out of all nations, &c.? Isa. lxvi. 20: "And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of

the Lord." They are not gathered because they work righteousness, or because they are children of faith; but because they are "God's ancient covenant people." For if they believe, they are grafted in among the Gentile believers, and are no more Jews in that sense. Rom. x. 12: "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”

Now if the Jew be restored because he is a Jew, then Peter needed another conversion; for he said he perceived that God was no respecter of persons. What a pity that Peter had not the aid of brother Phelps and his deacon to teach him better. Again -how foolish Paul must have been to wish himself accursed, Rom. ix. 3: "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh;" when brother Phelps, Skinner, and the notorious Whittemore,* if they had lived in his day, could have told him, in five words, "Father Paul, God will not cast away his ancient covenant people; for all Israel shall be saved."

Once more-if James had lived in the days of the Boston trio, he might have written a very different epistle than the one he wrote to the "twelve tribes scattered abroad." Instead of pointing to the law of liberty and faith in Christ Jesus as their justification, and respect of persons, he might have told them to remain steadfast as Jews, and in the end they would all be gathered in and saved. Yes, how different would James have written, if he had believed in the return of the Jews, and the salvation of God's ancient covenant people.

If then the Jew, as a Jew in the flesh, must have another day, God must have respect of persons, without any reference to the work of righteousness. Or God must give the Gentile another day, after the Jew. Rom. i. 16, 17: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salva

*These gentlemen, with a few others, made themselves conspicuous by their hostility to Mr. Miller and his views, when in Boston in the winter of 1840.

tion to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith."

Here we are plainly taught that the Jew has had his day, and now the Gentile has his. Rom. ii. 7, 11, 28, 29: "To them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life; for there is no respect of persons with God. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

These passages show plainly, that the Jews have had their day, and have been visited with the indignation and wrath of God, of which they are a sample unto us who afterwards should live ungodly. Now, if they, as unbelievers, after suffering, as a nation, the vengeance of God, are to be gathered again and restored to their privileges, land and laws, then the Gentiles, after suffering the vengeance of eternal life, are to be restored again to their present privileges, country, and laws. Will the trio agree to this? I think not. Yet the type must agree with the antitype. But the gospel promise, which was before the law made to Abraham, was in Christ unto all them which believe, both Jew and Gentile. This is certainly the apostle's reasoning in the 3d and 4th chapters of Romans, and he says not one word about the Jews' return, when he sums up the advantage the Jew had over the Gentile. Rom. iii. 1, 9: "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin."

Not a word about this return, and inheritance of Judea again. Yet, if so, their restoration would be a great advantage over the Gentile. Deut. xxx. 7:

"And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee." Isa. xi. 14: "But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them." Isa. liv. 7, 8, 15: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake." Hosea i. 11: "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel."

If these passages mean the Jews, then certainly they will rule over the Gentiles; and it was an unpardonable neglect in the apostle to the Gentiles not to give us warning of it. But he does tell us that the chief advantage of the Jew was, that he had the praise of God, which advantage the Gentile now has over the Jew. So it is to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

Again-are the Jews to be gathered to their own land, and never pulled up again? Amos ix. 15: "And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." If so, how can Paul reconcile Gal. vi. 15: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature?" Eph. i. 10: "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Also ii. 12, 16: "That at that time ye were without Christ, being alien's from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without