We have before said, that the entrance of the Jewish nation into the land of Canaan, was a type of the introduction of the children of God into the heavenly Canaan. The Israelites were to be considered too as in many particulars mystically representing the whole world: by the desolation of Judea we had a shadow of that great day when our Lord will again appear to judge the world. This is the obvious reason, why the predictions on each of these subjects were so united, that some of the sentences actually contain allusions to both events; and this is the only satisfactory way of explaining those passages, such as, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels

of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be*." It is not possible, by the ablest sophistry, to divest this passage of allusion both to the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. Let those who daringly deny, or those who weakly doubt the formidable truths of a final judgment, reflect on these predictions of our Lord with attention and awe; let them see how intimately the prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem is blended with that of the last day, and remember, that as certainly as the one has been accomplished, so will the other be, with all its accompanying terrors to the wicked, though with mercy and blessedness to those who walk with their lamps trimmed, in constant preparation for the approach of the Bridegroom.

I pass over our Lord's prophecies to Peter and John, touching the death of the one, and the long life of the other. From these, we will pause a few moments to consider a very celebrated preIdiction which is to be discovered in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Of the subject, of which the Old Testament affords many examples in its prophecies, I mean the final restoration of the Jews; which, in my opinion, is very distinctly alluded to by St. Paul, in the following words:

* Matt. xxiv. 30-37.

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved *.

I cannot persuade myself that this prophecy has been accomplished. I cannot believe that the individual conversions among the Jews have been its fulfilment, when I see them, as a nation, not less spiritually dark than they were at the crucifixion of our Lord; and I am not singular in this opinion, for many able and pious commentators have held the same doctrine. These expressions of St. Paul, so full of energy and majesty as they are, demand a much more ample signification. Though Christianity rapidly spread itself in the first ages, and though it has shewn by its endurance that it is "of God," yet we know that “ the fulness of the Gentiles" is not by any means come in; and we lament while we see that all Israel is not saved. It is not according to the style of holy writ to speak of small things with words of great sound, and these expressions of St. Paul would appear very hyperbolical, if we could suppose them to mean only those individual conversions which have already taken place both among Jew and Gentile, when we know that so many

• Rom. xi. 25,26.

millions of the former, and whole nations of the latter, still sit in darkness; some refusing to come to the light, and others never even having heard of its brightness.

God alone in his wisdom knows how and when the mystery of which St. Paul speaks is to be accomplished; but this ought not to deter Christians from daily making it their prayer, that he will see fit by bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles, to hasten the salvation of the Jews; and they ought to use every proper human means for the conversion of both; earnestly beseeching a blessing on their efforts, and then they may humbly and attentively examine the pages of prophecy as regards these events. Until it pleases God to open the mystery to us, by the accomplishment of the predictions, all our inquiries can end in little more than conjecture, as to the time of its actual fulfilment; but these inquiries, if carried on with piety and humility, can never be improper, for we are commanded to "search the Scriptures," and they are given for instruction in every way. But as God's ways are unsearchable, so has he seen fit to throw a veil over his prophecies, which cannot be entirely taken away by man, till the same God orders the removal of it, by bringing the events to pass, teaching us that all wisdom, knowledge, and power are in his hands alone.

It seems probable, that as the Gentiles were

excluded from the covenant with Abraham for two thousand years, the same term will expire, before the Jews will, as a nation, embrace the privileges of the Gospel. But I desire to repeat, that this opinion does not assume a higher character than that of humble conjecture.

We find another prediction of the same Apostle, contained in the second chapter of his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and which is equally remarkable, though on a very different subject: "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

To see plainly who this "man of sin" is, we have only to consider St. Paul's words attentively, and in him we cannot help discovering the head of the Romish church. He "exalteth himself above all that is called God," by requiring obedience from princes, kings, and emperors. He" is worshipped, so that he is as God; sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." This he does by claiming to himself an infallibility equal to God, both in his own person, and for the church over which he presides. It is impossible to shut our eyes against this prophecy,