shall all the tribes of the earth (more correctly, of the land) mourn," which corresponds with Zechariah: "In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon, in the Valley of Megiddon; and the land shall mourn, every family apart." Again, we are told that, after the coming of the Son of Man, "He shall send out His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect (the chosen of Israel) from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other." This gathering is celebrated by the prophets under every variety of image, and, from the parallel passages that crowd upon us, it is difficult to select. Thus saith the Lord by Isaiah: "Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring my sons in their arms, and my daughters shall be carried on their shoulders." "And so," to use the words of Paul, "all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."

There are many important points in these discourses, which must be omitted in this general view, which is offered rather as pointing the way to their true exposition, than as the exposition itself. This object may be further promoted by a recapitulation, first, of the course of the Church, as predicted in Luke. The Lord warns His disciples that the then impending desolation of the temple was not to usher in the millennial glory; for after the destruction of the city and sanctuary, there remained a period of bitter conflict and sorrow, ending in judgment upon an ungodly world. After this general warning, He turns back to the early days of the Church, and teaches them to expect a season of severe persecution, in which Jews and Gentiles would make common

cause against them. In this trial of their faith, he promises to uphold them, and assures them of the blessed results of it. The fulfilment of all this is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. By the persecution of the Church, the Jews filled up the measure of their iniquity, and God brought the Roman army against Jerusalem. The disciples, following the warning of the Lord in this discourse, escaped the horrors of the siege and the carnage in which it ended. The city was laid in ruins, the inhabitants were slaughtered, and the remnant carried into captivity; and from that time to the present, Jerusalem has been trodden down of the Gentiles, and will continue to be so until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Then the judgments and signs of the last days will begin their course. The beginning of them will be the time of the Church's deliverance." The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught together in clouds, and so shall we be ever with the Lord." They shall thus escape all these things that shall come to pass. And, while the hearts of men are failing them for fear of the threatening of judgments that gather over the earth, she shall stand secure in the presence of her Lord. When He comes forth to execute judgment, those who have thus been gathered to Him shall come with Him-the sharers of the glory on which a guilty world shall look with terror and dismay.

Next we briefly recapitulate the predicted dealings of God with believing Jews as distinct from the Church, as recorded in Matthew. Even in Israel's most degenerate days, there were a few "Israelites indeed," the children of Abraham by faith as well as by blood, who are kept constantly in view by the prophets. From the day of Pentecost to the

day of our gathering together unto Him, the chosen of Israel are merged in the Church, where there is neither Jew nor Gentile. But, on the removal of the Church, the reörganization of a Jewish state, and the reëstablishment of their national worship in the temple at Jerusalem, they will again be seen in their proper national character. Their trials begin precisely where the trials of the Church end, at a time of which the Lord says, in Luke, "When these things begin to come to pass," and in Matthew, "All these are the beginning of sorrow." This time extends over seven years, as we learn in Daniel. During the first three years and a half, those Jews who receive the testimony of Jesus, will suffer persecution, but, instead of the blessed results of the persecution predicted in Luke, it will be followed by alienation, treachery, and apostasy, though a faithful few will endure to the end.

At the end of three years and a half, Antichrist will throw off the mask of friendship, under which he shall first seek to compass his blasphemous designs. He will violently abolish the temple service, assume the prerogatives of Deity, and claim to be the only object of worship among men. Believers are warned to flee from his power and the pollution of his reign, so soon as they see his image set up in the holy place, and, in their dispersion, proclaim everywhere the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. The career of this monster of iniquity will extend over the last three years and a half of Israel's temporal history, during which the Jews. will debase themselves by worshipping him, and shall endure unexampled affliction under his merciless despotism. The wrath of God will fall heavily upon the earth, which shall then have arrived at the culmination of all its ungodliness and guilt. And just when men are in the full tide of iniquity they will be startled by the awful signs which are the imme

diate precursors of the appearing of the long-rejected Messiah. In the extremity of anguish, remorse, and terror, the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall behold His approach. "For His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem in the East;" the spot from which He ascended when a cloud received Him out of the sight of His disciples, will be that which His feet shall touch when He alights from the cloud-chariot. He will make a speedy and awful end of Antichrist and his adherents, and will there gather His scattered ones with the saved at Jerusalem. Those who fled to escape the corruption of idolatry—all the faithful ones, wherever scattered-shall be brought to share the joy, when it shall be said: "Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted His people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."

THE MISSION OF JESUS TO THE JEWISH NATION.

THE great purpose of God in the salvation of man, the true position of the Church of Christ, and, we may add, the true scope and meaning of the Scriptures, whether of the Old or the New Testament, cannot be understood, unless the proper place of Israel and their relations to the whole scheme of grace be known and recognized. The history of that people is not a mere chapter in the unfolding of the pian, as though they had arisen, served a temporary purpose, and then passed away. From the first, God had His chosen people in view. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." So that, as has been remarked, "even the profane history of nations centres around it." In all ages God made good His assurance: "I will bless them that bless thee." Universal empire could not be given to a Gentile monarch, until Israel had forfeited all their privileges, as at a later day we are informed, "through them full salvation is come unto the Gentiles." And we know that, so far from God's purposes concerning Israel being accomplished, and that nation, being finally cast aside as having served its purpose, all Israel shall be saved, and shall occupy the most important place in the age to come, as the objects of God's especial favor, and the channel of blessings to all the earth.