God's word, and therefore, in the measure in which it is revealed, the ministers of that word are surely called upon to declare it. But it cannot be easily reconciled with other views of God's character and dealings, and therefore it is too often passed over in total silence.

I have said, however, that the warning in Ezekiel may, without difficulty, be reconciled with the doctrine of perseverance. I conceive the following remarks of Mr. Scott on the passage, will satisfy the minds of most:

"The Scriptures speak of persons and characters, as they appear to men. Many who have been thought true believers have apostatized, and died in sin, as far as men see; and if, indeed, a real Christian should thus apostatize, and die impenitent, his righteousness would not be remembered, and he would perish in his sins. But the security of the covenant of grace is this-“ God will put his fear into the hearts of his people, that they shall not thus depart from him." And the Holy Scriptures are every where written in a popular style; and not with that studied regard to exact consistency, which appears in the works of very systematical divines."Scott on Ezek. iii. 20, 21.

NOTE 14-p. 257.

If any be disposed to doubt the establishment of this new covenant with the Jews as a nation, I would simply call their attention to the context in immediate connexion with the terms of the covenant, as they first occur in Jeremiah xxxi.-"Behold the days come, saith the

Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." Then follow the promises of the covenant, as the apostle quotes them, Heb. viii. The prophet immediately proceeds as follows; ver. 35-40. "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar, the Lord of Hosts is his name; If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being A NATION before me, for ever. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord, from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and of all the fields, unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord. It shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down, any more, for ever.”

I may observe here, that if the covenant to be made with the Jews, on their national conversion to Christ, be (as is most clearly declared) the Gospel covenant, it is very plain that the millennium will introduce no new dispensation, but will be the triumph of the Gospel. Indeed, if the Gospel were not thus a final dispensation, I know not with what propriety St. John could assert, “It is the last time." (1 John ii. 18.)

St. Paul's reasoning, (Hebr. xii. 27,) on the prophecy of Haggai, (chap. ii. 6,) "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven," appears, to me, decisive of this matter. "This word," saith he, "yet ONCE more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace," &c.

The shaking of the heavens and the earth is an expression commonly used in prophecy, to signify the overthrow of existing institutions, civil or ecclesiastical. Thus in Isaiah xiii., which is throughout, "the burden of Babylon," (ver. 1,) we have her overthrow represented in these terms, ver. 10: "For the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." So again, ver. 13; "Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger." Add to these Joel ii. 10; Matt. xxiv. 29.

I am far from contending that nothing further is couched under this language. On the contrary, I believe, there will be a literal fulfilment of such predictions, in that "day of the Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat: nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;" (2 Pet. iii. 13; Isa. lxv. 17.) But these prophecies must surely be granted to have had an accomplishment,-the first of them in

the destruction of Babylon; the latter, in that of Jerusalem. Take the 61st of Isaiah, (vers. 1, 2,) "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me," &c., and look at it in connexion with either the preceding or following context, and I think it is undeniable that it remains yet to be fulfilled in the experience of Israel, as a people. But does this at all prevent its having had an accomplishment already? Far from it. We have our Lord's authority for asserting this accomplishment in his day. "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." So it is with the prophecy of Haggai, under consideration. The words immediately following the part cited by the apostle plainly refer it to the period of our Lord's first advent. "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations (Messiah) shall come, and I will fill this house (the second temple then building) with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Hagg. ii. 7, 9.)

Viewing, then, this prediction, as applying to the overthrow of the civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Jewish nation, (as I think it clear the apostle applies it,) the expression "yet ONCE more," inevitably leads to the conclusion that there is to be no further change of dispensation; and on this the whole exhortation of the apostle is grounded. So he calls the Gospel, immediately after," those things which cannot be shaken;

. a kingdom which cannot be moved." In 2 Cor. iii. 11, where he is, confessedly, comparing the two dispensations, he speaks of the Gospel in exactly similar

terms: "If that which was done away was glorious, (the old dispensation,) much more that which remaineth is glorious."

This single passage, then, appears to put the question as to the permanence of the Gospel dispensation beyond dispute; and that, even granting that Haggai's prophecy may have a further literal accomplishment, which is yet future.

FINIS.

LONDON:

IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND.