be fitted and accustomed to navigate broad seas, and finally it must be according to the tenor of the prophecy at the end of this dispensation. Therefore they cannot be ancient vessels of papyrus used then or now in navigating the Nile. The Hebrew words translated "vessels of bulrushes" are Kalei Gomé. Gomé is the perfect participle of the Hebrew verb, to drink. The literal meaning of Kalei Gomé is "vessels of that which drinks water," ""that feeds upon water," or "vessels of the drinkers." Our translators in 1611, upwards of two hundred years ago, were probably puzzled to find out what in the world this could be; they recollected that the bulrush is a water-absorbing plant, called in common phrase the bibulous papyrus; they therefore thought that the rendering, supposing that it referred to Egypt, must be vessels like the ark Moses built of the bibulous or water-feeding bulrush. Schleusner, a very celebrated scholar, almost anticipated the better rendering, for he says in his lexicon, "swift packet-boats of some description." Job, in that splendid description of the war-horse, says, "He drinketh up the ground," using the Hebrew verb of which the participle is Gomé; that is, his speed is so great that the ground disappears as if he drank it up. These vessels, from a consideration of the future time of the fulfilment of the prophecy, instead of being vessels of bulrushes, moving sluggishly along the canals of Egypt, must be swift packet-boats. But when we come to modern times, and look at the word, referring as it

does to the end of this dispensation, in the light of modern discovery, it will be found that it is not an improbable anticipatory reference to the steam-ship of modern times. For what is the steamer? A vessel whose food, whose drink, whose nutriment, whose propulsive power, whose motive force from beginning to end, is water. If this be the correct reference, it would run thus: "Ho, thou land that wilt one day shadow with wings a people beyond Ethiopia, go to the peeled and scattered people; lend them your swiftest steam-ships; bring them at that day when the signal is hung out of the skies that calls God's ancient people home; lend your aid to the Lord of hosts; consecrate all the brilliant discoveries of science; all the resources of your wealth, your power, and your facilities of conveyance; and carry from east and west, from north and south, this people, and lay them as a present before the Lord of hosts on Zion, in the midst of Jerusalem; there to be reconstituted, and thence never to be expelled."

We now enter on another inquiry here, no less interesting. I stated that the 60th chapter of Isaiah is much of it parallel with the 18th chapter; and I quoted these words from it: "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first." A very vital question here is, Who is this Tarshish? We have Tarshish alluded to in the 60th chapter of Isaiah as a country with ships; we read of it in the 38th of Ezekiel as being in alliance with Dedan, and Sheba, or India; and having to oppose an eruption from the

north, inaugurated to avert or disturb the settlement of the Jews in their own land. We read in the 38th and 39th of Ezekiel, that the land of Gog and Magog, Rosh and Tubal-Russia beyond all dispute, as all commentators say-is to make an effort to take possession of the East; and that some land called Tarshish, with its ships—and with the "young lions thereof," is to resist the eruption of the northern host into the sunny plains of the East; and with the aid of the Jews to repel and triumph over them. This leads to the inquiry Who is this Tarshish? We find it employed in its literal sense as the place to which Jonah fled; but we discover no place existing now of which such attributes and acts can be predicated as those that are here assigned to Tarshish. The inference therefore of Mr Chamberlain, established by many quotations from the word of God, seems correct. This Tarshish of prophecy is none other than Great Britain. The name Tartessus was originally given to a town close to Gibraltar. Gibraltar has played a conspicuous part in the past history of our country since we had it; and the loss of it, as every one knows, is the loss of the key of the Mediterranean. This does not help us, however, to the conclusion we think correct. Tarshish is described by Ezekiel as a place of gold, and of iron and tin, and of purple, and of linen, and of blue, and the work of cunning workmen. This nation, so far as we have proceeded, must be an island; secondly, mercantile, having innumerable fleets; thirdly, it must be a manu

facturing country, creating textile fabrics, and working in exquisite dyes of all kinds; it must also be a mining place, having gold and silver, and tin and iron; for these are the words employed by the sacred writer; and lastly, it is to have a leading mark of its identity, as laid down in Ezekiel; "with the young lions thereof." It is a habit in Scripture to describe a country by its symbols. Thus, for instance, we have the eagle as the representative of Rome; the bee of Assyria; the crocodile of Egypt; the goat of Macedon; the three frogs the symbols of France; and here we have the lions the symbols of England. If we combine all these elements, we shall find in them much reason for identifying our own land as the land of glorious promises, a nation charged with a grand mission; and therefore prosperous and powerful to the end, having a destiny to fulfil, and a service to render unprecedented in the history of nations that have passed away. Therefore, if this restoration of the Jews is to be at the end of this present Christian economy; if, as Mr Chamberlain thinks, it "cannot be earlier than 1864, and may be much later;" if the country that is to lend its ships, its wealth, its influence, and all its vast territorial power, in obedience to God, to carry back the sons of Zion to their home, and to reinstate them in the midst of Jerusalem, be our own beloved land, a maritime, a manufacturing land, a land of ships, a land of textile fabrics, a land of iron, tin, gold, and silver, then the conclusion is clear, as it is gratifying-WE SHALL NOT GO

DOWN IN THE CATASTROPHE OF NATIONS. WE SHALL COME UP AT THE END, STRONG, PROSPEROUS, AND GREAT. Whilst the whole continent of Europe, and everything on it, gives token of trouble, whether we look to Russia, still coveting Constantinople because the gate to the East; or France, seeking accessions to her territory and the Mediterranean for a French lake; or to Austria, Prussia, Hungary, and Italy; we feel the elements and heavings of an earthquake that will shake Europe to its central depths. It is a glorious hope that our country is reserved in mercy, not in merit, for a grand mission, spared to the end a manufacturing, a mercantile, a rich, a prosperous, and, we trust, a God-fearing land, like "the harpers on the glassy sea," lifting up their anthem peal of praise to God, when the nations of the earth are smitten and scattered as by the four winds of heaven. Our country separated from the ten kingdoms of the Papacy at the glorious Reformation, as we have seen; and whilst the great continental nations that belong to Babylon, or to decem-regal Europe, are being judged, our country, never having rejoined them, remains exempt from their punishment. She may be chastened; she too richly deserves it; and what daughter is she whom the mother chasteneth not? She will suffer, but it is that she may be purified; she will feel the breath of the tempest that sweeps past; she will taste the pressure of the tribulation that overtakes continental Europe; but on these two grounds, first, because she left the fore-doomed apostasy at the