time the people" fhall be delivered;" fo it must be the close of their long calamitous difperfion

The nature of this diftrefs is as clearly revealed as its existence. It appears to proceed from the fword and famine. So the Prophet Ifaiah exprefsly afferts, "These two things are "come unto thee; who fhall be forry for thee? "Defolation and deftruction, and the famine " and the fword: By whom shall I comfort "thee?" Chap. li. 19. As it is fometimes an eafier matter to rear a new building, than to clear the foundation of old rubbish, so it is eafier to establish the true sense of scripture, than to remove the errors occafioned by false interpretation. All the commentators of name upon Ifaiah, apply this paffage to the return from Babylon. But a little attention to the paffage itfelf muft convince the unprejudiced, that unless we fhall permit the hiftorian flatly to contradict. the prophet, no one iota of this paffage can apply to that period. At the period here mentioned, "There is none to guide her (Jerufalem,

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or the Jewish nation,) among all the fons "whom she hath brought forth; neither is there ،، any that taketh her by the hand, of all the "fons that he hath brought up," verfe 18. Was there none of the nation either able or willing to fupport her at the return from Babylon?

There

There were Zerubabel and Shealtiel, Ezra and Nehemiah, Joshua the high-priest, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the prophets; all of them as willing to take the hand of their nation, as they were able to guide her. "Thy "fons have fainted, they lie at the head of all "the streets as a wild bull in a net: They are "full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of "thy God;" verse 20. Did any fuch distress as this, together with the sword and famine mentioned in the foregoing verfe, precede the return from Babylon? On the contrary, many were fo well fatisfied with the land of their captivity, that they remained there, notwithstanding the proclamation of Cyrus. The fact is, that they only returned, "whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the House of the Lord;" Ezra i. 5. perfons whom God excited to forego their temporal interests in Babylon, for their spiritual privileges in Jerufalem. "Thus saith the Lord 66 -Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the

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cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup "of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it "again;" Ifa. li. 22. This intimates a deliverance from fuch diftrefs as never fhould be renewed, therefore cannot apply to the Babylonish captivity; for it has been renewed by the Roman difperfion, and rendered much more calamitous. But all the prophets affert, that when converted,

converted, and restored to their land in the latter days, they fhall never be again difinherited. These circumstances, therefore, fix the distress here mentioned to the period immediately preceding their converfion.

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That famine is a chief ingredient in this diftress, is hinted by the Prophet Ezekiel, in the paffage already quoted, chap. vii. 19. They "fhall caft their filver in the streets, and their "gold fhall be removed: Their filver and their

gold shall not be able to deliver them in the "day of the wrath of the Lord: They shall "not fatisfy their fouls, neither fill their bowels ; "because it is the ftumbling-block of their "iniquity." The word tranflated streets, fignifies abroad, in the open fields; that tranflated removed, fignifies fomething removed, as unclean; it is the word rendered filthiness, 2 Chron. xxix. 5. ; the particle rendered because, fometimes fignifies although. The ftumbling. block of their iniquity, means the outward object, which gratifies the predominant passion; it is therefore joined to heart-idols, Ezekiel xiv. 4. The whole verse might be rendered thus, "They fhall caft away their filver in the open

fields, and their gold they shall separate from "them as vile, (their gold and their filver fhall "not be able to deliver them in the day of the "wrath of the Lord; thefe fhall

not fatisfy

"their hunger, nor fill their bowels); although "it was the great object of defire with them, "to gratify their covetousness." The circumftances mentioned here are exceedingly defcriptive of a terrible famine. Covetous men caft away their gold as vile, because it cannot fill their bowels.

Are we folicitous to know the agents by whom this diftrefs is brought upon the Jews, the prophecies discover thefe likewife. The chief agent appears to be the blafphemous king now refiding in Jerufalem. Their diftrefs is owing to a virulent perfecution of their nation, carried on by him throughout the extent of his jurisdiction, which, as we have already seen, is confiderable. That he carries on a perfecution against fome people who incurred his indignation, is obvious, from the testimony of Daniel, chap. xi. 44. " But tidings out of the "eaft and out of the north fhall trouble him: "therefore he fhall go forth with great "fury to deftroy, and utterly to make away

many." That the perfecution fhall be very virulent, is implied in the expreffions. The word rendered, "utterly to make away," fignifies to devote to death with a curfe: it is the fame used in that fentence of the law, Leviticus, chap. xxvii. 28, 29. "Nevertheless every devoted

thing, whether of man or beaft, it shall not

"be redemed, it fhall furely be put to death." It implies therefore, that he went forth with a purpose of exterminating the people against whom his fury was directed. But why should we fuppofe that people to be the Jews? In two verfes after, the prophet mentions the extraordinary trouble of their nation, and that it should take place about the fame time, which affords a prefumption, that their trouble was the confequence of his fury.

But the prophet Ezekiel put this circumstance beyond a doubt, chap. xxxv. 5. where God addreffes Edom, and after denouncing fevere judg ments, intimates the reason thus; "Becaufe "thou haft had a perpetual hatred, and haft shed "the blood of the children of Ifrael by the force "of the sword, in the time of their calamity, in "the time that their iniquity had an end." The perfon here addreffed is Edom, meaning the king of spiritual Babylon, for the reasons already mentioned; to which we may add, that he is literally king of Edom, at the pe. riod mentioned in the prophecy, by having at least a spiritual jurifdiction over the country once poffeffed by Edom. He is charged with a perpetual hatred. The Pope, from the beginning, bore a hatred to the fpiritual Ifrael of God. When poffeffed of the country of Edom, he shall inherit the old hatred of Edom against his brother

Jacob,