reckoned a calamity, and their going from us to be utter destruction; but they are in peace, in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth anew." Wisd. chap.ii.-4.

Language of this nature may, indeed, be applied to express that protection which from Jehovah is enjoyed upon earth; yet sometimes such phrases are employed, as utterly refuse all application to any state of things here below. The language is too high, the adjuncts are too sublime to meet the experience of any christian. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; thou shalt make them drink of the river of (Edeni-ca) thy Paradise" Abundantly satisfied, and with a torrent (for so the original bears) are colourings too glowing for this mortal clime. Psal. xxxvi. 7,8.

Should it be urged that this description belongs to the state after the resurrection, this sense seems entirely excluded by the word trust, because then the end of every trust and expectation will have been obtained.

The following passage is, if possible, still more expressive, and agreeing entirely to the state of Paradise. Here follows a literal version of it. "I will sojourn in thy tabernacle for ages. I will trust in the secret place of thy wings. Thou wilt add days to the days of the king, and his years as generation and generation." Psal. lxi. 4, 6. On

this passage I would remark, 'first, that the whole is too great for earth, and too small for heaven. It is too great for earth. Who is it that sojourns here for ages? What king ever existed whose years extended through successive generations? For heaven it is too small. There the dwelling will not be a sojourning, but a duration, fixed, and inobnoxious to change. Not a tabernacle, as implying the dissolution of that state, but a glorious kingdom, where the people shall be all righteous.

* The prophet Hosea expresses, in the clearest and most satisfactory manner, that they who are dwellers under the shadow of Messiah, shall be raised again. The original words are strong and appropriate. In the common version they are considerably shaded. Any one but moderately skilled in the Hebrew tongue, must know, that the verb to return, possesses the force of the Latin adverb rursus, which itself is nothing else but reversus contracted, and therefore approaches closer to the Hebrew form than what is commonly imagined. They shall live again, must certainly refer to a prior period, in which they had lived, but were now dead. Yet although dead, they are termed inhabitants of the shadow of Messiah.

* Jashubu Iosebe be-tzillo iehaiu. Hosea, xiv. 7. Rursus sedentes in umbra ejus vivent.

In the original there is a double relation expressed. It is the dwellers of, in his shadow.

The

The translation of a person from darkness to light, is, undoubtedly, a qu ekening from his trespasses; but it cannot be affirmed of that person, that, antecedent to this, he had been dwelling under the shadow of Messiah. This surely is not the habitation of the wicked previous to their conversion. The whole of the promise contained in this, and the two preceding verses, is worthy of particular notice. For what is it to which Jehovah binds himself by such a solemn engagement, Hos..5" I will be as the dew unto Israel?" Nothing can be more exquisite than the natural image here exhibited. The dew falling from heaven, and resting on the seed that has been sown, exerts its secret energy in causing it to spring, and to appear in all its beauty on the face of the earth. In like manner Jehovah promises, that on the mouldered bodies of his chosen Israel his power should operate as the dew operates on the seeds of earth. That lilly which surpassed Solomon in all his glory they shall resemble, and permanent as the roots of the cedar, their happiness shall strike deep into eternity. The doing of this the Chaldee paraphrase ascribes to the Mimra, or Christ. Here there is a threefold act, each of which, properly and naturally succeds to the other. First, there is a gathering them; that is, a taking them out of the world by death. Secondly, there is stated the consequence of that, dwelling under the shadow of Mes

siah; and, thirdly, their being brought out of that state by the resurrection. This method or process, taken with the bodies and souls of the righteous, is termed the ways of Jehovah; which, to comprehend and enter fully into, it requires understanding and prudence. I shall endeavour to prepare the mind of the reader for the perusal of this sentence, taken from the Chaldee paraphrase, by a single quotation from the gospel of St. John. "The 5.28 hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life."" My Word shall be as the dew unto Israel: they shall shine as the lily: they shall dwell in the strength of their land: their brightness shall be as the brightness of the candle of the sanctuary, and their scent like the scent of incense, composed of aromatics. They shall be gathered from the midst of their captivity: they shall dwell in the shade of their Messiah; the dead shall live, and blessings shall abound to them in the land."

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In the Song of Solomon, it is said, "I sat down 2.3 under his shadow with delight, and his fruit was sweet unto my taste.' Should any apply this to the church within the veil, and think it a mystical description of souls under the wings of Christ in Paradise, they would, in so understanding it, be justified by the judgment of the Jewish church.

The words of the Chaldee paraphrase, on the place, run in this form: "As the apple tree is fair

and praise worthy among the barren trees, so the Lord of the future age was praise worthy amidst the angels, at what time he was revealed in Mount Sinai, then I desired to dwell in the shadow of his Majesty, and the words of his law were sweet unto my palate, and the rewards of his precepts are laid up for me in the world to come."

terms.

In a representation which the prophet Micah4/2 gives of the nations exulting over the fall of the people of God, we have set before us the design of the intermediate state in the most express "Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel, for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor." Plainly intimating, that although they were cut off by calamities from the earth, yet Jehovah had a purpose concerning them, which their enemies could neither forsee nor understand that dying they were not extinct, but gathered like sheaves into his floor. To the same intent are the words of John the Baptist, that the righteous, like wheat, are to be gathered into his granary. So Messiah offers to gather Jerusalem's children under his wings, which offer could by no means refer to any temporal deliverance or protection, inasmuch as we see that his people have been the most exposed, and the greatest sufferers

on