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captivity. For the reasons above, it could not have been written by Isaiah. Again: “Thus saith the Lord to his *ANNOINTED, Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations, and I will loose the loins of kings." Here the writer tells us what the Lord had done for Cyrus, and what he would do for him. Besides, this sentence is found in connexion with those in which Jerusalem and the temple are represented as being then in ruins. It must therefore have been written at or after the restoration.

Isaiah, therefore, could not have been the author. I know you tell the people, that this is a prophecy of the very existence of Cyrus. It purports to be only a prophecy of what a person, by the name of Cyrus, then existing, would do. Had it been a prediction of the reign or existence of a certain king who was to come, it would have been in a very different dress, something like this: "Thus the Lord will say to Cyrus who shall come," &c. It is most singular that your doctors will take such liberties. They would not pretend to take them in any other case. Who gave them the right to construe this book differently from any other? after assert, that Andrew Jackson was a great favorite of the people of the United States, and had been twice elected President by overwhelming majorities, do you believe that any one could be found, thereafter, of so much effrontery, as to assert that our historian was prophesying of an Andrew Jackson that was to appear one or two hundred years afterwards?

Should any historian here-*

The divines lay hold of the expression in Isaiah, (XLV. 3.) " I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name," to convince their gaping auditors that Isaiah was predicting the birth and reign of Cyrus. That this was a common expression, indicative of favor or affection, see Isaiah, XLIII. 1. quoted on page 84..

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left, from Assyria and Egypt, &c. The second time. What time was this? To what does the writer allude? Undoubtedly to the coming of Ezra, who came with a great number of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem, after the first company, under Zerobabel and Joshua, had been there and finished the temple. This being admitted-and no other reasonable construction can be put upon this passage-it follows, that he had been previously speaking of the leader of the first company, under the title, or name of Branch, which was no other than Zerobabel. Compare the first ten verses of this II. Isaiah with Haggai and Zachariah, and all doubt that he had reference to Zerobabel will vanish. The spirit of the Lord, and the spirit of wisdom, the fear of the Lord, &c. were to rest on Isaiah's

*Christ and annointed are synonymous. Cyrus was therefore a Christ, or one of the Lord's Christs.

Branch, and this Branch was to stand for an ensign, &c. Zachariah says, that his Branch, or Zerobabel, was to come, not by power, nor by might, but the Lord's spirit. The Lord was to make him a signet, because he had chosen him. He was also to build the temple, and bear the glory of it, and to sit and rule upon his throne, and to be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace was to be between them both, that is, between the altar and the throne, or between himself and Joshua.

Jeremiah's Branch was also to be a king, and to execute justice and judgment. Judah was to be saved in his time. From what? Why, certainly, from the captivity, of which the writer had, in the preceding verses, been speaking. But the succeeding verses put it beyond all doubt, that the writer was speaking of the person who was to lead the Jews out of Babylon; for he says: "Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt; but that the Lord liveth which brought up, and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, (meaning the Babylonian empire.) Jeremiah's Branch, therefore, was to be this second Moses. We know that Zerobabel is said, by Ezra and others, to have been this rival of Moses; therefore, Jeremiah's Branch must have been Zachariah's and Haggai's Zerobabel, or Branch. Many more passages from all these prophets might be cited to prove these points, but these are sufficient for the ingenuous reader.

JEREMIAH-CHAPTER XXIV.

1. The Lord showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakin, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

2. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

3. Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? and I said, Figs: the good figs, very good: and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

4. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

5. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them

again to this land; and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

7. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

8. And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the Lord, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt;

9. And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt, and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.

10. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them, and to their fathers.

CHAPTER XXV.

1. The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakin the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon;

2. The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, (that is the three and twentieth year,) the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

4. And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

5. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you, and to your fathers, for ever and ever:

6. And go not after other Gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.

7. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord, that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 8. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because ye have not heard my words,

9. Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring

them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolation.

10. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

11. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

13. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.

14. For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

15. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, Take the wine-cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

16. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

17. Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me:

18. To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; (as it is this day;)

19. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

20. And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

21. Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

22. And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,

23. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost cor

ners,

24. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,

25. And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,

26. And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth:

27. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

28. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink.

29. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.

30. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.

32. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

33. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.

34. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersion are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.

35. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

36. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture.

37. And the peaceable habitations are cut down, because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

38. He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate, because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

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