Inspire our warriors with a firm hope " in THE GOD OF ARMIES. Fortify, by the "words of truth, men of feebler minds, "whom ignorance exposes to the artifice "of imposture. Instruct every order, both "by precept and action, to respect above "all things their FAITH and their country. "And should one of the sons of the priest"hood, who may not have yet been conse"crated to the sanctuary, burn with zeal to

grasp the sword of patriotism, do ye bless "him in the name of the Church, and let "him follow the filial impulse.

"Soldiers! while we thus call you to the "field of War, we exhort, we supplicate

you never to forget, that it is also the field "of Justice. Abstain from all actions un"worthy YOUR GREAT CAUSE. Abhor 66 every disorder or license that would bring "down on your heads the wrath of a Being, "who is not less the God of retribution "than the God of mercy. We recommend "to you the love of your neighbour, and "the love of concord. And by such proof "of virtue, you will fulfil the vows and the

hopes of the anointed of the Lord, THE << JUST ALEXANDER.

"Convinced of the ANTI-CHRISTIAN in"tentions of the enemy, the Holy Church "will unceasingly invoke THE Lord of "OUR STRENGTH, to crown with the blessings of His peace the heads of our "victorious warriors; and that He will

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graciously accord to the heroes who fall "in defence of their country, an imperish"able reward of happiness in THE ETER

66 NAL WORLD.

"FROM GOD FLOWS ALL GLORY AND ALL GOOD!' May these holy words be "to the future, what they have been to the past, the STRENGTH, and the WAR-CRY, " of RUSSIA!"

Ibid. Israel.]-See Preliminary Illustration, sect. viii; and note on v. 8.

V. 17. THOU art HE, &c.]—“Tu pro"fecto ILLE es." (Grotius.) This passage is plainly to be understood, as addressed by the Almighty to the person of THE TYRANT in his own future age; and therefore, with reference to the entire scries of prophecies by

which the rise and fall of THAT TYRANT shall have been foreshown, at the time when he shall appear. Of such prophecies a stupendous series lies open to the view of every attentive and examining Christian, in the Oracles of Ezekiel and Daniel, and in the Apocalypse. By unadvisedly applying this passage to the age of the prophecy, instead of to the age of the fulfilment, commentators have reduced themselves to the strange dilemma, of supposing that all the prophecies, thus solemnly attested by the Almighty, have perished, and that their sacred testimony has thus become lost to the Church of God. To avoid so preposterous a conclusion, Mede selected from the Prophets who prophesied before Ezekiel certain passages, which he supposed might contain the predictions alluded to in the words of the Almighty. Esay, chap. xxvii. 1, "with the two last verses of the foregoing chapter. Jeremy, chap. xxx. 23, 24. "Joel, chap. iii. 1, &c. Micah, chap. v. "verse 5, 6, 9, 15."-Mede, b. iv. p. 796. But some of those passages seem to relate

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rather to the ancient scourges of God, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, &c. than to the future and remote tyranny of GoGUE; and they appear to have been forcibly applied by Mede to the latter, only in consequence of his failing to perceive, that the words of Ezekiel ought to be understood prospectively to the time of GOGUE; and in consequence also of his sense of the awkward difficulty which must necessarily attend the assumption, that the Prophecies, called by GOD in evidence, had perished.

But, there is another Prophecy (one of the most ancient in Scripture), which particularly demands our attention in this place, viz. the Prophecy of Balaam; the circumstances of which are most peculiar. The later Jews, though aware that this Prophecy regarded THE MESSIAH in His ultimate state of triumph and universal dominion, yet appear to have altered an important name in the text, with a design to remove the strangeness of its appearance, and to render it more apparently familiar: The Prophecy in question is contained in

the 24th chapter of the book of Numbers, and is extended, with some interruptions, through the verses, 7, 8, 9, and 17.

"He (i. e. Israel ) shall pour the water out

of his buckets, and HIS SEED shall be in

many waters; and his KING shall be higher "than AGAG, and HIS kingdom shall be "exalted. God brought HIM forth out of "Egypt; he hath, as it were, the strength of an "Unicorn; HE shall eat up the nations HIS "enemies; and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with HIS arrows, "couched, HE lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir HIM up? Blessed "is he that blesseth THEE, and cursed is he "that curseth THEE!. I shall see HIM, but

-

HE

“not now; I shall behold HIM, but not nigh: "there shall come A STAR out of Jacob, and

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A SCEPTRE shall rise out of Israel," &c.

Both parts of this prophecy“ THE "KING that should be higher than Agag, and 66 THE SCEPTRE that should rise out of "Israel" are understood, by the Jewish Commentators and by the early Christian Fathers, to intend THE MESSIAH in His