whole series of prophecy in the Old Testament, that, of the prophecies delivered before the captivity, many have even a chief reference to a yet future return of Judah and Israel to their own land. The returns from Babylon, both of Judah and Israel, were very limited, but especially those of the ten tribes, so as not to meet the promises in any literal fulfilment.

The expressions in Deut. xxx. 1-6, (following that remarkable prophecy of their dispersion among all nations) naturally lead our minds to a return from their present dispersion to their own land.* The declaration, (Isaiah xi. 11,) that "the Lord will again put forth his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people that remaineth, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hanath, and from [123] the islands of the sea," received not, as far as we are informed, a full literal accomplishment in the return from Babylon: neither did that recorded in Jeremiah, chapter xxx. and xxxi. where the distinction made between the captivity of Israel and of Judah, (xxx. 3.) leads us to expect the return of Israel,† [124] an event which appears yet to be accomplished. The apostle

*Josephus says, (Book xi. chap. 5.) "The entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country [where they were carried captive]; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude not to be estimated by numbers."

+ In the Quarterly Review of Burnes' Travels into Bokhara, the following remarks occur respecting the ten tribes-"It has been for some time past a current opinion in the East, that the offspring of the lost tribes of Israel survive among the Afghans. Mr. Burnes, after shewing some anachronism in the genealogies, and that there are similar corruptions in those of Greece and Rome, &c. says:

"The Afghans looks like Jews; they say that they are descended from Jews, and the younger brother marries the widow of the elder, according to the law of Moses. The Afghans entertain strong prejudices against the Jewish nation, which would at least shew that they have no desire to claim without a just cause a descent from them. Since some of the tribes of Israel came to the East, why should we not admit that the Afghans are their descendants, converted to Mahomedanism. I am aware that I am differing from a high authority-W. Elphinstone. [Mr. E. declined the investigation, but thought the accounts of their origin fabulous,] but I trust that I have made it to appear on reasonable grounds." Vol. I. page 164.

The Baptist Missionaries Carey and Marshman, quote a learned Afghan, as saying, "his nation are Beni Isreal, but not Yahood;" sons of Israel, but not Jews: and inform us that in the Pushtoo or Afghan language, there are more Hebrew words than in that of any other Indian nation.

Mr. Wolff, the Jewish missionary, takes an opposite view. He says, "Having ascertained the total unlikeness of the Afghans to the Jews, in their physiognomy, and also the total discrepancy of their language from the Jews, I think I have demonstrated that the Afghans are in no wise descendants from the Jews. The assertions of a few of them, that they are of the children of Israel, does not prove anything, for they themselves, as well as all the Mahomedans, make a great distinction between the Jews and children of Israel. I have shewn that the idea of the Jews of Bokhara that the ten tribes are

(Rom. xi. 26.) quotes Isaiah lix. 20, as referring to their future conversion, and thereby justifies our taking such a view of that prophecy, and others of a similar kind. The whole series of chapters, Ezekiel xxxvi. to xxxix. inclusive, with several other instances, might be added, as prophecies that have yet, as far as we can at present judge, to receive their chief accomplishment. The REJECTION OF THE JEWS is foretold in language so plain and literal, and has been so minutely accomplished, and they have been so widely scattered, that nearly all men that dwell on the face of the whole earth have sensible and visible witnesses before their eyes of the truth of God's word, the purity of his law, and the certainty of his judgments.

And can we suppose that the judgment and righteousness in the threatening shall be so literally accomplished, and the mercy and loving kindness in the promise not be also fulfilled literally and exactly? This is not the method of him whose name is LOVE. The very sight of their present scattering and degradation, may be to us who believe God's word, a palpable evidence of the reality of their future restoration and honour, and shew us how to interpret the innumerable plain predictions which foretell this their future glory.

The extraordinary fulness of scripture is most wonderful. [125] When do we seem to get wholly at its unsearchable riches! Oh how like it is to the divine mind as manifested in the works of creation! There are inexhaustible treasures of grace in its sacred contents to enrich the humble and patient inquirer from age to age!

Many of the prophecies of the Old Testament shew a very important, humbling, and afflictive course of dealings with the Jews, on their return and before their final glory. Zech. xii. -xiv. Joel ii. and iii. Isaiah lxvi.

The NEW TESTAMENT brings before us divine truth in its

around Lassa and in China is highly probable."-See Wolff's Researches, p. 521.

Mr. Wolff, however, records thus the opinion of Capt. Riley, whom he calls "the best Arabic scholar in India," (residing at Nusseerabad, as given in August, 1832,) "I concur in opinion with those who aver the Afghans to be of Jewish descent, though these people now, as might be expected, are indifferent about acknowledging it; dissenting in this idea, as I do, from Mr. Elphinstone, who, in part of a work on Kabool, slights that conjecture, and in another, (vol. i. p. 309,) tells us of a genealogist among them who traced his origin to the Babylonish captivity. They have a great number of Hebrew proper names in their appellatives, and their dialect still retains the genitive sign of the Chaldeans and Syrians, and other marks of cognate affinity." He says, in a subsequent letter, I suppose in answer to Mr. Wolff's doubts, "I think enough has been advanced to connect their origin in some way or other with the house of Israel."

A work of much useful information, of Mr. Simon, connecting the American Indians with the Jews, may be also read on this point.

spiritual character. The object of our Lord's first coming, however, was not, we are told, to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil (or complete ). Without, then, setting aside the prophecies of the Old Testament, the New adds to them those spiritual elements which are the highest glories of the whole church. This view accounts for its comparative silence on the literal glories of the Jewish nation.

In the New Testament, therefore, little is said on that subject; but there is nothing to throw doubt upon our hopes respecting the Jews; and two strong passages, in oblique hints, however, rather than by positive assertions, confirm this hope. Both proceed from our Lord. One is, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," Luke xxi. 24. The other is his reply to the inquiry of his disciples, "Wilt thou, at this time, restore again the kingdom of Israel! And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times, or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. Acts i. 6, 7. The book of Revelation, being for the use of the [126] Gentile churches, says little directly on the Jews, but the seventh chapter seems to include both the literal and spiritual Israel, and the Kings of the East, (Rev. xvi. 12,) apparently refer to the Jews; and they unite in the songs of praise at the close, in chapter xix. The general tendency of what we read in the New Testament is to lead our minds from the temporal kingdom and the earthly glory, to that spiritual kingdom which belongs now to Jew and Gen-tile, as a preparation for possessing an heavenly inheritance; but still with this is clearly predicted, in harmony with Old Testament prophecies-a kingdom which shall one day universally prevail,-for a day is coming when it shall be said, "The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever:" Rev. xi. 15; and the inheritance of this kingdom is our great reward in the day of Christ. (Matt. xxv. 34; Rev. iii. 21; v. 10.) Every book almost of the New Testament contains expressions which shew that God has not cast away his people Israel.

Respecting the future CONVERSION of the whole Jewish nation, as distinct from their national restoration, the prophecies are clear and decisive. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward, shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Hos.

iii. 4, 5.

The New Testament does not here speak obscurely. when Moses went in before the Lord he took the veil off, Exod. xxxiv. 34, so shall it be with the [127] Jewish nation; "Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." 2 Cor. iii. 16. If they have in part now fallen, their fulness shall hereafter come in. Rom. xi. 12. If they are now

cast away they shall be received; (ver. 15.) if they have been broken off, they shall be again grafted in; (ver. 23.) and so all Israel shall be saved, ver. 26. How cheering are such promises! and they are accompanied with the delightful assurance that their recovery shall be a blessing to the world, even as life from the dead.

It is to be feared, that some who are warm friends to missions among the heathen, have not sufficient faith with regard to efforts among the Jews, and think it almost a hopeless undertaking. But is not this directly contrary to the plain argument of the Apostle on this very point; "God is able to graft them in. For if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive-tree?" Rom. xi. 23, 24.

The promised future conversion of the Jews, with its effects on the world, should both encourage our hopes and excite our labours for them. This duty is brought before us in the statement of God's design in their present unbelief—"They have now not believed in your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy." Rom. xi. 31. The progress of recent events respecting the Jews has been peculiarly interesting. The establishment of a British episcopal church on Mount Sion, the deputation of the Scotch church to the Jews, and the appointment of a British vice-consul at Jerusalem, are remarkable signs of these [128] days. See the author's Time to Favour Zion,' just published.

There are other points respecting this subject on which Christians have been more divided, and to which it may be desirable briefly to advert.

The PRIORITY OF THE GENERAL CONVERSION OF THE JEWS to that of the Gentiles, has been much discussed. They appear to be closely connected events: if we only considered the vastness of the scene of labour, and the immense work to be accomplished, we should see how easily both may be advancing at the same time, and mutually promoting each other. Vast as are the hopes and means of the real church of Christ, the progress hitherto made in its purification, and the conversion of the world, is very limited. The work is so large that it may advance yet very much more, and quite enough be left,

after the conversion of the Jews, to realize the assured hope, that that event shall be as life from the dead to the world.

The supposition that the Jews will hereafter be the EMINENTLY honoured instruments of good to the Gentiles, and that, in connection with their restoration, we may hope for the UNIVERSAL Conversion of the Gentiles, appears to the author to have a truly scriptural foundation. It is true in past history. Undoubtedly the Evangelists sowed the first seeds of Christianity in many kingdoms now nationally professing the Christian faith. Though the Christian nations were not in general, nor exclusively, probably, in any particular instance, brought to that profession by the means of Jewish missionaries, the effects of the labours of the apostles, the way in which their writings have been and are blessed, and [129] the fact that all the knowledge of true religion, that is now in the world, came originally through the Jewish nation, have remarkably commenced the fulfilment of such predictions on this point in the Old Testament, as Isaiah ii. 1-5; Micah v. 7; Zechariah viii. 23. These facts by no means, however, shut out hopes of yet more extended blessings from this people. Indeed, who can but feel a joyful hope when he looks at the whole history of the Jews and their present state, and the promises connected with their conversion? Who can but rejoice in the blessed anticipation that they will be again, as in the first days of the church, most enlarged blessings to the Gentiles? See them scattered in every country knowing almost every tongue, valuing every where there original scriptures, marked as a peculiar people by all nations, and a city set on a hill in every land. Consider yet further, that the New Testament is translated into their beloved original language, circulated among them, and received and read by them. Then look at their restoration, and the cheering promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, Zech. xii. 10. Observe them, thus penitent and believing, going back to the land in which their fathers dwelt, Ezek. xxxvii. 25, and thus becoming witnesses above all exception to the veracity of God; and who can but hope, both from the providence and prophecy of God, that such marvellous events, attracting the attention of the whole earth, will be a spiritual blessing beyond calculation to every nation, and that the converted Jews shall thus most effectively aid the general conversion of the Gentiles.*

*The author once thought it most probable that the Jews would be the chief missionaries to the Gentiles; but he has been led to think that those that escape who are sent to the nations, are Gentiles spared from the last judgments and not Jews, and that the general aspect of the prophecies is the Gentiles coming to Jerusalem to learn, rather than the Jews going to the Gentiles. Isa. ii. 2, 60; Zech. xiv.

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