no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth, even forever.”* In perfect agreement with the word of the Prophet was the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin; “Thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Israel forever; and of his

' kingdom there shall be no end.”+ To the former part of each of these predictions all Christians give a literal interpretation. What sound principle is there that will justify a spiritual and mystical interpretation of the latter part, as if nothing more were intended than the spiritual kingdom of Christ in the hearts of his people, and the extension of his gospel among Jews and Gentiles? Is this to explain Scripture ? Is it not rather, “ darkening counsel by words without knowledge ?”

The first part of the predictions of Isaiah and Gabriel has been literally fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ as “God manifest in the flesh,” in whom 66 dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." But has the latter part been accomplished ? Has he ever been seated the throne of David-been acknowledged as the King of the Jews-or established a

universal dominion ? Must we not, then, as believers in revelation, expect the latter part of these predictions to be literally fulfilled at some future time, even as the former part has been in days that are past?

In the fiftieth Psalm it is written: “ The Mighty God, even the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun even unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, hath God shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people."* How exactly does

9 this accord with those passages of the New Testament which speak of our Lord's coming amidst the fire and terrors of the last day?

The 2d, 45th, 72, 93, 94th, 95th, 96th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 110th and other Psalms, all celebrate the reign of the divine Messiah, and describe the righteousness and the blessings of his kingdom.

Isaiah and Micah inform us that in the last days, “the mountain of the Lord's house” (i. e. Jerusalem or Zion,) “shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills,” (i. e. above all the dominions of this world, whether political or religious,)“ and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye

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and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he (the Messiah) shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord."* “For the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty,—and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be laid low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” “In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cut off a strong nation,

Isaiah, ii. 2-5; Micah, iv. 1-8. + Isaiah, ij. 11, 18, 21.

and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from henceforth, even forever."* In Isaiah it is again written: "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him:—with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." (How exactly does this correspond with the words of St. Paul, "that Wicked, whom the Lord will consume with the spirit or breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.") "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."+

In the wonderful revelations made to Daniel respecting the Messiah's kingdom and coming, it is thus written: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the SON OF MAN came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him:

*Micah, iv. 6-7.

†2 Thess. ii. 8.

Isaiah, xi. 1-10.

his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."* In perfect harmony with this is the prediction of Zechariah: “ The Lord shall be king over all the earth : In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.”+

These are but a specimen or sample of the many passages in the Prophets which speak of a reigning and conquering Messiah, displaying his glory, and establishing his righteous dominion throughout the world. The Jews of old considered these passages as applicable to the Messiah, and accordingly expected him as a king, to reign upon the throne of David, exalt the Jewish nation, and establish a dominion far transcending, in splendor and power, all the monarchies of earth. Such is the general expectation of that people now. We blame them not for this. The error of the Jews is their being so exclusively taken up with this class of prophecies that they overlook those which no less plainly predicted the coming of the Messiah to suffer and die before he should appear in his glory. But while we use our best efforts to convince them that the prophecies relating to the humiliation and sufferings of the Messiah have been fulfilled in the person and history of Jesus Christ at his first coming, may we not learn * Dan, vii. 13-14; compare Matt. xxiv. 30, Rev. i. 7. + Zech. xiv. 9.