slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turnedinto pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein" (Isa. xxxiv.) "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horse; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them: the heavens shall tremble the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining and the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: but I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else and my people shall never be ashamed. 66 66 That Peter never was Bishop of Rome is quite evident, from the words of St. Paul (Gal. ii. 7, 8)-" When they saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision" (the Gentiles including the Romans) was committed unto me, as the Gospel of the circumcision" (the Jews of Jerusalem) was unto Peter; for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles.' From this passage of Scripture alone it is manifest that Paul, and not Peter, was the first Bishop of Rome; for Paul wa sent to Rome to preach the Gospel, but it nowhere appears tha Peter ever was in Rome, nor do I believe he ever was. The last promise made to the Israelites by their last prophe Malachi, is that “ Elija the prophet should come before th coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers (the Israelites) to the children (the Gentiles), and the hearts of the children to their fathers. It appears that the name Elija, as it applied to John, the forerunner of Christ, does not so much belong to any particular individual person as to faithful expositors of the prophecies at a time when light may be fully expected, as to the immediate approach of the Coming Kingdom of Christinterpreters of prophecy, animated with the spirit and zeal of Elija, and directed to the same end-the destruction of every false object of adoration, and the establishment of the worship of the true God. In bringing this essay on the Apostolical Constitutions to an end, I would entreat my Christian readers to read them, as I have done myself over and over again and again, and look up C grace, to the Lord of all Scripture truth for the spirit of his Praying that you may receive such enlightenment, Yours in the faith of Christ, R. WEDGWOOD. 11 Castlenau Villas, Barnes, Surry. A TRUE RELATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GREAT COUNCIL OF THE JEWS, Assembled in the Plains of Adjady in Hungary, about thirty leagues distant from Buda, to examine the Scriptures concerning Christ, Oct. 12, 1650. By S. BRETT (an Englishman) there present. It has been very much desired by many honest Christians that this relation of the Jews' Council should be published, which I did intend to communicate only to my private friends. The chief argument which persuaded me to do it was, because they conceived it to be a preparation, and hopeful sign of the Jews' conversion; and that will be glad tidings to the church of Christ; therefore I yielded to satisfy their desires. At the place aforementioned there assembled about 300 Rabbies (called Jews) from several parts of the world, to examine the Scriptures concerning Christ. It seems this place was thought most convenient for this Council, in regard that part of the country is not much inhabited, because of the continual wars between the Turks and the king of Hungary. There they fought formerly two bloody battles: yet these two princes, notwithstanding their own differences, did give leave to the Jews to hold their council there. The Jews, for their own accommodation, made divers tents for their repose, and had plenty of provisions brought them from other parts of the country during the time of their sitting. They also set up one large tent for the Council to set in, made almost square, the north and south being not quite so large as the east and west parts. It had but one door, and that opened to the cast. In the middle of the tent there stood a table and a stool, for the propounder to sit on, with his face toward the door of the tent. The propounder was of the tribe of Levi, named Zacharias. And within this tent round about were placed forms, on which stood the rest of the Council. They were inclosed with a rail, at a distance from them, to prevent all strangers, and all such as could not prove themselves to be Jews by record or dispute in the Hebrew tongue, which many had forgotten that lived in such countries where they were not allowed their Synagogues, as in France, Spain, and those parts of Italy that belong to the king of Spain and the king of Naples, with the province of Apulis, Sicilia, Calabria, and Sardinia; in which places, if a Jew be found, and denies the popish religion, he is condemned and executed for it; and yet profit and benefit allure them to dwell in those countries, notwithstanding their fears and dangers; and they are willing themselves to forget and neglect to teach their children their native language, rather than lose their opportunity of profit and some of those Jews have burned the ancient records of their tribes and families, that they might not be discovered by searching or otherwise; and for this defect, that they could not prove their tribes and families, they were not permitted to come within the rails in the time of their council, but commanded to remain with the strangers who attended to see the event of this assembly. We conceive that the number of people who attended to see the issue of their proceedings were about 3,000 persons; the most of them Germans, Almains, Dalmatians, with some Greeks, and a few Italians, but not one Englishman more than myself; for the king of Hungary, not favouring the reformed religion, gave no encouragement to the protestant churches to send any divines thither; he did allow there should be some assistants sent from Rome, and their coming thither proved a great unhappiness to this hopeful assembly or Council. The FIRST day, when the assembly first met, they spent some time in mutual salutations, and, as their manner is, kissed each other, expressing great joy for this their happy meeting. And now all things being prepared for their accommodation, they considered the Jews that were to be admitted for members of this Council; for they only were admitted members that could by record prove themselves to be native Jews and I observed there were about 500 refused, though doubtless they were true Jews, yet they could not by record prove themselves so to be, and for this were not admitted to be members of this Council, but commanded to abide without among the strangers that attended there. The number of them that could prove |