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all Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and the chapters in the Pentateuch, that speak either of a captivity or restoration of the Israelites; also the last chapters of Kings and Chronicles, and the first of Nehemiah and Ezra. I will further remark, that Jeremiah's prophesies, or rather, the communications said to have been made to him, are not arranged in this book, according to the order of the times at which they were made. For example, the communication contained in the 25th chapter, was made to him before the captivity of Jehoiakin, and the one contained in the previous 24th chapter, (for these two chapters-see the close of this) was made after this king's captivity, and before Zedekiah's. So also the one in the chapter under consideration, (32) was made in the interval between Jehoiakin's and Zedekiah's captivity, and the one contained in the 30th and 31st chapters, mas made after the captivity of the latter; from all which, it is evident that Jeremiah did not make or compile this bookthat he did not write the prefaces to the several pretended communications, but that some editor did--the same editor, no doubt, that compiled all the books of the old testament—the same editor that could say in the book of kings, that what is not found in it, will be found in the book of Chronicles, and in the latter, that what is not found in it, will be found in the former. I will further observe, that Jeremiah appears to have been a partisan of Nebuchadnezzar. He prophesied against Judah, before the first siege in favor of the Babylonian-calls this monarch a servant of God, and those of his countrymen who had submitted to his yoke with Jehoiakin, a basket of good figs—and those who had not gone forth into captivity, a basket of vile figs.

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Zedekiah had put him in a prison, from which, his editor says, he published the prophecy contained in the chapter under consideration. preface, to which, is in these words, "The word that came to Jeremiah, from the Lord, in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it," &c. I have quoted this, merely to show the date of the communication; for the editor, afterwards in the 26th verse, says, "Then (to wit while Jeremiah was in prison) came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying." Then follows the communication, in which the Lord, after reciting the many sins of the Jews, and speaking of their future delivery into the hand of the king of Babylon, as a punishment for them, concludes in these words: "Behold

I will gather them out of all the countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land with stability with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.— For thus saith the Lord. Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south; for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord."

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The Jews after the restoration did not dwell safely--God did not make an everlasting covenant, that he would not turn away from them to do them good-he did not establish them with stability in Judah; therefore the conquest of Judea by Pompey and others, and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and the subsequent dispersion and degradation of the Jews, are in direct negation of this prophesy.

I will now go to Ezekiel, after observing for the third time, that this captivity and restoration, are the favorite, and almost the only topics of this writer, as well as of Jeremiah. I have never examined with a view to ascertain, but have no doubt that Jeremiah's allusions to them, are more in number than his chapters. I must also remind the reader that Ezekiel began to write as he informs us, in the first three verses of his book, in the fifth year of the captivity of himself and Jehoiakin; and it appears that his first thirty-three chapters and part of the 34th, were written before Zedekiah was taken. Therefore, when in these chapters he speaks of Jerusalem, we should recollect that he speaks of her with reference to her then weak and mutilated condition; or when he speaks of a future captivity of the Jews, that he alludes to those Jews only that were in Jerusalem under Zedekiah, for he himself was already a captive in Babylon when he was writing. This prophet also was a warm partisan of Nebuchadnezzar, as appear from many parts of his book, and particularly from the 17th chapter; in the 15th verse of which, he calls Zede

kiah a rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, and censures him for seeking an alliance with the Egyptians against the Babylonians

From the 15th verse to the 22d of this chapter, all is intelligible; and because the last three verses are wholly incomprehensible, your doctors, as usual, have laid hold of them as applying to Christ. In the 22d verse, God is made to say: "I willalso take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it. I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain, and eminent. In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it, and it shall bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell." Now, for what purpose is the highest branch of the high cedar to be taken, and a tender twig to be cropped off from it, and this tender twig to be planted, and to bring forth boughs and fruit, and be a goodly cedar? Why that "all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low, have dried up the green tree," &c. (Do read all this chapter.) This dry and green branch-this twig that is to be exalted, and brought low at the same time, your doctors say pre-figures Christ. The prophet may have referred to Gedeliah, who succeeded Zedekiah as governor, under Nebuchadnezzar, over the few Jews that were left after the second siege. If he did, his prediction was not verified, as Gedelich did not flourish like a tall bay or cedar tree, but was soon cut down. It is certainly more rational to suppose, that the prophet should have had reference to him, after speaking particularly and plainly of the future disgrace and discomfiture of his immediate predecessor, than that he should abruptly break off and talk about Christ in three short verses. But these verses are obscure and highly figurative-probably not correctly translated; therefore, they will answer very well for a prophecy :especting Christ. All the verses of these prophets, that your doctors say allude to Christ, are of the same character. But to return to the main argument.

In his 36th chapter, Ezekiel prophesies as Jeremiah did, that the children of Israel, that is, the ten tribes, as well as the Jews, should be restored, and compose one nation "in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all, and (so it reads) they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." This is all very plain-no figure here. The Jews-the writer being one-and the Israelites, were in captivity. He hopes, therefore believes, therefore says, that they will all be restored, and form one kingdom, strong and powerful, under a prince of the tribe of which he was, and of the royal line of David: for he goes on to say, "And David, my servant, shall be king over them." (David is used by this prophet, and others,

as a title to a monarch of Judah, as Pharaoh and Cæsar were to the monarch of Egypt, and the heir apparent to the Roman empire.) "And they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them; and they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, (that is in the land of Canaan) wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children, FOREVER: and my servant David shall be their prince forever."

No figure yet-all plain, literal, and intelligible. These captive Jews and Israelltes were to be brought back to the land in which they and their forefathers had lived, and were to exist as a kingdom-a literal, temporal, terrestrial kingdom, forever. They have not dwelt therein, but have been driven from thence and their kingdom, (though it cannot be properly said they ever set up one after the restoration,) overthrown by Titus. Therefore, the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and the subsequent dispersion and degradation of the Jews, are in direct contradiction of this prophesy. In his 33d chapter, Ezekiel, after charging the captivity to the wickedness of the rulers of the Jews, and after predicting a happy restoration, adds, in the 28th verse: "And they, to wit: all the Jews and Israelites, shall no more be a prey to the heathen." They have been, and still are, a prey to the heathen; therefore, &c. the usual and oft repeated conclusion.

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EZEKIEL-CHAP. XXXIII.

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

2. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

3. If, when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people:

4. Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning: if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

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5. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning: his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

6. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

7. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

8. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand.

9. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul,

10. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

11. Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

12. Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

13. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

14. Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

15. If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

16. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

17. Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal; but, as for them, their way is not equal.

18. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.

19. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

20. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.

22. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, afore he

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