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We need hardly pause upon those two other scriptures," the seed of the woman," and the virgin's son ;" both were fulfilled in the birth of the holy child Jesus,—while the place of his nativity was not more distinctly marked out by the prophet Micah, than it was authenticated by the Jewish records, and by the archives of the Roman empire.

I see, said Wolff, that you have here a worthy prince of the captivity. To which the high priest replied, We must have some prince, for it is written, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come." As the prince of the captivity was present, delicacy on my part was necessary, says Wolff, I therefore confined myself to the three following questions, and after they had been answered unsatisfactorily, I turned the conversation to another subject.

Has the prince of the captivity, in whose company I have the honour to be, royal power?

May he enact laws?

Is he of the tribe of Judah?

No, said the high priest, he has no royal power, he is a prince of the captivity; he has however a little, little, little power; he cannot enact laws, and we do not know our tribes.—Wolff's Journal. Scottish Miss. Reg. vol. VI.

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We might go on to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah by his threefold offices, namely, that he was a king, though his kingdom was spiritual, and "not of this world;" that he was a prophet like unto Moses," but as much cxcelled the type in this respect, as, in all other things, he hath the pre-eminence; for he revealed the mind and will of God, in revealing the mystery of the Mosaical ordinances and institutions, shewing the nature, use, and end of all that was hidden even from the eyes and understandings of the Jewish nation, though they had been familiar with the letter and ceremonial of their ritual worship for many ages. And if we speak of him as a priest," he offered up himself to God and the Father, a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour; by which offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified, and made reconciliation for their sins. He, by his own blood, -of which the blood of bulls and goats were but the types, is entered into the holy place, that is, into heaven itself, where he appears in the presence of God for us."

The sufferings and humiliation of our blessed

Lord no less clearly predicted, than the glory of his person-have likewise all been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth; and if our beloved elder brother would but ponder the writings of the Evangelists, as he reads Moses and the Prophets, he would discover that all which is written therein has been accomplished in our Messiah. Betrayed by his friend,-forsaken of all,-sold for thirty pieces of silver,-exposed to shame and buffettings,—cut off, but not for himself,-lifted up upon the cross, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and for the healing of the nations, his garments parted among the Gentile soldiers, who pierced his hands and his feet,despised and rejected of men,-forsaken of God! Is not this the Christ, the Son of the blessed? or if one proof more be wanting, is it not found in the unbelief of the Jews: "Who hath believed our report ?"

From these ample testimonies of the identity of Jesus of Nazareth with the Messiah of the Scriptures, we might proceed to his resurrection and exaltation; but, "if they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe though one rose from the dead.”

With regard to the blessings which remain in store for the Jews, they seem to be, like the first promise to Abraham respecting his posterity,

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so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable." (Heb. xi. 12.) Though scattered, cast out, dispersed, and persecuted, they will yet be sought out, and not forsaken. And, however commentators may differ in their interpretation of the manner in which they will be brought in again, whether by a national and miraculous conversion, similar to their Exodus from Egypt, -or whether by the instrumentality of the written word, diffused throughout the world with a rapidity hitherto unexampled, through the medium of innumerable languages, resembling the preaching of the apostles on the day of Pentecost, or whether, by the destruction of their enemies, and the enemies of the church of Christ, in the great day of God Almighty at Armageddon,* Rev. xvi. 14, 16,-all seem to be of opinion that they will be restored to the land of their fathers, and that every impediment will be re

* Cunninghame on the Apocalypse.

moved to make way for those kings of the east to repossess their own territory in Judea. To prove this, a few quotations shall suffice:-" In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand, and on the left and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them." Zech. xii. 6-8.

"These verses confirm the supposition that the grand accomplishment of this prophecy is yet future, and that it relates to the times when the Jews shall be converted and restored to their own land. Then their governors will be like a fire upon a hearth, that kindles the wood laid upon