minds them of their fin and folly; at the fame time comforting them with gracious promises of favour and protection; promifes, by the bye, which refer to the spiritual kingdom and peaceful reign of the Meffiah: "O Ifrael, thou haft destroyed thyfelf, but in me is thine help. I will be thy king; where is any other that may fave thee in all thy cities? And thy judges, of whom thou faidft, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath." If the scattered tribes of Ifrael have reason to rejoice in the prospect of their Meffiah's reign; with no less reason may the flaves of Afia and of Europe triumph in the joyful expectation of a future period, when "the mountain of the Lord's houfe fhall be established in the top of the mountains, and fhall be exalted above the hills; and all nations fhall flow unto it. When many people fhall go and fay, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the houfe of the God of Jacob; and he will • Hofea xiii. 9-11. teach teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion fhall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerufalem. And ke fball judge among the nations, and fhall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their fwords into ploughfhares, and their fpears into pruning books : nation fhall not lift up fword against nation, neither fhall they learn war any more." Afia has long fince borne the yoke, and Europe is bowing down to receive it: most of her free-born fons have already loft their boafted liberty, and defpotifm fupports her empire with a military force. Europe fwarms with foldiers; their numbers are increafing, and will increase, until like caterpillars and locufts they have ate up all the good of the land. It is indeed, to adopt the poetic defcription of the prophet, a day of darkness and of gloominefs, a day of clouds and of thick darknefs, as the morning spread upon the mountains; the fun and the moon are darkened by them, and the stars 9 * Isaiah ii. 2, 3, 4. with withdraw their fhining. Yet through this darkness we may discover a gleam of hope; a ray of light darts from the throne of God, to chear the difconfolate inhabitants of the earth, who are lamenting their loft liberties, and groaning under the yoke of their oppreffors; for "there fhall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jeffe, and a branch fhall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the fpirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the fpirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord; and fhall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he fhall not judge after the fight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness fhall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth and he fhall fmite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips fhall he flay the wicked. And righteoufnefs fhall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his * Joel ii. 2, 10. reins. reins. The wolf alfo fhall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child fhall lead them. And the cow and the bear fhall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child fhall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They fhall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain : for the earth fhall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea*. Then fhall the poetic fiction of the golden age be realized; the Chriftian religion fhall not only be univerfally received, but fhall have a univerfal influence; the beaft†, defpotic power, shall be destroyed; and thus fhall the kingdoms of this world, become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. *Ifaiah xi. I-G Revel. xi. 15. + Daniel vii. 3-24. FINI S. |