: manner of the refurrection; but also the end and purpose that is to be effected by this great and stupendous miracle. But no one, will be fo hardy, as to prefume to affert that, this hath at all been accomplished: not at their return from Babylon; nor yet at the time of Jesus: whence it is manifest, that this important principle, as well as all the others above mentioned, remain to be fulfilled at the future restoration of the nation, by the hands of the true Meffiah. DISSERTATION IV. The Prophecies of feremiah. THE fourth who prophecied concerning the future redemption, happiness, and salvation of the nation, was, Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah; and from whose writings, I shall select such prophecies, as speak in a clear, and unequivocal manner, of their restoration; and the happiness they are to enjoy under a prince of the house of David, &c. The first prophecy commences verse 14th, of of Chapter iiid. and is continued to the end of the second verse of chapter ivth. The Prophet having been commanded to address the ten tribes, as in verse 12. 13. "Go and proclaim these words towards the north*, and say, Return, O thou backsliding Ifrael, faith the LORD; (and) I will not let my wrath fall upon you, for I am merciful faith the LORD; (and) I will not referve wrath for ever," &c. Now proceeds to speak of their future redemption; verse 14, "Return, O ye backsliding children, faith the LORD; for I am married to you:" The Pro. phet here reminds them of that special contract, that folemn covenant, which God had made with them aforetime; whereby he engaged to be their God, and to take them for his peculiar people: and, as he had faithfully fulfilled the covenant on his part, he earnestly defires them to return to their duty, when they shall find him as kind to them, as heretofore, as in the latter member of the verse, and verse • This denotes Assyria and Media, which lay to the north of Judea, where the ten tribes were disposed of by the king of Affyria, who carried them into captivity. verse 15th. "And I will take you one out of a city, and two out of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds after mine own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." Not like Jeroboam, Ahab, and the other wicked kings of Ifrael; who taught them all manner of wickedness: but they will be of the feed of David; of whom it is faid, (1 Sam. xiii. 14.) "The LORD hath fought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath appointed him (to be) ruler over his people." Such will these rulers be: and therefore, they will not lead the people to the commiffion of idolatry, as did those wicked kings, that were not of the house of David; but they will teach them knowledge and understanding; so as to serve the LORD faithfully. The Prophet proceeds, verse 16th, "And it shall be, when ye shall have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days faith the LORD, they shall no more say, the ark of the covenant of the LORD, nor shall it come to mind*, nor shall they remember it, neither • Heb. It shall not afcend on the heart. fhall 1 shall they visit it, nor shall (that) be done any more." This passage has greatly perplexed the Commentators, some* of whom have supposed, that it denotes, that the ark is not to be restored at the future redemption of the nation; and which seems to be founded on that false and absurd hypothesis, that this prophecy relates to their call into the Christian Church, than which, nothing can be farther from the real intent and purport of this prophecy; as will be shewn in the sequel. I shall now take the liberty to state, what to me appears to be the real sense of the passage. From the language of the Prophet, it is clear, that it was not his intention to inform us that at the future redemption the ark would not be restored; but to shew, that as the nation during the continuance of the first and second temples, were exceedingly wicked; and that their sanctity wholly confifted in the oaths which they took in the temple, before the ark, or the altar ; as Solomon says, 1 King. viii. 31. &c, "If any man trespass against his neighbour, and • Dr. Blaney, in his Notes on Jerem. in Loc. an an oath be laid upon him to cause him to fwear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; Then hear thou in heaven," &c. The Prophet therefore informs us, that when God shall have taken them, one out of a city, and two out of a family, and brought them to Jerufalem, at the time of the redemption, and given them shepherds to instruct them in knowledge and understanding, and not in fin and cupidity; that then, they will not only fear the Lord, and worship him in fincerity and truth, while they are few in number, just returned from captivity; but that even after they shall have greatly increased and multiplied in the land, they will not forget the merciful dealings of the LORD with them; as Mofes observed they would do: (Deut. vi. 25.) "When thou shall beget children, and childrens children, and shalt have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves," &c. But they will not then do so; for they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of the LORD; and which refers to the shepherds: that is, they, the shepherds, shall no more terrify the contending parties; by admonishing them, to be afraid of swearing before the ark, in which |