even if it were but recited-far less could the necessary distinctions be made as to their relation more direct or indirect to this subjecttheir peculiar character as to that which is literal, that which is figurative, and that which would seem to partake of both these qualities-and the application of those just, and sound, and discriminating rules of interpretation, by which alone we can hope to arrive at accurate conclusions on a point of such deep interest. I shall now, therefore, call your attention to one of the most copious and extraordinary predictions to be found in the Scriptures relative to the Jews-and undeniably applicable to their former sufferings, and in some degree to their actual condition:"The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongues thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege

thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee."-Deut. xxviii. 49-53. And again: "And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bond-men and bond-women, and no man shall buy you."-Deut. xxviii. 64-68.

I have only selected a part of this sublime and terrible prophecy, referring to the calamities which they should undergo in the desolation of their country, and their dispersion among the nations. Other parts of it relate to personal visitations, and to afflictions which should come upon their land while they yet inhabited it. That this is the language of prophecy, and not the foresight of human wisdom, and of ordinary calculation, is evident from the striking fact, that the great blow was to be struck, not by surrounding nations, by whom they had been assailed on their journey, and with whom they might reasonably expect to be engaged afterwards, but " a nation brought against them from far, from the end of the earth, whose tongue they should not understand." I have preferred this prophecy for several reasons, as it came from the Jewish legislator himself, and at so early a period, even before their settlement in Canaan; it must, therefore, relate to the general punishment of their transgressions, rather than to any specific chastisement of their national crimes during their national existence; and being expressly applied to a general dispersion, "the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even to the other," it would seem to point out their final dispersion, and to indicate the very condition in which they

yet remain. It is true that much of the description will but too forcibly apply to the common horrors of war-the waste of life, and devastation of the fruits of the earth, and consequent fearful extremities of famine-leading sometimes even to the destruction of the instincts of nature-and rendering the mother cruel to her infant. Such shocking results appeared in former parts of the Jewish history, and have found their horrible parallel among other people in similar circumstances. This is the record of human natureof its crimes and sufferings-written, not by the historian, but by the warrior and hero, so called ; not with pen and ink, but with the point of his own sword, dipped in his own blood. Some of these threatenings were strikingly fulfilled in the subjugation of the Jews by the Assyrians and other powers, and by their temporary captivities: but it remained that the whole outline of this prophecy should be filled up by the Romans, and its testimony sealed by the last and utter dispersion. It is also remarkable, how decidedly the prominent features of this description characterize the Roman people-a far distant nation-remote in their local position-whose instruments of desolation, Adrian and Vespasian, came to the destruction of Jerusalem from Great Britain-whose ensign was the eagle-whose tongue had no affinity with those with which

the Jews were conversant, or with their ownwhose countenances were fierce-and their characters cruel and regardless.-The circumstances of their general dispersion, as detailed by Moses, are perfect. It is so complete, that few Jews are permitted to remain in the land which was once theirs-Turks, Greeks, Christians, Moors, Arabians, occupy it but its former possessors are dispersed over the East, in Europe, in Africa, in the West Indies, among all nations, and literally from" the one end of the earth even to the other." They were in great multitudes transported to different stations; and, as was foretold, into Egypt, and so little prized, that fourteen thousand of them were suffered to perish with want, while the slave-markets became so glutted, that purchasers of them could scarcely be found, even at an inconsiderable price. While idolatry remained, they were subject to the most cruel persecution to compel them to submit to it; and subsequently, in different, and especially Catholic countries, they have groaned under the bondage of compulsive worship, and been denied the practice of their own religious rites. So early as the seventh century, in Spain, ninety thousand of them were compelled to be baptized. They have "found no rest for the sole of their foot"-banished successively in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries from England, France, and Spain;