manifestation were to attract the attention of the scattered Jews, and to effect their conversion, as Mr. Mede supposes: it is incredible, that Antichrist would ever dare to undertake such an expedition, as it is foretold that he shall undertake. Or, granting the utmost that can be granted to daring impiety; granting that Antichrist might harden his heart to attempt the conquest of Palestine, as Pharaoh did to seek the destruction of Israel at the Red sea, notwithstanding the fiery portent, increasing in apparent magnitude as he approached towards it, glared full before his eyes: yet we can scarcely believe, that he would be able to effect the conquest of all Palestine, to bestow Jerusalem upon a band of unconverted Jews, to subdue Egypt, to return from thence in his fury, and to sack Jerusalem; if the glory of the Lord were all this time in the midst of the city. Yet such must necessarily be our conclusion, if we adopt unreservedly Mr. Mede's opinion: for we are expressly told, that a part of the Jews shall be converted in Jerusalem, and that Jerusalem shall be sacked while in their possession. Of the two texts, which he cites from Zechariah and St. Matthew, the one seems to me by no means to prove his point, and the other to prove the direct contrary. I cannot think, that we have any warrant to suppose that the Jews, restored by Antichrist, will at the time of their conversion look upon him whom they have pierced any otherwise than spiritually, because their

conver,

conversion precedes the sacking of Jerusalem; whereas the manifestation of the Lord succeeds it, and immediately precedes the destruction of Antichrist. Then indeed they will literally look upon him whom they have pierced, but not till then. And this opinion is decidedly confirmed by the other text, which proves the very reverse of what Mr. Mede intended that it should prove. Our Lord assures the Jews, that they shall not see him, until they say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Whence it is manifest, that Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; and afterwards behold him, whom they have so long rejected. This is precisely what I have supposed that they will do: whereas Mr. Mede exactly inverts the particulars of the text; and argues, that the Jews will first see the Messiah, and afterwards acknowledge him *.

they must first say,

On the whole I think it clear, that the revelation of God's glory over Jerusalem, will at once succeed the conversion and restoration of Judah, the whole expedition of Antichrist, and the sacking of the city; that it will suddenly take place, when the confederacy has reached the valley of Megiddo, and is on the point of overwhelming the troops of the maritime nation and the converted Jews under its protection; and that, immediately

Mr. Lowth supposes, like Mr. Mede, that the Jews will be converted in consequence of a supernatural manifestation of Christ. See his Comment. on Zech. xii. 10.

after

after it has taken place, the Word of God, issuing from the brightness of the Schechinah with all the armies of heaven, will descend with irresistible violence on his irreclaimable enemies, and thus stupendously conclude the great apostatical drama of 1260 years.

10. Since the Jews are to be restored in the midst of war and bloodshed, or, as Daniel expresses it, during a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, we may reasonably suppose that great numbers of them will perish. Accordingly we find, that their return from the countries. of their dispersion is expressly compared by Ezekiel to their ancient exodus from Egypt. As God pleaded with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt; so will he likewise plead with them, causing them to pass under the rod, and purging out from among them the rebels. It is probable indeed, that only a small part of the first generation of those that are restored will quietly sit down under their own vines and under their own fig-trees. One whole generation of the Israelites, that were brought out of Egypt, perished in the course of forty years in the wilderness: and there is reason to think, as we shall presently see, that the conversion and restoration of Judah, and the expedition and destruction of Antichrist, will occupy a period of not less than 30 years. The swift messengers of the great maritime power will begin the work of converting the Jews, that is to say such Jews

VOL. I.

E

Jews as are scattered through the countries subject to their influence: Antichrist meanwhile will collect the unconverted Jews from those parts of the isles of the Gentiles, or the regions of Europe *, which are under his immediate controul, for the purpose of bringing them back in an unbelieving state to their own country: but whether he, or whether the maritime power, will absolutely begin the work of restoring the ancient people of God, cannot, I think, be certainly gathered from Scripture f. His plan will be a plan of pure Machia

velian

* By the isles of the Gentiles the Jews understood all those countries which they could not reach from Palestine except by sea. Hence the name was given to Europe in contradistinction to Asia, which to them was strictly continental. See Mede's Works. p. 272. and Mr. Lowth's Comment. on Isaiah xi. 11,

+ That the maritime power, mystically termed by Isaiah the ships of Tarshish, will be the first, or (as the original expression is rendered by the LXX. and in the Latin translation of the Arabic version) among the first, to attempt the conversion of the Jews; and that they will afterwards bring back to Palestine such as shall be converted by their instrumentality, seems to be revealed with sufficient plainness: but it is no where, I believe, positively declared, that they shall begin the work of restoring the Jews. Since part of them are to be brought back by Antichrist in an unconverted state, and part; by the maritime power in a converted state, it certainly is pos sible that Antichrist may begin to restore the one division previous to the restoration or even the conversion of the other division. Most probably however the two events will be nearly, if not altogether, contemporary. The prophecy contained in Isaiah 1x. 8, 9, relates solely to the restoration of the converted

Jews,

velian policy: and, considering the frailty of human nature, it is much to be feared that the plan of the maritime power, strenuously as that power will exert itself in converting no less than in collecting the Jews, will be somewhat alloyed by worldly motives, and will not be adopted simply from a desire to promote the glory of God. Most probably politics will have taken such a turn at that eventful period, as to make it seem to be the interest of both those great powers to attempt the restoration of the Jews. At this time, namely at the close of the 1260 years, and when the last vial begins to be poured out, Europe will be agitated by the 'storms of war. The symbolical earthquake of some 'extensive political convulsion will divide the great city, or the Roman empire, into three parts; and the cities, or kingdoms, of the nations will fall, when the mystic Babylon is now about to come in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. The division of the great city into three parts seems to denote a triple division of the federal empire of Antichrist, not improbably made in imitation of the three prefectures of the ancient Roman empire; for Zechariah mentions three such parts as being

Jews, because they are declared to be brought unto the name of the Lord; and we are taught that the ships of Tarshish shall be among the first to undertake this great enterprize.