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mother's labours shall not be in vain: the thousands of Manasseh and the ten thousands of Ephraim shall again return to their borders. So St. Matthew would comfort the mothers in Israel, who wept for the loss of their children in Bethlehem, that were slain on account of the infant Redeemer. He that comforts Rachel, as a nation, in prospect of her latter end, intimates there is as good or a better hope for the souls of these murdered innocents and what if the resurrection of the just and the final restoration of the ten tribes should be coeval!

The penitence of the ten tribes, and the kind relenting of the God of their fathers, is clearly and beautifully predicted in the following verses:

18. I have surely heard Ephraim lamenting 'over' himself; Thou hast corrected me, and I received correction like a

steer not broken.

Turn' thou me, and I shall be turned,

For thou art Jehovah, my

Eloah.

19. Surely after that I was turned, I repented,

And after that I was admonished, I smote upon my thigh;

I was ashamed and even covered with confusion,

Because I bore the reproach of my youth.

20. Is Ephraim a son dear to me?

Is he a child fondly beloved?

That as soon as I speak with him,2
Every recollection returns?

Wherefore my bowels yearn over him,

And, indeed, I must pity him, saith Jehovah.

An invitation to the ten tribes to return to the land

of their inheritance, follows:

Or," Restore."--HORSLEY.

Perhaps, "Mention his name."

21. Set up thy way-marks,

Fix up for thyself tall poles,

Set thy heart towards the highway:

By the way that thou wentest, return, O virgin of Israel,
Return to these thy cities.

The groundless fears of the people of Israel in prospect of the difficulties which lie in the way, from an enemy, humanly speaking, too powerful for them to contend with, are certainly predicted in the following lines, under the metaphor of a timorous woman, who is encouraged to proceed, under the assurance that she shall put a strong man to flight:

22. How long wilt thou turn thyself away, O refractory virgin? For Jehovah is about to create a new thing on the earth, A woman shall put to the rout a strong man.'

23. Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the Elohim of Israel,

Again shall they speak this word concerning the land of
Judah,

And concerning its cities, when I return their captivity:
"Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness,
O mountain of the Holy One."

24. And Judah shall dwell in it,' and in all his cities,
Husbandmen, and they shall go about with flocks ;'

"A woman shall compass a man;" "femina ambibit virum." "Ita Castilio, verba ipsa exhibens, quem nos (says Houbigant) propterea sequimur, quia lux non affulget."-HORSLEY.

"In the land."

'Or thus:

"And they shall dwell in it, Judah and all his cities together, Husbandmen shall they be, and go about with flocks."

This must either imply a new position of Judah in the land of Canaan, or else an entire change of the nature of the country.

25. For I will abundantly supply the want of the thirsty, And every desire of the hungry will I fill.

26. For this will I awake and look,

And my sleep shall pass from me.

I have no doubt that this is the true meaning of these lines. Jehovah awaketh as one out of sleep: the wonders he will then perform among men will seem as if the divine energies, for a time suspended in their exercise, had been suddenly brought again into action.

27. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,

That I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

With the seed of men and with the seed of beasts.

28. And it shall be as I have watched over them,
To pluck up, and to pull down, and to overthrow,
And to destroy, and to afflict;

So will I watch over them,

To build, and to plant, saith Jehovah.

29. In those days, they shall no more say, The fathers eat a sour grape,

And the children's teeth were set on edge:

30. But every man shall die for his own iniquity;
Every man that shall eat the sour grape,
His teeth shall be set on edge.'

31. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,
That I will make with the house of Israel,
And with the house of Judah, a new covenant:

'Compare the last chapter of

Isaiah.

May not this intimate, that the penalty of death, as inflicted for original sin, shall be removed from mankind? or does

it only assert, that no child shall any longer, as under the present dispensation of Providence, be involved in the consequences of a parent's sin or folly?

32. Not according to the covenant which I made with their

fathers,

In the day that I took them by the hand,

To bring them out of the land of Egypt;

Which covenant of mine they violated,

And I became their adversary, saith Jehovah :'

33. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house

of Israel,

After those days, saith Jehovah;

I will put my law within them,

Even upon their heart will I write it;

And I will be to them Elohim,

And they shall be to me a people :

34. And they shall not teach any more,

Each man his neighbour and each man his brother,

Saying, know ye Jehovah.

For they shall all know me,

From the least of them even to the greatest of them, saith

Jehovah.

For I will pardon their iniquity, '

And their sin will I remember no more.

35. Thus saith Jehovah,

Who hath appointed the sun for a light by day,

The stated order of the moon and stars for a light by night;

Who agitateth the sea, so that the waves thereof roar:
Jehovah Sabaoth is his name.

36. If these ordinances shall depart from before me,
Then shall the seed of Israel also cease
From being a nation before me continually.
37. Thus saith Jehovah,

If the heavens above can be measured,

Or the foundations of the earth be traced out beneath,

Then will I also reject the whole of the seed of Israel,
For all that they have done, saith Jehovah.

38. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,
That the city shall be built for Jehovah.

From the tower of Hananeel unto the corner gate:
And a line of measure shall proceed on straight forward,
Over the hill Gareb, and shall encompass Goatha;

40. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, And all the fields unto the brook Kidron,

As far as the angle of the horse gate, eastward;

Holy to Jehovah, it shall not be plucked up,
Neither shall it be thrown down any more for ever.

Dr. Blaney remarks on this passage:-We have here a description of the circumference of a new city to be built on the site of Jerusalem; but that it does not mean the city which was rebuilt after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, is evident from two principal circumstances; first, because the limits are here extended farther, so as to include a greater space than was contained within the walls at that time; and, secondly, it is here said, that it should never be razed or destroyed any more. This new city, therefore, must be referred to those after-times, when the general restoration of Israel is appointed to take place." But I shall consider this passage more fully when I come to a parallel prophecy in Ezekiel.