Something like three thousand years ago, the Israelitish people were a community of bondmen in Egypt, out of which they were taken by the hand of God, and planted in a land "flowing with milk and honey." Their deliverance was effected and accompanied by "mighty signs and wonders:" so that the history of this people from the very beginning may truly be said to be an extraordinary one. The Israelites are not like other peoples. The Gentiles have formed themselves into bodies political, and are characterised by diversity of government, evolved chiefly "out of their own mind." It is not so with the Israelitish race. They did not form themselves into a polity: it was God who did so. They did not formulate their own laws, but God gave them statutes and judgments "by the ministration of angels." These, coming from a Divine source, stamp their national organization with a character different altogether from that of other sections of the human family. Such laws were never framed for any people. They not only bear upon every commercial and social aspect of life, but they comprehend all needful regulations as to food, worship, military enterprise, sanitation, and medicine. Every contingency and every need was provided for by Him who declared himself to be their Father, and who has placed it on record that they are witnesses unto Him (Isa. xliii. 10). Let a man study the appointments of the Israelitish worship, and the ordinances thereof, and the provision

* A few of the most striking testimonies, foretelling the "Restoration
of Israel," are exhibited in the Appendix.

first, in the construction of the tent used during the sojourn in the wilderness, and secondly, in the erection of a more permanent building when the tribes were at rest in "the land of promise." Let him see how God concerned himself about minute details, and gave instruction concerning matters which were to all appearance of trivial nature. Let him note how the size, weight, and disposition of all the materials which composed the tabernacle were carefully specified, how a "pattern" was given for its construction, and how the workmen were specially endowed with skill to form the materials in exact counterpart of the design given (Exod. xxv. 9-40; xxxi. 3—6).

Let him note how the same thing was repeated when the Temple (called the Temple of Solomon) was constructed. This also was built after a Divine pattern. David received the design from God (1st Chron. xxviii. 11, 12), and David's son Solomon put up the building according to this pattern; and, as in the case of the tabernacle, the materials for its construction had been provided by the "spoiling" of the Egyptians in judgment, so in the case of the Temple, the gold and silver and other requisite materials were provided by the Divine subjugation of the surrounding nations (1st Chron. xviii. 7-11; xxix. 10-16). Neither was Solomon left to his own unaided skill, but he was fortified by God-given wisdom for the work of construction.

Let him, then, study the prophecies which proclaim the future of the Israelitish race, and he will discover a complete analogy to these two cases. That future will surpass their past in every point. Their national and political ascendancy in the earth will revolutionize the world. Jerusalem becomes the centre of government, from which all the social and religious affairs of mankind are moulded and regulated.

The restoration of Israel is not a matter of opinion: it

is a divinely attested truth. Any man who believes that the Bible is inspired, who understands the meaning of words, who possesses right reason, and who is honest, will necessarily assent to the proposition, That the children of Israel will be restored to the land of their fathers under Divine favour and power. He will go further than this, and concede that the only hope of prosperity and peace to all the human race is involved in this "performance of the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham sworn to the Israelitish fathers from the days of old" (Micah vii. 20).

When the Jewish polity developed to its highest glory, it was a perfect model of good government, social wellbeing, and religious order-a government in which the highest welfare of a people could be secured, and in which a perfect state-religion joined hand in hand with kingly rule toward that end. Two elements of good were lacking. It did not continue, and it had no widespread application to the world in general. In the restoration, both these missing elements will be supplied. The light of the Divinely organised Jewish nationality, while it lasted, did illuminate to a certain extent the surrounding gloom, even penetrating into non-Jewish nationalities, who, hearing of the wisdom of Solomon, came from the ends of the earth to drink at the living stream. But this meteor-like spark of divinely-given wisdom was but a foretaste of good things to come. That which happened in the days of Solomon will be repeated in effulgence and perfection in the day of Israel's future glory. The foretaste was but a preparation of the human desire for a more perfect state of things than hitherto has obtained. Just when man has proved self-government a failure, just as his eyes begin to open to the fact that all human remedies for existing evils are abortive, then the new order, pre-designed of God, is ready to come upon the scene, in the rebuilding

of the fallen tabernacle of David.

SECTION II.

THE NATIONS AND ISRAEL-BLESSING TO THE FORMER IN THE RESTORATION OF THE LATTER.

SOME of the details of this coming change will prepare the mind to understand its relation to the Ezekiel Temple. In prospect of this future good, the prophet Zechariah, by the spirit, calls upon the nation of Israel to manifest their joy, as exhibited in the second chapter of his prophecy (verses 10, 11).

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people."

This prophecy is certainly yet unfulfilled; and that its fulfilment is associated with Israel's restoration is

proved by the fact that the next verse (a continuation of the things affirmed in the eleventh) declares that "THE LORD shall inherit Judah, and shall choose Jerusalem again."

As to what the prophet means by saying, "many nations shall be joined to the Lord," we have his own explanation as contained in chap. viii. 22, confirmed by the prophet Jeremiah, chap. iii. 17:

"Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.

"At that time shall they call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem."

This will be a new thing in the earth. No nation, save the Israelitish nation, has hitherto been required to assemble for worship at Jerusalem, nor have they sought God there. But the time is fast approaching when they will not only desire to go, but their presence will be required, whether they are inclined to obey the Zechariah reveals this in mandate or otherwise. chap. xiv. 16-18:

"It shall come to pass that every one that is left of all nations which came up against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not that have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles."

The invitation, then, to assemble at Jerusalem for praise of God and submission to the King whom he "sets upon his holy hill of Zion" (Ps. ii. 6), is universal, and will be enforced with the utmost rigor. None will be exempt. "All people who on earth do dwell" must raise their gladsome welcome to the King of Kings. "In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one" (Zec. xiv. 9). The Heathen will then have become the inheritance of Jehovah's anointed one, and the uttermost parts of the earth will have become his possession.

The political and religious changes involved in the fulfilment of the prophecies already mentioned are so extensive and thorough, that every inhabitant of the earth will be affected by them. All of every name and race and of whatever country, will become acquainted with and subject to the new government, and all will be required to conform to the religious order of the day. Every corner of the earth will be enlightened with divine knowledge, and every inhabitant blessed (Hab. ii. 14; Jer. iv. 2). All power will be vested in one central authority, enthroned at Jerusalem (Zech. xiv. 9-21). War will cease (Isa. ii. 3, 4). Peace will reign. In the place of wickedness, righteousness will be there

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(Isa. xxxii. 1, 16, 17). indulgence dethroned, and vice chained (Ps. lxvii. 6; Rev. xx. 2). The unjust judge, the tyrant, and the oppressor will be remembered as a dreamy recollection of the past, if they are not forgotten in the bright millennial reign of Christ which opens before mankind. With one united voice the people will then praise God, as predicted in the sixty-seventh Psalm, saying: "Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge the people righteously."

SECTION III.

SUMMARY-STATEMENT AND DEDUCTIONS.

1st. That when God in time past selected for himself a people, appointed the form of their government, and ordained their worship, he specially designed and caused to be constructed, first a tent, and then a Temple in connection with His people: the former to be used during their sojourn in the wilderness, and the latter when they were settled in the land of promise in peace.

2nd. That he designed and specified all the details of both structures: He provided the materials for their construction, and endowed those with wisdom who were to fashion the buildings to the pattern given.

3rd. That God has still a purpose with this people, viz., with the Israelitish nation, whom he watches and esteems as "the apple of his eye." He will restore them to the land of their fathers; regenerate the land; rebuild the city; re-organise the people as a nation, and make them the foremost people on the face of the earth. He will restore their worship: give them peace, and bestow blessing upon them far exceeding those received in the most palmy days of their existence.

4th. That all the nations of the earth will, concurrently with Israel, participate in the blessings of the age. All will rejoice in the glory of the new order of things, and every inhabitant of the earth, both Jew and

5th. That the law which goes forth from Zion, among other enactments, will require all the families of the earth to go up, from year to year, to worship the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem.

The logical deductions from these premises are as follows:

a. That as God so minutely and so particularly specified the nature and construction of the Temple and Tabernacle in the day of small things, He would be sure to precisely and carefully specify the constructive character of the Temple of His glory.

b. That inasmuch as the Temple of God's people in the past was ordained for the use of a comparatively small number, and inasmuch as all the peoples of the earth are to worship at Jerusalem, we may expect to find in any prophecy exhibiting the future building, specifications of a vast structure equal to the necessities of the case.

c. Prima facie, then, we may reasonably expect that the hitherto obscure prophecy of Ezekiel does describe such a building; and that it is a vast structure, with constructional features so minutely and clearly delineated by the prophet as to be capable of being reduced to paper, for the instruction and enlightenment of all whom it may concern.

These conclusions appear so obvious to the writer that he deems it unnecessary, and a waste of time, paper and ink, to discuss the suggestions made by some that Ezekiel only depicts a building 500 cubits square. The Temple of the future age is to be "a house of prayer for all people." Let the reader then open his mind to the bearing of the testimonies already laid before him. Let him be prepared to realize the stupendous character of the structure set forth in the Ezekiel measurements, and the abundant provision for universal worship foreshadowed by them.

THE first four verses of the fortieth chapter of Ezekiel are introductory to the detailed specifications of the building described in that and the following eight chapters. They exhibit to us

1. The time of the vision.

2. Where the building is to be erected. 3. Who the constructor of the building is.

4. Who are his associates.

5. The Measuring Reed.

6. For whose sake the matter is made known, and the way its mystery is to be solved.

Taking these items in their order, it will be found important to consider them seriatim

SECTION I.

THE TIME OF THE VISION.

IN the first verse, Ezekiel informs us that "the hand of the Lord" was upon him in the five and twentieth year of what he styles "our" captivity, and fourteen years after the city was smitten. By the comparison of chapters i. 2; xxxiii. 21; and 2nd Kings xxiv. and xxv., we find that the captivity of "Jehoiakim, his officers and mighty men," &c., is referred to, and that Jerusalem is the city that was smitten. These events were the consummation of that retribution which God foretold should come upon the children of Israel consequent upon their breaking the solemn covenant made at Sinai and in the land of Moab, as it is written: "If ye will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye despise My statutes; or if your soul abhor My judgment, so that ye will not do all My commandments, but that ye break My covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation, and I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste."-(Lev. xxvi. 14-16, 31-33).

This and other prophecies of a like nature at this time received their fulfilment, as testified by the prophet Jeremiah: "The Lord hath done that which He had "devised; He hath fulfilled His word that He had com

"manded in the days of old; He hath thrown down and "hath not pitied, and He hath caused thine enemy to "rejoice over thee; He hath set up the house of thine "adversaries. How doth the city sit solitary, that was "full of people! how is she become as a widow! She "that was great among the nations, and princess among "the provinces, how is she become tributary! Judah "is gone into captivity, because of affliction, and because "of great servitude; she dwelleth among the heathen, she "findeth no rest. Her adversaries are the chief, her "enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the "multitude of her transgressions. Jerusalem hath "grievously sinned; therefore she is removed. How hath "the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in "His anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth "the beauty of Israel, and remembered not His footstool "in the day of his anger! The Lord hath swallowed up "all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: He "hath thrown down in His anger the strongholds of the daughter of Judah: He hath brought them down to the "ground: He hath polluted the kingdom and the princes "thereof."-(Lam. ii. 17; i. 1, 3, 5, 8; ii. 1, 3).

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The vision, then, described in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel's prophecy was given at a time when the kingdom of David was overthrown; when desolation reigned over the once glorious land of Israel; and when the city of Jerusalem was in ruins. Occurring at such a time, it occupies a peculiar position in relation to the history of Israel. It came just as the fruits of disobedience had burst upon them, and appears to divide their history into two epochs-one ending with their complete desolation, and the other with their complete restoration. The vision itself contains indisputable evidence of its association with the time of restoration. After Ezekiel was made to "see" the chief constructional features of the building, which is the centre of the vision, he is shewn how "The glory of the Elohim of Israel" enters the house, and hears a voice saying, "Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever" (Chap. xliii. 2-7). The fulfilment of this prophecy involves the complete restoration spoken of in other parts of the Scriptures, when the glory of the Lord shall rise upon Israel, the Redeemer having come to Zion, and Jacob is no longer in transgression. Then the

Lord will have made a new covenant with the house of Israel. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And the Gentiles will come to her light and kings to the brightness of her rising. The sons of strangers shall build up her walls, and kings shall minister unto her. The sons also of them that afflicted her shall come and do reverence, yea all that despised her shall bow themselves down at the soles of her feet. Her sun shall no more go down; neither will the moon withdraw, for the days of her mourning shall be ended. Never again will Israel defile themselves with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions. They will be one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, because the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform it. At that time shall they call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, or as Ezekiel described it, "The place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever."-(Is. lix. 20; lx. 1; Jer. xxxi. 31; xxxiii. 16; Is. lx. 3, 10, 14, 20; Ezek. xxxvii. 23, 22; Is. ix. 7; Ezek. xliii. 7.)

The position of the vision is remarkable in dividing this epoch of restoration from the epoch ending in the overthrow of David's throne; but there appears yet a deeper significance. Ezekiel is very precise as to the particular day upon which "the hand of the Lord was upon him;" he mentions the day, the month, and the year: "In the five and twentieth year, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the selfsame day," or, as it may be well expressed, in that very day "the hand of the Lord was upon me." Now, why should the spirit so particularise and so emphasise the day in which Ezekiel was shewn the vision? The answer is founded upon four facts.

First-The things Ezekiel saw are represented as actually existent at the time when the vision was given, although not really so existent. See verse 43, where, speaking of the tables of stone for the burnt offering, he tells us that. "upon the tables was the flesh of the burnt offering"-just as though the sacrifices were about to be offered: Deity thus speaking of those things which be not as though they were (Isa. xlvi. 10).

Secondly-The twelfth chapter of Exodus shews that a great national event was in preparation on the tenth day of the first month. That event was the deliverance of Israel from bondage, the destruction of their enemies, and the passing over of their sins. These momentous occurrences were but a type of what is to come. They were commemorated by the "feast of the Passover," the inception of which took place by the selection of the sacrificial lamb, on "the tenth day of the month."(Exodus xii. 2, 3.)

Thirdly-The year mentioned by Ezekiel is a year of

Jubilee, i.e., a year which arrives in recurring periods of fifty. For proof of this assertion the reader is referred to the opening verses of the first and fortieth chapters. In the former, it is stated that Ezekiel saw certain things in the "thirtieth year." The question is, the thirtieth year of what? A comparison of facts will show that it was the thirtieth year of a Jewish epoch of fifty years. Thus the thirtieth year was also the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity. Now, as we have seen, the vision of the Temple was given in the five and twentieth year of the same Jehoiachin's captivity; so, if we deduct five years from the five and twenty, we get twenty, which, added to the thirty mentioned by Ezekiel in the first chapter of his prophecy, completes the epoch of fifty years." Therefore, the vision recorded in the fortieth chapter was given in a year which would have been reckoned as a year of Jubilee in the days of Israel's prosperity. Under the circumstances, however, it was to them a year, amongst others, of sorrow, mourning, and woe.

*

Fourthly-Ezekiel was a man of SIGN to Israel (see chap. iv. 3-6) both as regards their affliction and their prosperity.

From these premises it is reasonable to conclude

a. That inasmuch as a complete vision of the building was given to Ezekiel in a Jubilee year, there is a Jubilee year yet future, when the building seen by him in vision will have real existence; that it will be finished and opened for public worship on that date.

b. That such Jubilee will fall on the feast of the Passover, and that by the tenth day of the first month. the sacrifices will be in preparation, and all things in readiness for the "glory of Yah-weh" to enter the newly erected house.

c. That the construction of the building will be associated with the national regeneration of Israel, when the Father will "forgive their iniquity, and remember their sins no more," "blotting out as a thick cloud their transgressions" (Jer. xxxi. 34; Is. xliv. 22); so that by the time that the top stone is fixed, and the last pavement laid, their enemies will have been destroyed;