the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."-vii. 13, 14, and 27, " I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”—Micah iv. 7," And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth,

even for ever.' -All prophecies which may be and often are adduced to support the opinion of a literal restoration, but which are here plainly declared to be fulfilled in the dispensation of Christianity at the period of the angel's annunciation.

The Apostles nowhere recognize any other kingdom than a spiritual one; and St. Paul gives thanks "unto the Father who hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." James informs us, that the poor of this world, rich in faith, are heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him, clearly defining the kingdom to be a spiritual one. In Exodus xix. 6, the Israelites are told, that if they obey the voice of God and keep His covenant, they shall be to Him "a peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation;" and Peter, 1 Epist. ii. 9, congratulates the Christians scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bythinia, royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." "Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker is God;" and, of him and others, it is said, " these all died

"as a

in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Now what is the Apostle's inference? why, clearly, that the promises referred not to a temporal inheritance, but to spiritual things," for they that say such things declare plainly, that they seek a country; and truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned; but now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city." See also particularly Acts iii. 24, &c.; xxvi. 6, 22, 23; xxviii. 20, 23; all opposed to a literal interpretation of the Prophets.

This branch of the argument might be very much extended, but I shall only offer a few more observations in connexion with it, and then proceed further.

Yours, &c.

LETTER IV.

New Testament allusions to Old Testament language continued. Testimonies of Christ and his Apostles on the subject continued. "I appoint unto you a kingdom, &c. that ye may eat and drink, &c. and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel," considered and paraphrased.-The doctrine wholly unsupported by the New Testament.-No answer to say the spiritual nature of the kingdom Christ came to establish is admitted; but that distinct from this, the restoration of an earthly kingdom is promised to the Jews.-The existence of this distinct promise unproved.-The kingdom promised exclusively spiritual, the more perfect fruit of principles already developed, and involving all that Jews or Gentiles need.-Probable reason why the language of prophecy is so liable to a secular construction.

MY DEAR FRIEND.

March 6, 1828.

To continue and conclude my observations on the allusions made in the New Testament to the figurative language of

the

e Old, and the use made of those allusions.-The Apostle enjoins, "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises." What "promises" could he

mean but those which a literal interpreter must, in many cases, apply to things of which it could by no means be said they are inherited by the saints in glory?— Whoever believes in the future restoration of Israel to Palestine, will undoubtedly cite Amos ix. 11, to the end: "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord, that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given