does not place a ladder up to heaven, without meaning us to ascend. He does not provide a Saviour, merely to tantalise or mock. He provides an Ark, and he opens a door in it, that we may go in and be saved. He provides comfort as well as safety -light in this Ark, that we may not go blindfold to heaven or in the dark—not merely safely lodged, but carried through with comfort and gladness. And just as the Church's deliverance is sure, so is the destruction of the world. The flood of fire will spare none. Yet the open door of our Ark bids welcome to all. And we know that our Ark is as sufficient as it is suitable. Christ is just such a deliverer as we need. And we must receive him as such, not fashioning an ark of our own, or making a Christ of our own-but taking just the very Christ whom the Father here provides.*

Ver. 17.—" And, behold, I, even I, do bring (or am bringing) a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die."

Now, for the first time, the nature of the coming destruction is announced. It is to be a flood of waters; and it is to be no accidental outburst, but brought upon the earth by God himself. He himself is to be the doer of the whole. His object is to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life,t" from

* The references to the ark in the Fathers would furnish matter for a long Excursus, which might be curious, but certainly would not be profitable, more especially as they make the ark a type, not of Christ, but of the Church. It is with them a favourite and prolific subject for allegory.-See Origen in his "Homilies on Genesis" Irenæus has a few brief allusions to the subject. Ambrose "de Noe et Arca." Chrysostom, "Homilies on Genesis." Augustine, "De Civit Dei," b. xv. ch. 26 and 27, in which that father gives full vent to his fancy. Lactantius merely gives the narrative, "De Orig. Erroris," b. ii. sect. 13. The same may be said of Prosper, "De Vocat. Gent." b. ii. ch. 13 and 14. Jerome, "Adversus Jovinianum," &c. ch. 9; more largely "Adversus Luciferianos," ch. 8; "Commentary on Ezekiel," ch. 42. Athanasius makes a fine use of the subject in his brief tract against those who judged of truth by the multitude of adherents: "Prefer, if you please, the multitude drowned by the flood, to Noah saved; yet allow me to betake myself to the ark which contained the few ”ἐμοὶ δὲ συγχώρησον τῆ τους ὀλίγους ἐχούση KIẞæтο πроσdрapeîv. Gregory Nazianzen, on referring to the ark, speaks of Noah "preserving the seeds of the second world in a small vessel of wood”— κóσμоν deνтEρоν σñéрμата. Twentieth Oration. Fulgentius, "De Trin." ch. xii.; "De Remiss. Peccat.," ch. xx. We might multiply such citations, but these are sufficient.-See Pererius Valentinus, vol. ii. b. x., where, however, the references are not full or complete. See also "Glossæ Literales in Genesim," by the Jesuit Del-Rio (p. 158), a.D. 1608. Christopher Ness, however, while equally ingenious, is more satisfactory than these ancient mystics. See his "History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament," ch. ix. pp. 99-129.

† The clause might be rendered more emphatically, "To destroy all flesh which is in it (the earth); and to destroy the breath of life from under the heavens; everything that is in the earth shall perish."

under heaven," that these blue heavens may no longer bend over such a mass of wickedness, and that sun no longer look down on such crimes. And then, to shew how terribly complete this destruction is to be, it is said, "Everything on the earth shall perish." What a sweep of judgment God makes when he begins! How like these words to those announcing the terror of the last day, "They shall not escape!" (1 Thess. v. 3; Jerem. xi. 11). Noah's day, and the day of the Son of man, are like each other, not merely in their suddenness, but in the fierceness of the judgment. It is written, "The flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke xvii. 27); and again, “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (Luke xvii. 30). Increasing ungodliness ended by overflowing judgment in both.

Ver. 18." But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. (19). And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. (20). Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. (21). And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them."

There is an exception to this destruction-Noah, and all those whom God was to treat as one with him, and to spare for his sake. This exception is to be made on the footing of a covenant, or rather the covenant.* The reference seems to be to a previous covenant, well-known and recognised. This covenant had "fallen down," and seemed as if about wholly to fail. If all flesh is to be cut off, how is the covenant to be carried out? God sets apart Noah, making him the link by which the chain is to be kept unbroken. All the previous promises are to be centred in him. Through him, the race of man is to be perpetuated, that, in this way, "the Seed of the woman" may at length come. Though the covenant thus "set up" with Noah is in substance the old promise made to Adam, yet it comes before us in a new aspect, and with new appendages. It connects Noah personally with itself, and his preservation with its ultimate accomplishment. It is cast as the life-preserver to Noah in the midst of the rushing flood. It is made to encircle the ark with its sure girdle, that so the assurance may be

"With thee will I establish my covenant, or set up my covenant." It is the same word as in Gen. xvii. 7; Exod. vi. 4, xxvi. 30; Deut. xxvii. 2; 1 Sam. ii. 35; Ezek. xvi. 60. I "And I will raise up that which is fallen down." That such is its sense in the Hiphil, see Gesenius, who gives as instances Deut. xxii. 4; Job iv. 4.; Ps. xli, 61.

given that all shall yet be well, in spite of man's desperate ungodliness. Evil may abound, hatred may assail the chosen one, the waters may compass him about, the fire may wrap him round, but the covenant holds him fast-surer than any anchor. He cannot sink or drift away, or be destroyed, for God's everlasting purpose has taken up its abode in him, and that purpose must fail ere he can be overthrown.

The covenant provides, not only that there shall be an ark, but that some shall enter it; nay, it fixes on those who are to enter it. So, in regard to Christ and his salvation, love planned a covenant, love provided an ark; but love did more than this-it secured the entrance of at least some. It saw that none would enter if left to themselves, and it laid hold of some and drew them in.

God provides for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. They are to be saved; and, in order to this, they are to be made to enter. In the one verse it is said, "Thou shalt bring," and in another, "They shall enter," shewing Noah's part and God's part in the matter. Noah makes ready the ark-God inclines them to go in. But more-God must have all these fed, as well as sheltered; and Noah is instructed to take provisions with him for man and beast. God overlooks nothing. He cares for all his work-he clothes the lilies-he feeds the rivers-he watches the falling sparrow-he counts the hairs of our head. Truth and grace are with him. His tender mercies are over all his works. What a gospel does the ark preach to us!-glad tidings of grace, the reception of which at once links us to the God of all grace.

Thus has Jehovah his time and his way for inflicting his judgment, as well as his time and his way for providing deliverance. He is altogether sovereign in his dealings with earth and its dwellers-sovereign in grace, sovereign in judgment. He establishes his covenant with whomsoever it pleases him; blessing Noah in his free love, and for his sake saving his family-nay, saving the brute creation and sparing the earth, which had, for well-nigh sixteen centuries, been polluted with the crimes of man.

Ver. 22.-" Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he."

He listened to God and obeyed in faith, overlooking nothing, just as we read of Moses in regard to the tabernacle (Exodus xl. 16). He staggered not through unbelief, but gave God the credit for knowing what was to be done far better than he. Faith leads to obedience; the simpler faith is, the more prompt

and implicit the obedience. Much as faith is needed in our time, surely obedience is no less so. Ours is the day of disobedience as well as of unbelief of self-will, no less than of enmity and mistrust.

ART. V. THE TRUE BURDEN OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.

It would be impossible, within the limits of a single article, to exhaust a subject so extensive as to require volumes for its development. We have adopted the title from the eighth of Mr Waldegrave's Bampton Lectures, because we intend now to complete the review of them commenced in the last Number of the Journal of Prophecy. It was to be expected that, after refuting, as he supposes himself to have done, the doctrine of a pre-millennial advent-after extinguishing all hope of a coming millennium, by boldly asserting that the thousand years terminated at the Reformation, he should have felt himself bound to inform his readers in what light he looked upon the predictions of the Old Testament prophets. He was conscious that to them pre-millennialists would still appeal. "These predictions," they would say, may not indeed fix the duration, but surely they announce the approach, of a period of unmingled righteousness and peace. Nor do they permit us to doubt that that blissful era shall be ushered in by the coming of the Lord himself."(P. 404). In order to rebut this argument, he proposes to consider, first, the subject-matter, and, secondly, the tone, of those ancient prophecies.

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His view of the subject-matter of Old Testament prophecy is contained in the following sentence:-" That Israel which is, next to the Messiah himself, the most prominent subject, is not the nation of the Jews, but the whole mystical Church of gospel times, including both Jew and Gentile alike within its pale." (P. 408). This opinion he supports by arguments drawn from an examination of the prophecies themselves, and especially from the manner in which they are quoted and interpreted in the New Testament. These arguments we shall not at present examine, but shall content ourselves with inquiring whether the conclusion to which they lead can be maintained.

If the Israel of the Old Testament prophecies is the whole mystical Church of gospel times, then the nation of Israel-the Israel of the historical books of the Old Testament-cannot have any place in these prophecies at all. There can be no prediction of the restoration of Israel to their own land, nor any of the conversion of Israel as a nation. Any prophecies which

might seem to teach that these events were still in the future of God's purpose, must be, on Mr Waldegrave's hypothesis, interpreted of what he calls the Israel of God, that is, the company of believers in Christ. Individual Jews may indeed embrace the gospel, and their conversion may make them heirs of prophetic blessings, but prophecy is silent respecting the Jewish nation. It has dropped out of the place which it once held in the affections of the Almighty, and, rejected because of apostasy, it shall no more be restored. Does Scripture set its seal to this conclusion? We shall inquire hereafter into what may be gathered from prophecy itself upon this subject. In the meantime, we apply for an answer to our question to the writings of the New Testament. Did the Apostle Paul believe that the course of Israel was run? Did he come to the conclusion, that there were no prophecies unfulfilled in his day which related to the literal Israel? Did he affirm that the spiritual Israel had become heirs to all the promises, without remainder to those to whom they were originally given? We boldly affirm, that the contrary may be proved from his writings. In the ninth and following chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, he fully expounds his views on this subject. He expresses his strong and earnest affection for the Israelites, his kinsmen according to the flesh: not for the spiritual Israel—for he distinguishes between the remnant who had embraced the gospel, and the great mass of the people who were blinded. It is in regard to the latter that he declares that his heart's desire and prayer to God is, that they might be saved; for, in the next verse, he describes them as being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own. "God," he says, "has not cast away his people which he foreknew." The proof is, that even at this present time there is " a remnant, according to the election of grace." This remnant has obtained that which Israel sought for; but the rest were blinded, as the sure word of prophecy had predicted. But with regard to the rest-the blinded ones, the mass of the nation-he asks, "Have they stumbled that they should fall?" And he answers his own question, "God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy." Whence, then, does the apostle gather his conviction of the future repentance and restoration of Israel? From the word of prophecy and promise. "Blindness in part," he says, "is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved." All-that is, not the elect remnant only, but those on whom blindness hath fallen, but whom God hath not cast away. And then follows