the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah, saying, "considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, He hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the Lord, if my covenant be not with the day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them." Finally, as at the first, "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.3 David testified of his Son, and yet his Lord, Thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast ascended on high," &c. To the prisoner in Patmos, who bare record for the testimony of Jesus Christ, that Holy One appeared after his ascension; and these were the first words, like those of a great trumpet, that burst on the apostle's ear, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." He that is holy, He that is true, He that is the beginning and 1 Jer. xxxiii. 24-26. 2 Isa. viii. 20. Psalm xvi. 10. 6 Rev. i. 11. the end,' He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, thus uttered the first word of his Revelation, repeating what the prophet had testified of him as the King and the Redeemer of Israel, "I am the first, and the last." He is the first. The same apostle testifies of him, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." When the everlasting covenant had its origin, the WORD OF THE LORD came to Abraham, saying, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Ere Jacob's name was changed to Israel, there wrestled with him a man till the breaking of the day. And of that wrestling it is written, By his strength he had power with us; he had power with God, and prevailed; as it is also said, In Bethel, he spake with Us, even the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is his memorial.2 When Israel first entered into Canaan, at the time when the manna ceased, and when they did first eat the fruit of the land, there stood a man over against Joshua, with a drawn sword in his hand, and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as the captain of the Lord's host, am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship.3 When in the fulness of time, the new and everlasting covenant was first brought in, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. But He is the last, as well as the first, the end no less than the beginning. When that covenant of mercy and of peace shall at last and for ever be established with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, the prophetic testimony, no longer shadowed by a veil on the mind of Gentile or of Jew, shall be read of all men, even 1 Rev. i. 11. 2 Hos. xii. 5. 3 Josh. v. 13, 14. * John i. 1. as it is written : "Behold the days come that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith He shall be called, The Lord (JEHOVAH) our Righteousness,' &c. I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But the Lord liveth which brought up, and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land." In the same chapter, it is said by the prophet who testifies of these things, He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?-Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the Lord spoken?3 Such an injunction has only to be regarded, that the 3 Ibid. 28, 29, 37. 1 Jer. xxxiii. 14, 16. 2 Ibid. xxiii. 3-8. perpetuity of the covenant of the Lord with Abraham concerning the land, may be seen. But it is no less requisite in regard to our next inquiry than the present. And as the last proof which may here be given, that the covenant still stands, it may be conclusive to hear what the Lord did speak concerning the inheritance of Israel, in anticipation of those days when it shall be apportioned in a manner altogether new among all the tribes, at a time when Israel was outcast in Assyria, and Judah captive in Babylon, and when they had far less liberty than they have now to return to their own land. "Thus saith the Lord God; This shall be the border whereby ye shall inherit the land, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And ye shall inherit it one as well as another, concerning the which I lifted up my hand to give it unto your fathers." 1 Ezek. xlvii. 13, 14. CHAPTER II. THE BOUNDARIES, OR BORDERS OF THE LAND, GIVEN BY COVENANT TO THE ISRAELITES, AS DEFINED IN SCRIPTURE. "A GOOD LAND AND A LARGE."-EXOD. II. 6. Abraham, obedient to the word of the Lord, having left his country, his kindred, and his father's house, went from Haran to Canaan. Having entered it, not knowing whither he was to go, or where he was to take up even a temporary abode, he continued his journey, and passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. There" the Lord appeared unto him and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land." The first act of Abraham was to build there an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. From thence, no longer journeying onward, he removed unto a mountain on the east of Bethel; and there, as we read for the first time since he left his father's house, he "pitched his tent," having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east; and, though he had no city, or house to dwell in, “he built an altar unto the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord."2 On the plain of Moreh, where his journey from his father-land was stayed, the first promise was given him of another land unto his seed, even that to which he had come at the command of the Lord. That promise was renewed, after his return from Egypt, when he had come again unto "the place where his tent had been placed at the beginning, unto the place of the altar |