In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem."

The Prophet Jeremiah also bears testimony to the same point. In Chapters xxx. xxxi., he evidently has in view that time of trouble, and those events to be accomplished in the progress of it, to which Daniel and St. John allude. Having stated (xxx. 3.) the subject of the prophecy delivered in that and the succeeding Chapter:-"Lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their Fathers, and they shall possess it". he thus proceeds in this remarkable manner,— "And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now and see, whether a man doth travail with

child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them. Therefore, fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel; for lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of thy eaptivity and Jacob shall return and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid."

But, above every other prediction, that delivered by Christ himself comes more immediately and appositely to the point in question. Having warned his disciples (Luke xxi.) of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, of "the great distress there would be in the land, and wrath upon the people,”—he then foretells (ver. 24.) the miserable and degraded state to which they would be reduced through the long period that would ensue :-" And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away cap

tive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

Whether the expression of " Jerusalem being trodden down of the Gentiles" is to be understood literally, as signifying the actual occupation of the Holy City by the heathen nations; or figuratively, as denoting the depressed and degraded condition of the Jews in consequence of their dispersion into all lands, still the visitation is to continue but for a predicted period. At the time appointed the end will come, and a new dispensation of things respecting them will be introduced. If it be asked, "What will be the signs of that time, and what will be the events, with which this new dispensation will be introduced and distinguished?"-an answer is immediately given by our Saviour to these enquiries: -- "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring: men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory." Or, as St. Matthew records it*,-" Then shall appear the sign

* xxiv. 30.

of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." On comparing these passages with the statement in this and the preceding Chapter, it is almost impossible not to believe that our Lord, in delivering this prophecy, fastened his eye on the same period and on the same events with Daniel and St. John: especially when it is added, that one object of the Son of Man's coming in the clouds of heaven, will be to "send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and to gather his elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other :"-a passage, in its signification consentaneous with one already adduced, in which he is represented at his coming as first gathering in his spiritual harvest, previously to the treading of the wine-press: and when our Lord, in speaking of these days of perplexity and distress, and of the coming of the Son of Man in a cloud, says to his apostles, who were Jews, and, as it were, the representatives of the Jewish people, and especially of that generation which should be living at the predicted period, "When these things begin to come to pass, then lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." Surely this application of the passage most clearly identifies

the days of distress of which Christ speaks, with the time of trouble," of which Daniel speaks; and in reference to which the angel says to him," At that time thy people shall be delivered."

Such are some of the additional testimonies which are furnished by the inspired volume in support of the conclusion stated in the beginning of this Chapter: and which, it is presumed, when taken in conjunction with the proofs previously produced, establish the conclusion itself beyond all reasonable doubt or objection.