"And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast aver all the peoples, (i. e. their ignorance of God's dispensations) and the vail that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up death in victory, (or to eternity), and Jehovah God will wipe away tears from off all faces: and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it, and it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; thus saith [fn116] Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation." Is. xxv. 7—9.
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of Jehovah, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, Say to them that are of a fearful heart. Be strong, fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams, in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons where each lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes. And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Is. xxxv.
"Comfort ye, comfort, ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of Jehovah's hand, double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the spirit of Jehovah bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD SHALL STAND FOR, EVER." Is. xl.
"My people shall know my name: therefore shall they know in that day, that I am He that doth speak; behold it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem; for Jehovah hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem, Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." Is. lii.
G. G.
The good Christians of the United States, I do nut use the term in sarcasm, for they are good, speak in their books and sermons of the Christian religion as if it were every where the same as in the grand, free, and liberal republic. But the Fact is not so. An American who reads the poems of Homer, or Ovid's Metamorphoses, laughs at the religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans as a ridiculous folly; but when he visits those countries in Christendom which are not Protestant, he will be inclined to regard their religion as a blasphemy against the Most High. Go where you will in those countries, if you look into their churches, you invariably nod "a molten image, or picture, and a teacher of lies." [fn117]
The prophets of the Old Testament reproached the idolatrous Jews, that "according to the number of their cities were their gods." But in the countries I speak of, the number of gods is according to the number of churches, and even houses; for every house contains an image or picture of some saint or other, who is considered as the tutelary guardian of the family.
H
Mr. Everett observes upon this prophecy of Jeremiah p. 75. of his work, "as it is near two thousand years since David has failed of a temporal prince up on his throne, and a temporal successor of Levites, and since it is declared that it shall NEVER fail of these, we must suppose that a spiritual secession and a spiritual service were intended: or else the solemn promise.-of God has been for two thousand years, without fulfillment."
"Ut semper!"———