not in me:" it is not in anger that he has dealt with the remnant. Had it been, they must have perished: "Who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together." No, the remnant are afflicted and tried, that they may learn to trust in him who chastens them. "Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." The saints who compose "the church" have trials deep enough; but they are given to know at the outset "the blood of the cross" as having "made peace;" and it is in the enjoyment of this peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, that they are called to pass through trials for the perfecting of God's inward work in their souls. The trials of the remnant, on the contrary, commence while they and the nation still seem to be under God's wrath, and it is in the progress of their trials that light gradually breaks in upon their souls. The whole issues, as so many passages have instructed us, in their full deliverance and joy, both as to their outward circumstances and their spiritual state: "He shall cause

them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." As to all the trials of the remnant, the prophet asks, "Hath he (the Lord) smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? God's enemies, anti-christ and his confederates, are used of God in chastising the remnant; but it is chastening for their good, and has its limits, while the destruction of those who are God's instruments in this chastening, is final and complete. "In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin." When "the east wind" of the enemy's utmost wrath begins to blow, the Lord stays "the rough wind" of his previous chastenings. As is often said, "man's extremity is God's opportunity." So the remnant will find it: and all the trial and anguish they will actually endure, will be seen by them in the end to have been, to purge them from the tin and dross-" the fruit, to take away their sin."

The chapter closes with a prediction of the gathering, one by one, of all the children of Israel, who may yet, after these troubles, and the deliverance of the remnant, be left in any of the lands of their dispersion.

The ten tribes, whose captivity began long before the first coming of Christ, and who have not to suffer for the sin of crucifying him, will not be involved in those final troubles of which the holy land is the special theatre. They will be restored by the Lord's own hand, and the wicked will be purged out from among them before they reach the land of Israel. "I will bring you out from the people......and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered......and I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face...... And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Ezek. xx, 34-38. It would appear from this that all that portion of the ten tribes which actually enters the land will consist of godly persons, brought back by the Lord's own power. It is to this return of the remnant of the ten tribes that Jer. xxxi, 8, 9, refers. "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." Their return would also appear to be in progress at the time the Jews are un-dergoing their final sifting in the land, their arrival occurring soon after this sifting has been completed. Is. xlix, affords a most touching picture of the effect of their arrival, on the poor heart-broken remnant who survive the desolations at Jerusalem. See verses 9-19. Nothing can exceed the beauty of those which follow, verses 20 and 21.

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Besides this, there is the restoration of any Israelites who may remain in any of the lands, after the coming of Christ with all his saints. This is what has been already noticed in the latter part of Is. lxvi, and which also seems to be the subject of Is. xlix, 22, 23, and of other scriptures which want of space forbids us to specify.

LONDON PARTRIDGE AND OAKEY, PATERNOSTER ROW.

No. 17.]Plain Papers on Prophetic[May, 1854.

and other Subjects.

THE MARTYRED REMNANT:

With remarks on the Earthly calling of Israel and the Heavenly calling of the Church.

By the martyred Remnant we mean those Israelites, who, in the coming crisis will at first form a part of that Jewish remnant, whose experience and destinies were considered in our last, but who, instead of surviving the final troubles and entering on the earthly blessedness of Millennial times, will be called to glorify God by a martyr's death. For those who do thus suffer, a higher destiny than that of the spared remnant is reserved. They will pass through death and resurrection into heavenly joys; and as far as the government of the earth is concerned, they will, in common with the church and with Old Testament saints, share that glory with Christ. Of all this the ensuing pages will furnish scripture evidence; but in order that the subject may be clearly presented, it is necessary in the first place to direct attention to the marked contrast that exists between the church and the remnant: nor can this be understood, unless we apprehend the difference between Israel's earthly and the church's heavenly callingthe earthly hopes of Israel, and the heavenly hopes of the church.

That which, above all else, marks the difference between the church and Israel, and indeed we may say between the church and the entire population of the millennial earth, is, that the church is blessed in Christ and with Christ :Israel and the millennial nations will be blessed by him, and under his sway.-The church is Christ's body-his bride-and participates thus in his exaltation to be head

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over all things both in heaven and on earth. As the body partakes with the head of all the vital energies by which the whole is actuated, so does the church even now partake with Christ his risen life, and receive from him the anointing of the Holy Ghost: and as the bride participates in all that is possessed by her lord, so is the Church, the Bride, the Lamb's wife, to participate in his inheritance of all things. Her oneness with Christ is the great distinction of the church.

There are many things in which those who compose the church differ not from saints of other periods, whether past or future. True believers between the day of Pentecost and the descent of Jesus into the air, constitute "the church;" and these, in common with Old Testament saints and millennial saints, are chosen of God the Father, redeemed by the blood of Christ, quickened and regenerated by the Holy Ghost; they are all preserved by almighty grace, and destined beyond doubt to bear in resurrection the image of the heavenly, even as in nature they have all borne the image of the earthly. In these things the church differs not from other saints. That which distinguishes the church is her oneness with Christ. "At that day ye

shall know (here, upon earth,) that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." John xiv, 20. Of none but the church could these words be spoken. Of no others could it be said, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." xvii, 22. Israel and the nations in millennial times will constitute "the world," who, by seeing the church in the same glory as Christ, are to know that she is the object of the same love-loved of the Father as Christ himself is loved. Israel and the nations will be happy, Israel preeminently so, under the reign of Christ and his glorified saints but no distinction can be more marked, no contrast more striking, than that which exists between the Bride of the Lamb, and the nations, over which, she, with her Lord and Bridegroom, is to reign.

Israel's distinctive calling is to earthly blessings. The proof of this has been exhibited in a previous part of this work. We only now recal the fact to the minds of our readers. Ilad Israel been obedient, wealth, power, fame, and prosperity, would have been the tokens of God's

approval of their ways. By their disobedience, their idolatry, and especially their rejection of Christ, they have come under the inflictions of God's wrath, and that wrath has been manifested against them in all the heavy temporal judgments which have overtaken them. We refer now to God's dealings with them nationally, in his providential government of the earth. As individuals they are, of course, in common with all men, amenable to "eternal judgment;" and, if not saved "by grace" "through faith," that judgment will result in eternal ruin. But it is with God's dispensational dealings that we are now occupied : and scripture leaves no room for doubt, that in this world the wrath of God against Israel has been, is, and will yet be manifested by the infliction of temporal calamities. Prophecy, on the other hand proves, that God's approbation of Israel, when nationally restored and saved, will be manifested in abundance of temporal prosperity and blessing. Israel's is an earthly calling and with Israel, consequently, adversity on earth is a token of God's displeasure, prosperity a sign of his favour and his smile.

The church having no present inheritance except as one with Christ in heaven, present earthly trials and sufferings are not to her tokens of divine disapproval. Nay, they are as much her proper portion with Christ on earth, as the glory given by the Father to Christ and given by him to the church, is her proper portion with him in heaven. Hence the sufferings of the church are her glory. "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." Col. i, 24. "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Phil. i, 29. "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death." iii, 10. "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also." Rom. v, 3. Christ esteemed it his highest glory that God should be glorified in him in his endurance of the cross (see John xiv, 31,); and the church, being by the Spirit likeminded with Christ, esteems as her highest glory, that she should be "counted worthy to suffer for his name.'

Israel's calling and that of the church being so different, it follows of necessity that their hopes also differ. Christ is the hope both of the one and of the other; but he is the hope of the church as the One who will descend into the air,