The Restoration of Israel.

"And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria: like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."—Isaiah, chap. 11, verse 16.

In his "Concordance to the Holy Scriptures," Mr Alexander Cruden, under the heading of "Captivity," thus remarks: "Piglath-pileser, king of Assyria, in the year of the world 3264, took several cities belonging to the kingdom of Israel, and carried away a great number of captives. . . . Next to him, Shalmanezer took and destroyed Samaria, after a siege of three years, in 3283, and transplanted the tribes which had been spared by Piglath-pileser to the provinces beyond the Euphrates."—2 Kings, chap. 18, verses 9, 10, 11. And it is generally believed that there-was no return from this captivity, and that the ten tribes never came back again after this dispersion. The subject is taken up in the 13th chapter of the 2nd Book of Esdras, which seems an explanation of the long-sought mystery. St. John also informs us that he was shown "the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God." And Ezekiel says of the city described by him: "And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel."—Ezekiel, chap. 48, verse 19.

"All the oblation shall be 25,000 (measures or miles) by 25,000: ye shall offer the holy oblation four square, with the possession of the city."—Ezekiel, chap. 43, verse 20.

"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah."—Jeremiah, chap. 33, verse 14.

"In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he 6hall execute judgment and righteousness in the land."—Jeremiah, chap. 33, verse 15.

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"In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness."—Jeremiah, chap. 33, verse 16.

On the 19th day of October, 1885, I delivered to the printer the manuscript of my "Third Communication," the same being a "Declaration of the Age or Period," and I received the printed copies on the 14th day of November following. While I was writing it, I was very desirous to know the meaning of the Vision of Waters, with a description of which the 47th chapter of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel commences; but it rested with the Almighty to interpret it in His time.

I think His interpretation is a call to the Jews, in these latter days, to acknowledge the Messiah.

Two days before I received my little book from the printers, an accident happened in Christchurch to a distinguished New Zealand legislator—a Hebrew. "He was on the point of starting for the races with Lady Vogel, when, in walking along the passage of the Commercial Hotel on his crutches, his foot slipped, and he fell, with the result that his leg was broken. One of the small bones near the ankle joint was quite broken, and the large bone fractured just above the joint."—Press, 13th November. And ten days after I had received it, by another accident, which also happened in Christchurch, the pastor of the Hebrew congregation, "the Rev I. Zachariah, while riding in Oxford Terrace, was thrown from his horse, which shied at a hat blown across the road. His arm was dislocated, and the wrist-bone fractured."—Press, 25th Nov.

On Sunday, the 13th day of December, I was standing near to my house, by a good-sized fir tree, which I had often seen climbed by children and youths. I observed that it had been very recently climbed. Incidents recurred to my memory, and I brought to mind the accidents to the two Hebrew gentlemen, simultaneously with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th verses of the 47th chapter of Ezekiel. I then went into my house, read the verses, and praised God.

The "waters to the ankles" represented, to my mind, waters to stand in Law. The "waters to the knees," Worship, whether with uplifted hands and arms or not. The "waters to the loins," Special or general relations. And on the following day, and the next, I wrote in books the interpretation of the vision, and sent or gave them away. In most of the little books I have given away since, I have written (referring to the 3rd paragraph, and to paragraph 3 on page 12, "Third Communication "), or in like words, "The Holy Vision of Waters," with a description of which the 47th chapter of Ezekiel commences, might refer to the relation of the Jew to the Gentile, in concord, or want of concord; the first three soundings, or depths, referring respectively to Law, Worship, and Social and General Intercoures, special or general; and the fourth depth, to man's Redemption, Justification, and Sanctification, the acknowledgment of the Messiah, and general conversion of the Jews; and in its consummation, the supremacy of Christianity and Christian governments, nationally and socially, throughout the world.

The Psalmist of Israel says, "For Thou hast possessed my reins; Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb."—Psalm 139, verse 13.

One of these copies I sent to the Rev W. Morley, late minister of St. Albans, when here attending the Wesleyaa Conference in January last.

The expectations raised in the minds of the Jews by the Old Testa- page 5 ment prophets is shown by the question asked of our Lord by the assembled apostles, immediately before His ascension into heaven: "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ?" (Acts, chap. 1, verse 6) and is quite consistent in a believer of the evangelical prophecies not yet clearly understood. Our Lord's answer to the question was, like His parables and precepts, made clear to the apprehension of men. The visions seen by the Apostles were figurative, and sometimes required an event and a period of time to explain them.

I pass on to the borders of the land, a reference to which was made in my "Third Communication," and to the inheritance of the twelve tribes of Israel.—Ezekiel, chapters 47 and 48. The "lot" manifestly refers to the law under the Christian dispensation. Now Ezekiel wrote and prophesied nearly 600 years before the advent of Christ. The prophet continues: "And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance onto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel."—Chap. 47, verse 22.

"And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God."—Chap. 47, verse 23.

Although not expressed in my "Third Communication," a "Declaration of the Age or Period," (see page 11) to which this, my "Fourth Communication," may be considered a supplement, it would be recognised by many that 25,000 geographical miles is the ordinary way of expressing the extent of the circle of the earth, and it is indeed so very nearly, on the equatorial line, which is East and West, as also on any and every meridional line running North and South, crossing both Poles. As, in the original language, no descriptive measures are given, interpreters have, at their own discretion, named either reeds or cubits.

The spirit of the 18th chapter of the Book of the Prophet seems also throughout like an anticipation of the new covenant.

"Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? "—Ezekiel, chap. 18, verse 81-

When all the nations of the earth are blessed in the seed of Abraham; when the whole earth has become the temple of the Lord; when Christ and his saints reign; then shall be taught these two commandments, "on which hang all the law and the prophets."

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."—Matthew, chap. 22, verse 38. "This is the first and great commandment.—Matthew, chap. 22, verse 39.

"And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ."—Matthew, chap. 22, verse 39.

Ezekiel, in his description of the representative "living creatures," the cherubims, describes the appearance of the wheels, and their work, "as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel," (chapter 1); and, in other places, some of the symbols or representations must, I think, be similarly understood. Thus Ezekiel, in describing the portions of the twelve tribes, the 6um of the twelve portions seem intended to represent the extent of the whole earth," chapter 48. "And the five thousand that are page 6 left in the breadth over against the five-and-twenty thousand shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs."—Chapter 48, verse 15. Here, also, I take it that the representation must be explained after the manner of the wheels of the cherubinis, "as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel."

When I made my present to the Church Club, (" Third Communication, page 12, paragraph 2,) no "revision of the Authorised Version" had, as far as I am aware, been received in this country. The alteration in chapter 47, verse 15, renders tho reading consistent; but there still remains some little confusion "in other verses in chapter 48, describing the apportionment of the whole holy oblation." Yet, I believe that the division of the land, and possessions of the tribes, was intended to represent, in the offering of "all the holy oblation," the reign of the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" (Revelation, chap. 19, verse 16) over all the earth.