under the Temple. An early writer speaks of it as "a perennial fountain of water," and states that these river-courses, or excavations, extend a great way, and have many secret entrances, only known to the servants of the holy place. The Great Sea is forty-three feet deep. Its area covers eleven thousand feet, and it can hold three million gallons of water. Another cistern is still of greater depth, being sixty-two feet deep. There is a legend of an Arab, employed in clearing one of the passages, who ventured to walk along, and, after going a considerable distance, found it becoming lighter and lighter. At length he reached (so runs the legend) a garden of exceeding beauty and loveliness. He plucked a leaf from one of the trees, with which he returned, and when examined, it was declared a leaf from the tree of Paradise. The only fresh water now in Jerusalem issues from these reservoirs, and, after appearing at the Fountain of the Virgin, it pursues an underground course until it reaches the Pool of Siloam, and thence, by the Kedron Valley, into the Dead Sea.

Now we can gather from this first of all that there was a very considerable fountain under the foundation of the Temple, which, by reason of the sins of the nation, and, physically, through the cutting down of the forests, has been dried up to a great extent. Still we see the natural means which the Lord may make use of as the germs of the great physical changes which He hath foretold. He who took the five barley loaves and converted them into food for five thousand persons-He who commanded His servant of old to touch the rock with his rod till it yielded the stored-up water, will, at His coming, cause the mountains to cleave until a mighty stream rushes forth renewing the face of the earth and causing the wilderness to rejoice and blossom as the rose. "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High" (Psa. xlvi. 4).

But has not Ezek. xlvii. a typical meaning? Undoubtedly. The cleft rock whence the living waters flow sets before us the Holy Spirit proceeding from the wounded Saviour. And when we read, "Everything that liveth, which moveth, withersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither for they shall be healed; and everything shall live whither the river cometh" (xlvii. 9)—we are reminded of the power of the mighty Spirit to quicken dead souls, whether Jew or Gentile.

In the Lord's method there is the closest analogy between

form and spirit. The happy appearance and beautiful form of the ransomed will ray forth the holiness and joy that dwell within. The unity and perfection of the Bride, the true Church of God, we see in the symmetry and transparency of that habitation which seems identical with itself. And so the river which sweeps resistlessly on with ever-growing volume prefigures the steady progress of the Gospel of life, while the harvest that flourishes on its banks will be a picture of the renewed spiritual condition of the people restored to their own land.

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These blessings have the closest possible connection with the return of the Lord. This is brought before us in our key text, Isa. lix. 20: "The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." Now that passage occurs immediately before chapters lx., lxi., lxii., which give so full and graphic a sketch of the restoration of the nation and the future and final glory of Israel. What is it causes the change? Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Therefore I hold that while it is possible some of the Jews may be restored in an unconverted state, yet many more will follow. "Lift up thine eyes round about and see all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." The full glory and national prosperity and national conversion must follow the time when the Goel, or Kinsman-Redeemer, bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh, their Brother according to the flesh, returns to reign over them gloriously.

"Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." All this is the work of the Goel, or Kinsman-Redeemer; and the note struck in lix. 20, is sounded again in lxii. 12: "They shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."

Have you ever noticed the clue to Psa. cvii.? It is the Psalm of the restoration of Israel. Thanks are rendered unto God, and the exhortation is, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed out of the hand of the enemy."

And the writer proceeds, "He gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south." Has that ever come to pass yet? Never! When has the Lord gathered His people from the east, the west, the north, and the south?

Then you notice there follow four paragraphs answering to the Lord's way of bringing back Israel from the four quarters of the earth, each paragraph concluding with the ascription of praise, "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

1. Notice, they come from the east. "They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way: they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them." This evidently refers to the great deserts of Bokhara, Beloochistan, the Arabian deserts, and other Eastern wildernesses. They have great deserts to cross in coming to the Holy Land, but the Lord leads them in a right way and delivers them.

2. They come from the west. "They sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron." What was the condition of the Jews in Spain and many parts of Europe? Literally they were in the shadow of death and in iron bondage for hundreds of years. In the very public gardens of Germany has been seen the announcement, "Beggars, dogs, and Jews not admitted here." So this paragraph describes them coming from the west.

3. Then in the next paragraph (17-20) we have them coming from the north, which I take to be Russia. They are afflicted; "their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, they draw near the gates of death;" clearly describing the pestilence and persecutions they have endured and still endure in the north. Already we have as it were a firstfruits coming from Russia, and we rejoice that an open door of access has been gained to many of these poor and desolate ones.

4. Then follows (23-30) a description of their coming from the south, for those who come from South Africa and America must come in ships.

Then in verses 33, 34 we have a little summary of God's past dealing with the land and the people; and in verses 35 to 42 a summary of His future dealings with Israel: the whole ending with the admonition, "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord"

This is further illustrated when we see that Redemption is

the topic of the whole Word of God. Redemption of the person is the subject of all the Bible, except the last book. And redemption of the inheritance, the purchased possession, is the topic of the book of Revelation. Is not the inheritance the earth, which must be delivered from the hand of the usurper Satan-must be purified and made fit for God's use and for the abode of redeemed man? In Rev. v. we have Christ represented in the character of the Redeemer of the forfeited inheritance. The seven-sealed book is the roll of the mortgage of our inheritance forfeited by our sins. And the presence of the Lamb as it had been slain connects it with redemption, for had it been a book of revelation He would have been represented as the Prophet, the Messenger of the Covenant, the Light of the World, the Apostle of our Profession. He is there by virtue of His atoning sacrifice, but it is as the Lion He prevails to take and open the book. It is power which is manifest here. "The opening of the seals is an act of strength, not of revelation; an exploit of war, not a word of doctrine ; a controversy for a kingdom, not the preaching of a lesson of truth." "The Lion hath prevailed to open the book,"-" hath overcome," as the Revised Version has it. To this agrees the song of the living ones: "Thou hast redeemed us to God . . . . and we shall reign on the earth.”

The great Jubilee is coming when the lost property shall return to the family of God. But, though all the Lord's people will be sharers in the inheritance, the children of Abraham will have their peculiar share. All the ransomed shall be kings and priests unto God, but Israel will have its own kingdom, in which Abraham and David will be two of the chief princes.

Meanwhile Christ is (unconsciously to them) the Hope of Israel (Acts xxvi. 6, 7)-the Hope of the promise made of God to the fathers. Shall we not pray that God may soon take away the veil from their eyes?

Now what is the method indicated by the Word for the gathering of Israel. We read, "He shall set up an ensign," or standard (Isa. xi. 10, 12). This will be Christ, the Root of Jesse and He will draw them as the Lamb and yet as the Lion (compare Gen. xlix. 9 with Rev. v. 5). Israel shall see Jesus as Him whom they crucified, as the One slain for their sins, as the One who bore their curse; and thus lifted up, He will draw the nation unto Him (John xii. 32). Yet He is also set before them as the Lion of Judah, the strong and

glorious One, who gathers them, who overthrows their enemies, who recovers the lost property. Thus shall they see His glory (Isa. lxvi. 18, 19), and declare His glory (Zech. xii. 10). He shall come as the Mighty to save, as the One able to save unto the uttermost. We believe that in His own time He will draw to Himself, as by the uplifting of an ensign, this poor, suffering, scattered people. His past suffering and then present glory shall draw Israel unto Him.

May this sight, beheld by faith, rivet us and draw us upward! May this be the standard round which we as Christians gather now! And may we be so filled by beholding that glory, even as in a glass, that we may manifest the same both to Jew and Gentile !

After prayer by Dr. LASERON, the following address was delivered by

REV. CLARMONT SKRINE, M.A.

My subject is, "The Hope of Israel in relation to the Messiah -Salvation." Now, the first verses I would ask you to look at are in Jer. xxxi. 31-34. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

The Lord is telling us there by the prophet that He means to bring Israel back, making a new covenant with the house of Israel. That covenant which He will then make is given in the thirty-third verse. Now, beloved, this new covenant is essential, for as you know it is the beginning of a new dispensation, and each dispensation is in advance of that which has