in a few districts, or for some partial blessings, but shall be the acknowledged praise and admiration of mankind. All nations shall call her blessed. All her proceedings shall speak the praise of that Saviour who is her glory and her joy. A period of inward purity, zeal, and peace shall arrive, of which we can now form little conception. From this effulgence at home, shall burst forth a full blaze of light over all the regions of the earth. The torch of revelation, like the glorious orb of day, shall visit every shore, and kindle with its beams the dark recesses of ignorance and sin. Unlike the presumptuous claim of the Arabian Impostor, the title of the PRAISED ONE 5 shall rest, where it is alone due, on the head of Immanuel, the desire of all nations, he whom his brethren shall praise', and before whose feet shall at length be poured out the adorations and gratitude of the world which he hath redeemed. In bringing about this blissful consummation, our own country will, we hope, take her full share. She appears to be placed by the providence of God on an elevated position, for the very purpose of disseminating the knowledge of her Saviour wherever her arms or her commerce may reach. Something has already 5 Mohammed is an Arabic word, meaning The praised one, or The person to be praised. 6 Haggai, ii. 7. 7 Gen. xlix. 8. been done. In addition to the two venerable societies in the Church of England, which have long been labouring in the Southern Provinces of India, and the Colonies of the British Empire, the exertions of many new societies have been attended with a great promise of success. But much, very much remains to be attempted. We trust England will prosecute the path on which she has entered; and that as God has condescended to make her a PRAISE in the earth, by the exploits of her valour, and the energies of her benevolence, he will gradually establish his church in her, and make it the praise and ornament of mankind. In what way it may please God to accomplish these prophecies of future glory, or to what extent he may see fit to bless our efforts at the present time, we know not. But our duty as a nation, and as individuals, is clear; and I bless God that the infant Society before which I now appear, is rapidly attracting the regard of benevolent Christians, and that various individuals are coming forward to stand on her walls, and unite their exertions with those of others in this high cause. But this leads me to consider, II. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE PREDICTED ESTABLISHMENT AND GLORY OF THE CHURCH WILL BE EFFECTED. Jehovah will raise up men of fervent piety to enter on the work of propagating his truth, whilst the church generally assists and animates them by her exhortations and prayers. The allusion in the language of this part of the text, is supposed to be to the Temple service, in which the Levites were appointed to keep a constant watch day and night. The duty seems especially to have belonged to the singers. The word which is rendered, Watchmen, particularly signifies those Priests and Levites who kept watch about the temple; and who are called Those that make mention of the Lord, or as the margin reads, The Lord's Remembrancers, because at certain periods they sung psalms of prayer and praise to Jehovah'. Accordingly we read, Isaiah, lii. 8, Thy watchmen shall lift up their voice, with the voice together shall they sing. And Isai. lvi. 10, as the greatest reproach to them, His watchmen are blind, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. It is remarkable', that the watches in the East are to this day performed by a loud cry from time to time of the watchmen, in order to mark the hour, and to show that they themselves are constantly attentive to their duty. Tavernier informs us 8 1 Chron. ix. 33. 1 Bishop Lowth in loc. (Voyage de Perse i. 10.) that "the watchmen in the camp of the caravans go their rounds, crying, one after another, ' God is one, he is merciful;' and often add, ' Take heed to yourselves.”” This general view is confirmed by a passage in the Prophet Malachi", where the Levites are described by being Watchmen and Answerers; and the Priests, by those who offer offerings. The Lord will cut off the man that doth this, the watchman3 and the answerer out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of Hosts. But in the cxxxivth Psalm, Bishop Lowth conceives, that we have a complete example of the sacred songs of the Temple-watch. The psalm consists of the alternate cry of the different divisions of watchThe first addresses the second, reminding them of their duty: men. Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord; lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The second watch answers with a solemn blessing, 2 Mal. ii. 12. 3 The English translation renders it, the Master and the Scholar; but Montanus gives, Vigilantem et Respondentem, The Watchman and the Answerer; as do Simon, Venema, Buxtorf, and Schultens. See Bishop Lowth ut supra. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion. The address and answer therefore seem both to have been a set form, which each division proclaimed or sung aloud at stated intervals to notify the time of the night. The form which was used was probably a short sentence, expressing some pious sentiment, of which Jehovah was the subject. The purport of these sentences was doubtless, in many cases, to implore of God the redemption. of the church and the prosperity of Zion. And it does not appear unlikely, that the very prayer of the text, if not its precise terms,—that Jehovah would establish Jerusalem, and make her a praise in the earth-may have been commonly in use on these occasions. Nothing can be more beautiful than the whole passage in this view. Jehovah promises to his church, in order to extend and perpetuate her glory, that he will set men on her walls, who, like the Temple-watch, shall be ceaseless in their exertions and prayers. All the services of the Jewish Temple shall be continued and perfected by the spiritual institutions of the Christian. The same alternate songs of praise shall resound, but for vastly higher blessings. The same supplications for the prosperity of Zion shall be made, but in a greatly enlarged. sense and with more fervent importunity. The |