The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-15 00:00:00

ship with him, who is not interested about the Jews. This
appeal to all who wish to imbibe their Lord's mind has not
been without its effect. Again, sir, we asked, What is true
Christian prayer? Is it not, to tesire the Lord's glory, that
his name may be hallowed, that his will may be done on earth
as it is

1, heaven? Are not these the highest branches of
prayer? Do they not take precedence of any petition for the
supply of our personal wants ? Well, then, if the glory of
God be inseparably connected with the Jewish nation,—if
the manifestation of his glory upon earth, and the doing of
his will upon earth, be inseparably connected with his deal-
ings with the Jewish nation, we come to the conclusion
that Christian prayer cannot be complete without refer-
ence to the Jewish nation. This line of argumentation
transferred the question to its true ground, viz., the ground
of Scriptural inquiry. The Bible was appealed to by
many who said, " Does the Lord indeed take an interest
in the Jews ? If so, then I desire to do so too." The
reply was, " Search and read the Scripture for what the
Lord has said ' • open your eyes and see what the Lord has
done :" this brought us to scriptural inquiry. As you
remarked yourself, sir, in proportion as scriptural inquiry
prospers the Jewish cause gains ground. But after all some
of the old objections still remain, some of the old differences
have still possession of men's minds ; and although we have
an increased anxiety to favour this cause, we must not be
blind to the fact, that we have still lingering objections with
regard to the purposes of God concerning the Jewish people,
as interpreted in the unfulfilled prophesies of the Scripture.
How does it appear, as some men say—and we ought
to desire to take thinking men with us—that those parts
concerning the restoration of the Jews to their own land
were not fulfilled when they were not brought back from
Babylon ; or how does it appear they were not spiritual in
their import as some respectable expositors have made them,
and that these promised spiritual blessings to spiritual Israel;
what hold have we upon the present prophesies relating to
Israel and the Jews? I fear in attempting a scriptural ar-
gument at this time of the evening I shall be able to do jus-
tice to it. It is a question it is utterly impossible to enter
upon and investigate with any value to ourselves in a
short time. I could now change my strain, and make
you clap your hands, but I fear I should not do you much
good. But I will try to prove, by a reference to a single pro-
phecy, the ground we have for our anticipations; and I would
rather do it, because it will introduce what I rather regret has
not been so plainly and prominently introduced, viz., the
King of the Jews. I read of the remarkable vision given
to the prophet Zechariah, in which he beheld four horns,
and after the horns he beheld four carpenters, and he in-
quired of the angel who was revealing the truth to him,
" What be these ?" and he was told, " These are the horns
which have scattered Judith, so that no man did lift up his
head ;" and that these carpenters " are come to fray them,
to cast out the horns of the Gentiles which lifted up their
horns over the.land of Judah to scatter it." Here are four
powers represented by horns. You will find the passage in
the last few verses of the' first chapter of Zachariah—the
horns of the Gentiles scattering the people of Israel, scatter-
ing Judah. It is somewhat remarkable that this number
occurred with the division of the great image seen by Nebu-
chadnezzar, and with-the beasts seen in the vision by the
prophet Daniel. In either ease the number is four. The
itiz.ge was divided into four parts, and the exposition given
identifies it with Babylon. The king of Babylon was told
that he was the head of gold; after him was to come a king
inferior to him ; then a third, and then a fourth. In the vision
of Daniel there was the number four. The first was the
kingdom of Babylon ; the second was the kingdom of Persia;
the third of Greece; the fourth of Rome; then was the division
of Rome into a number of Princes. But thegreat horns are four.
There appeared in this vision four carpenters to fray them.
The horns had scattered Judah; four great empires had
scattered Judah, viz., Babylon, Persia, Grecia, Rome. This
brings us down to the subdivision of the Roman empire—to
the raising of another horn—to the springing up out of the
ten horns a little horn. The carpenters followed the horns,
to fray the horns, and cast them out. Now, we ask, what
was it, in point of fact, that frayed the Babylonish horn—
what was the instrument to cast out the Babylonish king-
dom, that they should no longer scatter Judah? It was the
rising Persian kingdoiv., which it appears is the first carpen-
ter. Having frayed Babylon, she became a horn, and was
herself frayed by Gregia, rising in the character of a car-
penter, and then it became itself a horn, to scatter Judah.
It stood till another carpenter arose ; and what was the divine
instrument for fraying the Grecian kingdom ? The rising
Roman ; and so the Roman appears as the third carpenter,
fraying the Grecian to scatter Judah ; and then the Roman
became a horn. The scattering of the Roman horn has been
long and diversified. It became broken into ten, and all
have persecuted Judah. In the midst of them arose a little
horn, different from the others, having eyes like a man, and
speaking blasphemous things against Gad. It appears among
the ten horns, after the breaking up of the Roman empire,
rising up, just at the place in the vision, where history repre-
sents to us the rising power of the Romish bishop, assum-
ing the aspect of temporal power—a horn different from the
others, for his temporal authority Was small, yet his real authori-
ty by his eyes, and speaking great things, became great. He usurped
three of the ten horns, and spoke great things against the most
high. He scattered the saints, he abrogated God's laws, and made
his own laws. The coming kingdom of the Messiah is, I believe,
the fourth carpenter. The rev. gentleman then proceeded at great
length to show that this little horn represented the Church of Rome,
and to express his conviction that that church had been the cause
of the persecution of the Jews; but, at this late hour, we have not
space to follow him in the argument. The l.rophesy represented,
he contended, the history of the nations until the kingdom of the
Messiah should be established, to reign for ever. This would be
the grand finale of the world. Proceeding further, the rev. gentle-
man said he could not, because lie had no evidence of the fact him-
self, assent with the resolution as it stood at present, that he had a
full conviction that the charges brought against the Jews were
altogether unfounded. They had recently been shown that what
was perfectly true of a system might not be true of an individual ;
in like manner, what was false of a system might be true of an
individual; and therefore he would,suggest that the resolution be
altered to this effect :—" That this meeting has a full conviction
that the Jewish religion affords no ground for such charges, and
pledges themselves to use ail the means in their power to ascertain
the truth in the cases of the alleged accusation." The proposed
alteration having ly!en acceded to, the reverend gentleman seconded
the resolution, and it was unanimously carried.
The Rev. Mr. DRIFFIELD, vicar of Prescot, moved the next reso-
lution, thanking the officers of the society for their past services,
and re-appointing them for the ensuing year.

The If.cv. F. BARKER seconded the motion, and it was unani
mously carried.

The Doxology, " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," was
then sang, and at about a quarter to eleven the vast assembly
dispersed, highly gratified with the proceedings.