CHAPTER XXIV.

Early Prophecies - Sceptre - Jacob's Predictions Shiloh.

EVELYN had carefully noted down all that Mrs. Manvers said about the prophecy of our Lord which they had been studying, and, having in the mean time read that part of Genesis, she said to her one morning soon afterwards—

"If you are at leisure to continue with me our examination of the prophecies, I should very much like to go on with it this morning; you suggested it to me as a Sunday employment, but it interests me much, and I feel that it is better to devote a part of every day to a study of such importance."

"You are quite right,” my dear Evelyn; "you gratify me more than I can express by your eagerness to continue this research, which I did indeed suggest as a suitable employment for the sabbath, but never meant to exclude from weekdays if you were inclined to pursue it. Let us then turn to Genesis xlix. 10.-' The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.' It has been universally allowed that this passage contains a clear prophecy of the expected Messiah, nor have the Jews of either ancient or modern times ever disputed it, though blind to the application of it to our Saviour."

"Yes, I am aware of the prophecy," said Evelyn; "but still I do not understand how it can be said that the sceptre should not depart from Judah, for at the time of the birth of Christ Judea was nothing more than a Roman province paying tribute to the emperor."

"It was," resumed Mrs. Manvers, "under subjection to Rome, but Judea still retained its own government, and, though it had had no king for a considerable time after the return from the captivity, it was under the rule of the High Priest,

The word here

who was always one of the princes of Judea. translated sceptre might perhaps be more literally translated rod or staff, particularly that which belonged to each tribe as a symbol of authority. What is chiefly meant, therefore, is, that such authority and importance as Judah possessed at the time the prophecy was uttered was to remain with his posterity, and that they should not cease from being a tribe, or body politic, having rulers or governors of their own, till the Messiah came. After the title of king had been revived, Judea continued to be governed by a king: and observe, it was not until a few years after the birth of Christ that it became a Roman province; the judicial power of life and death was then taken from the Jews, and their ecclesiastical polity ended with the destruction of their city and temple, A.D. 70, at which time the Gospel had been preached throughout the then known world by the disciples of Christ."

"I wonder whether the names of Jacob's sons had any peculiar meaning," said Evelyn.

"They had certainly — the name Judah signifies the power of God. The character of the tribe was warlike and brave. They were the first who entered the promised land. The tribe in its different stages is compared to a lion's whelp -to a full-grown lion-and to a nursing lioness, the fiercest of all. Hence a lion was the standard of Judah. David, when reposing after his conquests, secure in the terror of his name, was called Ariel, or, the lion of God; our Lord himself was named THE LION OF JUDAH.

"Does it appear," said Evelyn, "that all his predictions about the fate of his sons were fulfilled?"

"Yes; while Jacob blessed his children before his death, he foretold what should befall them in the last days;' and the history of each in after ages, as far as we may presume to interpret those mysterious expressions, seems to fulfil them, and serves by that means as a collateral proof of the truth of this remarkable prophecy touching Judah. The twelve tribes were, you know, united under one king, in the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, but on the revolt of the ten tribes from Solomon's son, Rehoboam, they became two distinct kingdoms; and afterwards, about seven hundred years before the Chris

tian era, the kingdom of Israel, consisting of the ten tribes, was destroyed, and the nation dispersed, so as never to recover their government or to be restored to their country."

"I perceive," said Evelyn," the distinction that you are going to point out. The kingdom of the ten tribes never was restored; but though Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and held in captivity for a long time, still it had princes of its own line, and its government was afterwards restored.'

"You can scarcely say restored," said Mrs. Manvers; "for even during their captivity the Jews lived as a distinct people, having rulers and princes of their own nation. The princes of Judah, as Ezra says, arranged the return of the people to their own land. Judah was, therefore, justly considered to maintain possession of the sceptre; for Benjamin, though also allowed to go home, yet, being no longer named as a separate tribe, they became one nation, and from that time, you know, they were all called Jews; the government, in other words the sceptre, was in the hands of Judah, which ceased not to have, as I said, its own independent government till after the birth of Christ. The sceptre was, however, then departing; in about forty years afterwards the city was taken, the temple destroyed, the Jews either sold into captivity or slain; and for eighteen hundred years Judah has possessed no dominion-their sceptre is gone."

"I see, indeed, Mrs. Manvers, that Jacob's prediction was completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ; and that He is―must be the true Shiloh. How can any one be so blind as to doubt it?"

"It is extraordinary," replied Mrs. Manvers," that there can be any doubt on this head, for He came into the world at the time foretold, and the whole description is applicable to Christ and to Him only; but although the prophecy and expectation were distinctly fixed in the minds of the Israelites, yet they were blind to its fulfilment. However, I ain happy to say that lately the Jews have appeared more willing to study the Scriptures, and seem to be more open to conviction. The time has now passed at which they flattered themselves that their Shiloh might appear, and many of that interesting but perverse people begin to surmise that He must have already come. I trust that the Nazarene, whom they have despised,

will, before many years are over, be acknowledged by them as having accomplished the prediction of Jacob."

"What is the exact meaning of Shiloh?" said Evelyn; "for I have read different explanations of it."

6

"Two meanings have been given by commentators," replied Mrs. Manvers, "both which appear to answer in some respects. The sent; Christ says of himself, The Father hath sent me;' and the apostles also speak of Him as sent into the world-the messenger of the covenant, sent to give us hope of pardon and life. The peacemaker is the other meaning: as Christ has reconciled us to our offended Father, so the Gospel comes with a proclamation of peace; and as all who believe in the propitiation of our Lord for us are justified and may have peace with God, so all must acknowledge with one heart and mouth that 'Jesus is our peace.' Either meaning of the word, or both, may be taken-whichever it is, we know that to Him will be the gathering of the people; that, having begun our redemption by giving himself a sacrifice for us, He, the author and finisher of our faith, will accept our penitence, and will bring us through the difficulties and trials of this world. And thus will be fulfilled a corresponding prophecy, which we find in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah—‘ And the gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. 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.'

ness mere

The Feeling of the People - The Hive · Bees of Cash- Honey Smoke of Lycoperdon - Travelling Bees.

EVELYN's anxiety about her garden was painfully increased by the uncommon steadiness of the dry weather; and though heavy dews in the evening and early morning came happily to refresh the vegetation, they were not sufficient to prevent the scorching influence of the sun upon the rose-trees which she had so unadvisedly removed. They had, indeed, been abundantly watered, yet they were a melancholy sight, and Evelyn perceived but too plainly the folly of her impatience. Much as she had pleased herself with the idea of her tiny hedges of pyrus and other choice shrubs, and longed for their arrival, she was not sorry to find, by a letter from Mr. O'Reilly, the nurseryman, to her gardener, that he declined sending them at present as it would be, he said in his letter, destruction to the plants and next to robbery of the lady who had ordered them.

"After all, though I believe it is as well for the shrubs not to be removed, the nurseryman had no right to think for me; and he should have considered that the disappointment might deprive him of my custom," said Evelyn as they quitted the little garden.

"Does he not rather deserve respect for his honesty and disinterestedness?" replied Mrs. Manvers, "for he might have obeyed your orders and received his money quietly, anticipating another such purchase in a more favourable season."

"Ah! yes, that is true; I did not at first see it in that light: he does deserve encouragement, and shall have all iny custom. I will endeavour to patronise and make him known."

"Oh! Ma'am," said the gardener, "he is already well—" Just at that moment, as they were passing along a walk