hou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; that,
then, the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have
compassion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the
nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of
thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from thence
will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch
thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee unto the Land which
thy Fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and He will do
thee good, and multiply thee above thy Fathers. And the Lord thy
God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou
mayest live; and the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon
thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all
his commandments which I command thee this day." &c.
"What an extent of prophecy, and how firm a faith in the whole of
it do we see here! (says Dr. Priestly.) The Israelites were not then
in the land of Canaan. It was occupied by nations far more
numerous, and powerful than they; and yet it is distinctly foretold
in the 4th ch. that they would soon take possession of it, and
multiply in it: and that afterwards they would offend God by their
idolatry, and wickedness, and would in con-sequence of it be
driven out of their country; and without being exterminated or
lost, be scattered among the nations of the world; that by this
dispersion, and their calamities, they would at length be reformed,
and restored to the divine favour, and that then (as in the quotation)
in the latter days they would be gathered from all nations, and
restored to their own country, when they would observe all the
laws which were then prescribed to them. Past history, and present
appearances, correspond with such wonderful exactness to what
has been fulfilled of this prophecy, that we can have no doubt with
respect to the complete accomplishment of what remains to be
fulfilled of it."
What was first announced by Moses, is repeated by Isaiah and
other prophets, assuring them of their certain return wherever
dispersed, to their own land in the latter days; and that they should
have the undisturbed possession of it to the end of time.
It has been objected, that the term "for ever" is not always to be
understood in its greatest extant, but is to b
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