successes,” &c.; to him I would say, why may not “_the children of the promise_” be here included as well as “_the children of the flesh?_” The first Christians were Jews, the apostles and disciples were Jews, while the converted Gentiles were no less styled, “_Israelites by adoption_;” and so they are continually called in prophetic language. If then the terms, “_Sons of Zion_” and “_Israel of God_,” be _not less_ applicable to those who received Christ for their Messiah, than to those who rejected him; we cannot surely say with Dr. Blaney, that there have been no return from captivity, no victories, no successes, since the coming of Christ; for it will hardly be maintained that redemption from the bondage of sin is no return from captivity; that the triumph of Christianity over paganism is no victory, and the rapid propagation of the Gospel no success. In verse 12, “_The strong hold_,” which is evidently the same as the prison-house, called in the preceding verse, “_the pit without water_,” and which the Rabbi allows to be a state of captivity, is here, somewhat abruptly, transformed into a place of shelter and protection. Verse 15. The Rabbi’s idea, that the prophet here uses the term “_sling-stones_,” in derision, as an appellative for the enemies of Israel, while he applies to themselves, in the next verse, the term “_precious stones_,” appears to me, I must acknowledge, somewhat novel; and as I dispute that translation of the next verse altogether, so I cannot acquiesce in such an explanation of this. With regard to the rendering of המו (or ומה) in the same verse, which I have considered as the personal pronoun, “_they_,” instead of the verb “_to make a noise_”—I believe the Rabbi’s, upon re-considering the passage, to be the more correct translation. But these verbal differences, however they may interest the Hebrew scholar, are of trivial importance, as regarding the grand question between us, namely, whether the accomplishment of the predictions contained in this chapter, ceases before we arrive at verse 9, which is admitted to announce the coming of the Messiah. Upon this point, then, I plead the general issue. If I succeed in shewing that every part of the prophecy in the following chapters, as well as the present, has been clearly accomplished in the leading events of the history of Christianity, I gain my cause. If I fail to do so, let the verdict go for the Jew. ZECHARIAH ON THE MESSIAH’S KINGDOM. INTERPRETATION: CHAPTER X. Two points appeared to be established in the last chapter; one, that the Messiah’s kingdom is the subject of this part of the prophecy, and the other, that that kingdom is a spiritual one; or these points, if not proved, were, at least, shewn to be in perfect accordance with every verse, and every line contained in that chapter.