THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 139 



out of his buckets, and hi5 seed shall be in raanj 



waters, and his kingdom shall be exalted." 



(Num. xxiv. 5—7.) 



With equal propriety might the departing Moses 

 have said of England, as of Joseph, could he have 

 viewed it in the present century, " Blessed of the 

 Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, 

 for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 

 and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, 

 and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and 

 for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for 

 the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the 

 precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, and 

 for ths good will of him that dwelt in the bush : 



irrigation, which is necessary at certain seasons in dry oriental 

 countries, especially for the young crops of rice. The exten- 

 sive and prosperous increase of the Jewish nation, is the fact 

 intimated by this highly figurative language. Waters are the 

 appropriate emblem of progeny. See Isaiah xlviii. 1, Psalm 

 Ixviii. 26, Prov. V. 5—18. With this interpretation the Greek 

 interpreter, and the ancient Targumists, agree. But water is the 

 symbol of the gospel, and of the Holy Spirit's operations. See 

 John iv, 14, and vii. .38, 39. As then the state of ancient Israel 

 was typical of the Christian Church, there is good reason for 

 supposing that this prophecy, like that of Isaiah xii. 3, is to be 

 spiritually understood of the pouring forth of the refreshing 

 waters of Christianity, through the instrumentality of a Jevtith 



