will yet be found, and that too at no distant period. At all events we have evidence enough to shew, that God is with us in our labours of love, and to assure us, that we shall not labour in vain, or run in vain. The very circumstance of so many heralds being stirred up to prepare their way, is a strong ground of hope that ere long " the valleys shall be exalted, and the mountains and hills be made low, and the crooked be made straight, and the rough places plain ; and that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together1."]
Nor are we left in uncertainty about,
III. The effects of its arrival —
To the Jews themselves the effects will be glorious —
[Such prosperity, both temporal and spiritual, will they
enjoy, as was but faintly typified in the days of Solomon
" The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound s " ]
To the Gentiles also it will be the commencement of inconceivable and universal happiness —
[This is particularly marked in our text; " So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord :" yes, the restoration and con- version of the Jews will be "as life from the dead " to the whole Gentile world '. Their deliverances from Egypt and from Babylon attracted the attention of the nations which were round about them ; but this deliverance will fill with surprise and asto- nishment all the nations upon earth : for the Jews are scattered through every country under heaven : and in every country there will be a simultaneous motion of the Jews towards their own land, and a turning to that Saviour, whom now they hate. This will carry conviction to the minds of all, that Jesus is the true Messiah, the only, and all-sufficient Saviour of the whole world. Then will all the great ones of the earth, the highest kings, no less than their meanest subjects, behold the glory of God in the face of our adorable Saviour ; and all, both Jews
and Gentiles, become one fold under one Shepherd u
However incredible this may appear, it shall assuredly be effected in due season ; for the Lord hath promised ; and not a jot or tittle of his word shall fail.]
Address —
1. Have compassion upon Zion —
r Isai. xl. 3 — 5. s Isai. xxx. 26. * Rom. xi. 12, 15.
« See Isai. lx. 1—8, 10—14. Ps. lxxii. 8—11, 16—19. Zech. ii. 10 — 12. and viii. 20 — 23. and xiv. 9.