to be only as slender. gleanings ; but is this a reason why we should not search them out, and endeavour with care and labour to beat the tree? If a house with only half-a-dozen persons in it should be on fire, and some were exerting them- selves for their preservation, what would you think of the humanity of the person who should deride and damp their efforts, from the consideration that they could only hope to benefit a few ? Look at the text, and see the description given of the Jews: are they not "outcasts," and "ready to perish?" And is not this a sufficient reason to seek their salvation, though we should save from destruction only " one or two?" They are called " the lost sheep of the House of Israel :" and has not our Lord taught us, that, if there be only one of a hundred gone astray, we should go after that one and seek to bring it home ? Yea, has he not in this very connexion told us, that " it is not the will of your Father that one of his little ones should perishd?" Should not we then be like-minded with God, and determine, that not one shall perish, through any want of effort on our part to save him ? Should we not all unite as one man to carry into effect the purposes of God's love towards them ? Is there any hope that the few which invite our labours, shall be gathered in, if there be none to beat or shake the tree ? or can there be a general convocation of them to the Lord, if there be none to go forth and sound the trumpet in their ears ? Know ye then, that we want in- struments, active and zealous instruments, to do the Lord's work : we need pecuniary aid also, that we may send forth missionaries to the ends of the earth, with the Gospel trumpet in their hands, and the love of God in their hearts, to make known to the Jews their Messiah, and to " bring them home as an offering to the Lord their Gode." O that God would stir us all up to seek the welfare of the children of Israel, and make use of ics to hasten forward the period of their complete redemption !]
2. What we all need in order to our own salvation —
[Let us not, in our zeal for others, forget ourselves. We are all, with the exception of a small remnant, in as bad a state as the Jews themselves. The only difference between us is, that they are ignorant of Christ, but " we profess to know Christ, yet in works deny him." As far as respects vital god- liness, we are as far from God as they. " All we like sheep have gone astray ; and, no less than they, do we need to return to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls f." It is true of us, as well as of them, that the truly pious are but a remnant. "The god of this world" has the harvest; and the God of
d Matt, xviii. 12—14. . e isaj. ixvj. 20> f ] pet ;j 25.