that " word like fire, or like a hammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces." Once sanctified by the word and Spirit of God, you will know the full blessings of redemption : they will flow into your souls like a river, and be an earnest of your blessed- ness in the eternal world.]
2. As a public concern, to the whole world — [The Redeemer is come : his kingdom is established : his word and Spirit do evince an almighty energy, which nothing can withstand. Shall any one then despond, in relation either to Jews or Gentiles ? Wait but a little, and it shall be seen " whether God's word shall stand or not." Look to the rising, or the setting sun: to the furthest extent of either shall " God's glory shine," and the Redeemer's kingdom be esta- blished. Shall it be thought that the obduracy of the Jews, or the superstition of the Gentiles, shall oppose any effectual bar to the Gospel? Before the Sun of Righteousness they shall vanish, like the morning dew ; and " all flesh shall see the salvation of God." When we think of the impotency of man, and feel discouragement from that, we forget that God has promised to accompany the word with his Holy Spirit: for, if " the Spirit be poured out from on high," who is he that shall stand before him? Go to the valley of Ezekiel's vision : see it "full of bones, dry, very dry:" at the breathing of the Spirit upon them, the word is effectual to raise them into life, a whole armyk. So shall God's word be in the mouths of those who shall go forth at the millennial period : " it shall be mighty, through God, to the pulling down of all the strong- holds" of sin and Satan, and to " the subduing of the whole world to the obedience of faith." Whether that period be yet fully come, we doubt ; but that it is near at hand, we have no doubt. Let your faith, then, in this prophecy be strong : and your desire after this blessed period be ardent; and your efforts to hasten it forward, be energetic. Then may we hope that the Gospel, which has hitherto been confined within such narrow limits, will " run and be glorified," and that all " the kingdoms of the world will speedily become the kingdom of the Lord and his Christ."]
k Ezek. xxxvii. 10.