2. The Jewish Church in particular —
[It is of them that the prophet speaks in the whole con- text, and to them chiefly that the words in my text refer. They were God's chosen people from the beginning ; even from the moment that God called Abraham their father, and entered into covenant with him. It was to them that he re- vealed himself as their God in a more eminent and peculiar way than he was of any other people : and in them has he been more glorified than in the whole world besides. Though they are under his displeasure, scattered over the face of the whole earth, yet are they preserved in a way that no other people have ever been ; and are kept for the express purpose, that his glory may again be displayed in them, far beyond what it has been at any former period of their existence. It is at the period of their destined conversion that they are to be " a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of their God." This is plainly declared by the Lord himself: " I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first : and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me ; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto thernu." Hence are we called to be fellow-workers with God in their conversion. For Zion's sake we should not hold our peace ; and for Jerusalem's sake we should not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burnetii. " To this period God himself looks forward, even as a bridegroom to the day of his nuptials; saying, " As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons (who build up the families of their ancestors) marry thee ; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over theex." At that period, through the labours of God's people y, shall the attention of the whole world be directed to them2, and men " shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, a people sought out, a city not forsaken3." Say then, Brethren, whether we should not, both by secret prayers and public exertions, labour, all of us, according to our respective abilities, to hasten forward this glorious day, when " that people, hated and despised as they have been, shall become an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations," the branch of God's planting, the work of his hands, in which he shall be glorifiedb ? Yes : " we should not hold our peace day nor night." " O ye that make mention
u Jer. xxxiii. 7 — 9. x ver. 1,5. y ver. 10.
ver. 11. a ver. 12. b Isui. lx. 15, 21,
z