1033.] god's invitation to his people. 41
nation ; you are told only to look for them as " the gleanings of an olive-tree, two or three upon the top of the uppermost bough, four or five on the outmost fruitful branches thereof0." And if that satisfy God, shall it not satisfy you? Will ye not endeavour to get in the first-fruits, because ye are not yet privileged to reap the whole harvest? I say then, have com- passion on them in their low estate : or, if ye have no pity for them, at least perform the office which is here assigned to you, of bringing back to Jehovah the wife that has forsaken him, and whom he desires to restore to all her former honour
and felicity If ye say, 'We cannot get access to
them, to deliver these gracious tidings ;' let not that be any excuse for your indifference : for there are many who are at this moment employed in this very office ; and if you exercise liberality to send them forth, there will be many others who will gladly go to them, and proclaim to them according to the message which is here put in their mouth. Too long have the Christian world neglected this duty : I pray you, arise to the discharge of it : and know, for your comfort, that the efforts abeady made, have prevailed to the full extent of the encou- ragement here afforded us ]
2. Be examples to them of all that you require at their hands —
[Do you bid them " return ? " Let them see that you have returned, in deed and in truth, to the very bosom of your God. Do you bid them " acknowledge their iniquity ? " Let them see you walking humbly with God ; and " sowing daily in tears," that you may be privileged at last to " reap in joy." Above all, be ye as a wife that has returned to her husband. There is not an image in the world that so fitly marks the Christian's state as this. It may be thought that the conduct of a loving and obedient wife, who lives only for her husband, is a proper pattern for a Christian towards his God and Sa- viour : but, lovely as that is, it comes far short of the Chris- tian's spirit : for, superadded to all the love and fidelity of a duteous wife, there must be in that a continual sense of all our past unfaithfulness. A wife so restored, would never for a moment forget what she had been, and what she had done, whilst separated from her husband : and every act of love on his part would only fill her with deeper self-lothing and self- abhorrence, for having ever so dishonoured one who deserved such different conduct at her hands. Now, get into this spirit ; never exalting yourselves above the poor fallen Jew, or above the vilest of the human race. This is the walk that is most pleasing to God. This is the walk that will be ever
0 lsai. xvii. 6.