own evil heart ;" and the ten tribes of Israel will par- take with Judah in all the blessings accorded to themb. Hitherto these events have never occurred. But the time is fast approaching, when, in every particular they shall be fulfilled. True, it appears almost im- possible that they should be realized : but God here declares, that they shall be accomplished in* their season. In confirmation of this promise, I will shew,
I. How the obstructions to the restoration of the Jews shall be surmounted —
God himself appeals to them upon this very sub- ject : "How shall I put thee among the children?"
[From the very beginning the Jews were a stiff-necked people. It was only for his own name sake that God did not again and again destroy them in the wilderness ; and on many occasions also, after their establishment in the promised land. At last, God could no longer forbear ■ and therefore he gave up the ten tribes into the hands of the Assyrians, and the other two tribes into the hands of the Chaldeans. And after their restoration from Babylon, they still remained the same rebellious people, in every thing like their forefathers, except idolatry : and at last they filled up the measure of their ini- quity in the murder of their Messiah. For all this wickedness they have now been scattered, these eighteen hundred years, over the face of the earth ; and they are still as obdurate as ever. How, then, shall they be restored to the favour of their
God ? The extent of their wickedness forbids it ; and
the honour of God, as the Moral Governor of the Universe, forbids it. Suppose an earthly prince were to select, for his attendants and most favoured servants, multitudes who had been long in rebellion against him, and had murdered his only dear Son, whom he had sent, not in a way of vindictive wrath, but in a way of love and mercy, to bring them back to their allegiance : suppose such an act of grace as this : What would be thought concerning it? Would not other potentates be ready to say, that it was an encouragement to all subjects to rebel against their governors, and to commit the greatest pos- sible excesses ? Would it not appear an excess of generosity, subversive of all moral government ? If then amongst men, whose rights are so limited, this would be judged so replete with danger, how should it be that the great and glorious God should so relinquish all his own rights, and so requite those who have been the most forward to trample on them ?]
b ver. 16—18.