whether you have come to the Lord Jesus with weeping and
supplication" and are walking steadily and uniformly
in his holy ways This is as necessary for your salva- tion, as for theirs — — — ]
2. Endeavour to help forward the restoration of your Jewish Brethren —
[You have seen that God enjoins you to interest your- selves in their behalf, exerting yourselves with God for them, and with them for God. To intercede for them in secret, is
your bounden duty, and to labour for them in public
What you cannot do by your own personal efforts, you may accomplish through the Society which solicits your aid ]
Jer. xxxi. 8, 9. Behold, I will bring them from the north coun- try, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. They shall come ivith weeping, and with sup- plications will I lead them : I will cause them to walk by the rivers ofivaters in a straight ivay wherein they shall not stum- ble ; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first- born.*
THE language in which the prophets speak of the return of the Jews from Babylon, necessitates us to look to some other event for the full accomplishment of their predictions. In a measure, they were ful- filled in the conversion of so many myriads to God in the apostolic age : but they will receive their final completion in the Millennial period, when all flesh shall see the salvation of God. In speaking of those whom God would bring back from their capti- vity, and by whom he would re-establish his worship upon Mount Zion, the prophet has respect to those who should come out from their earthly bondage to serve God in the Church of Christ. He here gives us a highly figurative description of,
I. Their character —
* In the foregoing Discourse this passage is treated more particularly in reference to the Jews : in this, as applicable to the Church at large.