Jer. xxxii. 37 — 42. Behold, I will gather them out of all coun- tries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto
this place, and I will cause them to divell in safety : and they shall be my people, and I ivill be their God : and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For thus saith the Lord; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so ivill I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them&.
AMONGST the numberless manifestations of God's mercy in the Scriptures, we cannot but be particularly struck with this, that scarcely ever do we find any awful denunciation of God's wrath against his offending people, but there is some gracious pro- mise annexed to it, as an encouragement to them to repent. In the whole preceding part of the chapter before us, God declared his determination to give up Jerusalem into the hands of the Chaldeans. Yet be- hold, at that very time does God open to his people the most consolatory prospects of an ultimate restora- tion to their own land, and of numberless attendant blessings to be poured out upon them.
In considering the passage which we have just read, I shall have occasion to shew you,
I. What blessings God has in reserve for his chosen people — These correspond exactly with the state in which they were at the time when the promise was made. They had grievously departed from God ; and, on account of their iniquities, they were doomed to be cast off, and to be sent into captivity in Babylon. But, as God had graciously determined to temper judgment with mercy, he here promises to them,
1. A restoration to their own land —
[A restoration from Babylon is doubtless the point here primarily intended : and that was vouchsafed to them at the
a There is a Discourse on this text : but this is inserted, in order to illustrate its bearing on the Conversion of the Jews.