God who has done such things for them. In every place will the beholders be filled with wonder; and with the deepest conviction will cry out, as the worshippers of Baal did before them, " The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God!" Then will be fulfilled what the Prophet Zechariah has spoken: " Ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with yous." To this event St. Paul evidently refers, when he says, " If the fall of the Jews be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead*?"
Now, let the restoration of the Jews be considered in this light ; and what shall we think of it, or what terms shall we ever find whereby to express its inconceivable importance? Surely we are highly culpable in this matter. We do not study the Holy Scriptures in reference to this event; and, when we meet with it, we pass it over without any serious reflection, or accommodate it to ourselves as the only persons interested in it. But is this right ? Should we be so indif- ferent to the welfare of God's ancient people ? or, if we account that of so little consequence, should we be regardless of the honour, and, if I may so express myself, the very happiness of God? And should the conversion and salvation of the whole world be of so little value in our eyes ? I call you, Brethren, to blush and be confounded, because of your past insensibility; and now to rise, as fellow-workers with God, to the per- formance of your duty.]
But, that I may improve the subject for the good of all, I would entreat you to take occasion from it to consider —
1. What blessings you yourselves enjoy —
[It is said, " The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ^." Hence it appears, that if you are believers in Christ, these blessings are already yours: you are " brought nigh to God," having been rescued from the sorest bondage : and through a discovery of Christ, as revealed in the Gospel, you enjoy in your souls " an abundance of peace," and joy, and holiness, and, by anticipation at least, of glory also. You are shining as lights in a dark world ; and are a source both of joy and honour to your God, and of conviction and consolation to those around you. In you, the millennial period
s Zech. viii. 23. * Rom. xi. 12, 15. u John i. 17-