our own supineness. Where has God told us that he will convert them without means ? He did not do so even on the day of Pentecost. He has commanded that " his Gospel should be preached in all the world, to every creature." Where has he made them an exception ? This I say, then, that our duty towards them is, to use all possible means for the illumination of their minds, and for the conversion of their souls to the faith of Christ.
But it is our duty at the same time to pray for them. The prophet was not only to prophesy to the dry bones, but to " say, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath ! (O thou eternal Spirit !) and breathe upon these slain, that they may lived." Whoever may attempt to convey instruction, it will be attended with little benefit, if God do not accompany the word with power from on high. " Paul may plant, and Apollos may water ; but it is God alone that can give the increase." If we set about any thing in our own strength, and expect any thing from the means, without looking directly to God in and through the means, we shall be rebuked, and left without success; just as Elisha was, when he expected his staff to raise to life the widow's child6. Like the prophet in our text, we are to pray for the influences of the Holy Spirit to give efficacy to the word. To this effect we are taught by God himself; " I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night : Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth f." If we con- scientiously combine our personal exertions with fer- vent prayer, there is not any thing which we may not hope for. Wonderful is the efficacy of fervent and believing prayer: and, if we employ it diligently in behalf of the Jews, desperate as their condition to all appearance is, it shall prevail, to the bringing forth of their souls from the prison in which they are
d ver. 9. e 2 Kings iv. 29—31. f Isai. lxii. 6, 7.