said, and shall he not do it ? hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Tell me, Did he not bring out his people from Egypt at the appointed time ? Yes, " at the self-same hour did he bring them forth, with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm." In like manner he delivered them also in due season from Babylon, according to his word : and these are sure pledges, that he will in due season fulfil all his promises towards them, and not suffer one jot or tittle of his word to fail.
In dependence on his promise, then, we should address ourselves to the work assigned us. We should go forth feeling the utter hopelessness of our task, and say, " O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord !" The greater the difficulty appears, the more should we hold fast our confidence in God, with whom nothing is impossible. We should go, as it were, into the midst of that vast theatre, and lift up our voice with- out either distrust or fear. If the means already used have proved ineffectual, we should, like Elisha, exert ourselves with the more earnestness, and labour more fervently in prayer with God for his blessing on our endeavours. In order to raise the son of the Shunamite, he cried mightily to the Lord, and went in and stretched himself upon the child, applying his mouth, his eyes, his hands, to the mouth, the eyes, the hands of the child h : and thus should we go in to our Jewish Brethren : we should address ourselves to the work in the length and breadth of all our powers, accommodating ourselves to the measure and capacity of every individual amongst them, and la- bouring in every possible way to inspire them with love to Christ : and, if we see as yet but little effect, (as was at first the case with that holy prophet,) let us " not despise the day of small things," but let us look upon the smallest success as an earnest of greater things, as the first-fruits before the harvest, and as the drop before the shower. Two things in particular I wish you to notice in the text : the one is, that God wrought nothing till the prophet
h 2 Kings iv. 33—35.