In turning to God, they shall be peculiarly in- fluenced by the Divine goodness —
[The sanctions of the Jewish law were principally of a penal nature, and calculated to beget a servile spirit. Even Moses himself at the giving of the law exceedingly trembled and quaked f. But, as formerly they feared the Lord and his judgments, so in the latter day they will " fear the Lord and his goodness s :" they will marvel at his kindness in choosing their nation in the days of old ; and at his patience in bearing with them during their long departure from him ; and, above all, at his mercy and faithfulness in bringing them back into his Church, and manifesting to them again the tokens of his love. With these considerations they will be overwhelmed ; and, constrained by his love, will become patterns of all righteousness11.]
While we contemplate this stupendous event, let us improve it by considering,
II. The instruction to be derived from it —
Very appropriate instruction may be gathered from it,
1. By the unbelieving world — [There are infidels who deny the inspiration of Scripture : and, even amongst those who profess to believe the Scriptures, there are not a few, who look upon the future restoration of the Jews to God as a cunningly-devised fable. But let both the one and the other of these persons look at this prophecy, and see how unreasonable their doubts are. Who that was not inspired of God, would have ventured to predict such events as are here referred to, namely, The continuance of the Jews as a distinct people all over the world, yet without any king or governor of their own, and without any priest or sacri- fice, or opportunity to worship the true God according to their law, and equally without practising the idolatrous superstitions to which in every period of their history they were prone ? Who, I say, would have ventured to predict such a state of things as this, if he was not inspired of God so to do ? And who would go on to foretell their future restoration to God, and their entire consecration to him as his willing and obedient servants? Yet has the former part of this prediction been unquestionably fulfilled. We see them preserved a distinct people to this hour; the ten tribes, from the time of their captivity in Assyria, and the other two tribes, from the time of their dispersion by the Romans. Every where are they
f Heb. xii. 21. s Rom. xi. 4. h Jer. xxxiii. 9.
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