towards its completion shall be irresistible ; and that the whole shall take place under a 'preternatural and divine influence ; since the natural progress of a river is downward, whereas this shall be upward, to a mountain on the top of other mountains. What a grand idea does this convey ! The natural propensities of all men checked in their course, and their affections directed into a channel, in which Omnipotence alone can uphold them !
But the mode in which this shall take place is more fully stated by the prophet himself. The people of different and distant lands shall suddenly become penetrated with one com- mon principle, and shall call on one another to unite in one common cause, the cause of true religion. " Come," they will say, " let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, the House of the God of Jacob." Just as, in the days of old, the Jews from every part of their land went up thrice a year to worship at Jerusalem ; so will the Gentiles in every quarter of the globe go up with one consent to the mountain of the Lord's House : " God will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear him for ever."
The motives too by which they will be actuated are here distinctly specified. They will not go from regard to a parti- cular ordinance which they feel constrained to obey, nor from a mere carnal partiality, such as the Jews evinced for their native land ; but from a real desire to knotv, and do, the will of God. It is this which they will contemplate with such pecu- liar pleasure. In the Christian Church they will have an opportunity of becoming more deeply acquainted with that " great mystery of godliness, God manifest in human flesh," and dying for the sins of men ; and they will have ampler means of knowing the whole extent of their duty, which it will thenceforth be their one labour to perform : to attain these things, I say, will be the one object of their ambition ; and they will be alike filled with this one desire, to " stand perfect and complete in all the will of God."
This is the change which we expect assuredly to be wrought on the Gentile world in due time ; and by this shall the pre- dicted establishment of Christ's Church be fulfilled."]
Yet simple, and as it might be thought weak, are, II. The means by which it shall be effected —
The mere preaching of the Gospel is the appointed instrument which God will make use of for the at- tainment of this great end ; " The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
The Gospel is here called " a law" —
[It is " a law," because it is authoritatively enjoined to be obeyed by every creature under heaven. And it is so called by