of men, will bear down all before them, like another Pente- cost, and produce, as it were, a resurrection from the deadd. " Then shall the heathen fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth his glory e:" and then shall be literally fulfilled those words of the prophet, " A nation shall be born in a dayf. '
Now in all this they will be, not as the canals which were made by man, to water the earth g, but as the dew or rain, " that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." As the clouds are not formed by man's device, or sent by the command of men, but owe both their original and their opera- tions to God alone ; so the Jews have gone to the ends of the earth, unsolicited, unsent, unconscious of their destiny ; and in due time will exert such a genial influence on the souls of men, that " the wilderness shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the roseh."]
From hence we may see,
1. In what light we should regard the Jews —
[It cannot be but that God, in dispersing the Jews over the face of the whole earth, has designed, that we should gather instruction from his dispensations towards them, and subserve in some secret way his purposes towards them.
Wherever we see a Jew, we should regard him as an object from whom we are to derive good, and to lohorn we are to do good. There is no creature under heaven from the sight of whom we may derive greater good than from the sight of a Jew. We have before said, that, whether intentionally or not, he proclaims to all, in the most convincing way, both the nature and the perfections of God. But there is one lesson in particular which we may learn from him, namely, the guilt and danger of neglecting the Lord Jesus Christ. It was for rejecting and crucifying their Messiah that God's wrath fell upon that whole nation ; and that it has now abode upon theixi for the space of almost eighteen hundred years. They knew him not; for " had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory :" yet, notwithstanding their crime admits of this extenuation, it has been visited with a punish- ment unprecedented in the annals of the world. What guilt then must we contract, and of what punishment shall we be thought worthy, if we " crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame," by continuing in our sins! We profess to know him, and to honour him, and to expect salva- tion from him : our conduct therefore in pouring contempt
d Ezek. xxxvii. 10. with Rom. xi. 15.
e Ps. cii. 13—15. Mark the word " So"
f Isai. lxvi. 8. s Deut. xi. 10, 11. h Isai. xxxv. 1.